Challenges and Impacts on Student Integration and Educational Sustainability in Multicultural and Multilingual Settings - Insights from a Teacher Training Program

Abstract: The Autonomous Community of Valencia, through the regional Department of Education, Universities and Employment and Centres for Training, Innovation and Educational Resources of the Valencian Community (CEFIRE, Centros de Formación, Innovación y Recursos Educativos, in Spanish), provides training programs for teachers designed to meet the specific needs of schools in the region. This article presents the preliminary findings of a study conducted between 2022 and 2024 on the training experiences of teachers in Alicante regarding the linguistic inclusion of immigrant students in several schools located in the province of Alicante. In this context, the training focused on teaching Spanish as a lingua franca to facilitate the integration of immigrant students. During the training sessions, several challenges impacting the effective inclusion of these students in classrooms were identified. Those challenges have negative consequences for the social integration of children and their families, as well as for achieving the objectives of the school curriculum, making them highly relevant for this research. The research method employed was contextual observation of teachers’ insights during training sessions, using official data provided by the regional Department of Education (Conselleria d'Educació, Cultura, Universitats i Ocupació) as a reference and development point. Results showed that different school circumstances can hinder students’ successful integration into multicultural and multilingual contexts, which may have an immediate impact on the sustainability of the educational and social systems. These findings represent a turning point for studying other schools in the Valencia region and potentially extrapolating them to other Spanish autonomous communities. Keywords: Teacher training. Multiculturalism and Multilingualism. Early Childhood and Primary Education. Integration. Sustainable Development.