Here in Scotland, we regularly bemoan our lack of ability when it comes to speaking languages other than English or Scots. But our lack of proficiency with languages belies a little-known fact - astonishingly, in 2024, 154 different languages[1] were already used in Scottish schools. This incredible linguistic diversity has been celebrated and championed through the Multilingualism Through Art (MtA) educational project, a cross-university collaboration between Strathclyde and Glasgow.
The project
The genesis of the MtA project started small. In 2020, the Strathclyde-based Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT) was involved in helping create a resource to support the teaching of Polish in Scotland’s primary schools. Through this collaboration and from connections made, this in turn resulted in the development of the Polish through Art project. The success of PtA triggered some big thinking about how a better understanding of multilingualism and multiculturalism could be developed in a way that would benefit both primary learners and teachers.
The MtA project team - recruited from education, art and inclusion disciplines - were keen to develop art-based learning resources which would support inclusive practice in multilingual learning. Encouraging wider inclusion was a critical objective of the project because, simply put, contemporary multiculturalism in Scotland is here to stay. The team wanted to encourage and celebrate ALL languages to provide a warm welcome to children from different countries and cultures, and to establish linguistic variety as the norm in education for children. And that’s crucial, because modern Scotland is not a monolingual country.
Art-based activities
After working with 10 schools across Scotland to implement a multilingual approach to language learning, the MtA team then developed a resource package of art-based activities. Activities like Language Portraits were included as these offer both teachers and children creative routes into language learning and were designed to be lots of fun too! This celebratory, creative approach also supported teachers to adopt a more multilingual outlook to language learning. Of course, no one seriously expects teachers to be able to speak a multitude of languages or indeed have advanced artistic abilities, but through MtA resources they are able to provide a space where children from many different backgrounds and cultures could really express themselves linguistically and creatively.
During the MtA project, the team witnessed a truly transformative process. Not only were the creative activities stimulating and highly educational for the children, but they helped make classrooms more inclusive - places where encouragement and celebration of all languages happened. The beauty of the activities is that they’re definitely not boring - the children don’t even realise they are learning languages! Not only did the children enjoy the activities, but teachers did too - feedback to the MtA team has been incredibly positive.
The online version of the MtA resource pack has already been hugely popular, with requests to use it coming from as far afield as Australia. Indeed, the project team continue to see huge potential for their language-positive art activities to be developed further. They’re delighted to have worked on a truly multilingual project which has resulted in such a positive response to learning about different languages and cultures. Indeed, the project has been so successful thatfrom the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to further develop their work. Now that really is news to be shouted from the rooftops.
[1] Scottish Government’s Pupil Census Survey from 2024