Integrated pedagogies to embrace diversity in a multicultural Spanish school

While CLIL keeps gaining ground in the Spanish educational context, critical voices are raised condemning the lack of resources to cater to diversity, which might turn bilingual programs into elitist ones and, therefore, compromise the success of this approach. The present study offers a dual perspective. First, we look at teachers’ practices to overcome difficulties in the context of the study: an economically deprived urban area in the city of Ceuta (Spain) after three years of the Bilingual Program implementation. Second, the main challenges they face in the attempt to offer equal opportunities for all students in a primary setting will be also described. Teachers’ opinions were analyzed after a focus group session where they had the opportunity to discuss issues such as classroom planning in CLIL, teacher collaboration, assessment, and the need to find adequate measures for treating diversity, which was soon identified as a top priority due to the multicultural and multiethnic nature of the school. Despite the limited teacher training for CLIL that teachers have received, the findings of the study show a predominance of student-centered methodologies, a tremendous effort to adapt materials, and a high level of compromise among the participants, who are concerned about how to find out the best ways to meet diverse students, both culturally and academically, regardless parents’ implication in the program. Assessment, however, continues to be an important niche to be addressed. Among the main actions taken in order to cater for different needs we observe an early approach to literacy, which is not common in other Spanish areas, a focus on meaning rather than form, and the kind of personalized education, i.e. an attempt to link program parameters and the needs of particular students, which is akin to the principles of CLIL.