Building CLIL teacher knowledge

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is increasingly seen as a possible solution to enhance the teaching of the Irish language in English-medium schools in the Republic of Ireland, where Irish is compulsory and taught as a minority second language (L2) (Department of Education and Skills (DES), 2018, 2022). Despite heightened governmental focus on CLIL, challenges persist in its practical implementation, particularly regarding the development of teachers' knowledge base for CLIL (Fahey, 2021). This paper reports on three elementary teachers' lived experiences as they participated in a six-week Community of Practice (CoP) model for CLIL professional growth. Utilising a variety of sources (i.e. focus group interviews, researcher field notes, participant reflective diaries and CLIL lesson plans), data were collected from three teachers as they implemented CLIL for the first time in their kindergarten classrooms, teaching 4–5-year-olds. The paper firstly presents a critical review of the relevant literature base and synthesises findings in an attempt to ascertain what is known from extant studies. Following this, the study is delineated, and significant findings regarding enhanced teacher language confidence, heightened language awareness, and increased awareness of professional development needs in the language of CLIL instruction are presented. Notably, tensions surrounding the augmented language proficiency expectations placed on teachers when instructing Mathematics through the medium of Irish are also acknowledged, particularly as they navigated the linguistic intricacies of planning within a disciplinary curriculum area using a minority language. In conclusion, suggestions for systemic advancements are considered, and potential avenues for future research are proposed.