School leadership and multilingualism

The purpose of this article is to explore school leaders’ perceptions about multilingualism with regard to learning and social integration for minority students in an upper secondary school. The analysis is based on interviews with school leaders and a social adviser. For the analysis, I used traditional methods of qualitative analysis with a to-and-fro process between the field data and key theoretical points. The findings are discussed within an inclusive leadership approach and they suggest that there is little support for the use of minority students’ first language for learning. There are also indications of a lack of common vision and shared understanding of multilingualism among the school leaders. The study contributes to the field of research by combining a critical school leadership approach with research on knowledge about multilingualism with regard to learning and social integration for minority students.