Developing content and language integrated learning programs: the perceived impact of the CLIL teacher’s professional identity development

This paper presents data from teachers who have traversed the implementation of CLIL programs with limited professional learning opportunities. We discuss the relationship between professional learning specific to content and language integration, and the teacher identity as a bilingual/CLIL teacher. Drawing on data from a Qualtrics survey and interviews with a sub-sample of teachers, this talk shares teacher views of how their identity as a bilingual/CLIL teacher has been impacted upon according to their access to professional learning linking content and language. Our findings indicate that teachers feel under-prepared and unsupported to consider themselves bilingual or CLIL teachers, seeking validation and further professional learning to build such a teacher identity. We call for more support for teachers in this context as they develop their professional identities, and suggest that much more systemic support is needed to develop teacher confidence in their work.