Building belonging: Rethinking diversity in the classroom

As migration reshapes communities around the world, the classroom is often the first place where people from different backgrounds meet. But when a child is taught in a language other than their first, they can struggle to participate and risk falling behind academically. Beyond grades, the ways schools respond to this diversity affects whether students feel they belong in the classroom at all. Barbara Gross, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in Italy, is exploring how teachers and educators can approach migration-related diversity in a way that allows all students to thrive.  

“We no longer live in very homogeneous societies, and shouldn’t stick to the idea that everyone simply needs to know one language,” says Barbara. 

Her research focuses on intercultural education through an intersectional lens that includes different elements of diversity beyond just origin or nationality such as language, skin color, and gender and how they are interlinked. “The risk is that when we speak about intercultural education, it's very often limited to whether you have a migration background or not. That’s something we want to dismantle. We don’t want to reduce someone to a single characteristic or life experience.”

Language is just one of these characteristics, yet it strongly influences how we think, communicate, and make sense of who we are. In some countries, such as Austria and Sweden, students have the right to heritage language education, but this is not the case in Italy. Classes are offered to help children improve their competence in their home language, but Barbara has observed that to be effective, this should be integrated into regular schooling rather than seen as something outside it. Including children’s heritage language, however, doesn’t mean teachers need to be experts in 20 languages. Instead, it means acknowledging the students’ expertise in their own language, and encouraging them to use these languages to think and process, rather than asking them to leave them at the door. 

“When educators value students' linguistic repertoires and support their heritage languages, we lay the basis for them feeling welcomed. This sense of belonging is very important for their active engagement, both in education and later on in society,” explains Barbara. The faculty’s goal is to train a new generation of teachers who can carry this awareness into their own classrooms.

Barbara’s research is reflected in the setting of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, which is located in an Italian province with two well-protected linguistic minorities, German and Ladin. The university carries out teaching in three languages: English, Italian, and German. “It is living this topic day by day,” she says. “For researchers, it's stimulating, but also challenging, because you have to decide how to discuss specific terms that may be used differently in other languages.” Barbara notes that this challenging but vibrant atmosphere is a unique benefit of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, one which develops students’ critical thinking, empathy, and communication abilities. “These are skills which will be very relevant for our future, not only in education but in all fields,” she says. 

The contrast between academic cultures is also interesting, she notes, sparking frequent discussion between staff from different geographical backgrounds. This adds another layer to the university’s interdisciplinary approach, especially in the Faculty of Education. “It gives you the possibility to see things from another perspective,” says Barbara.

The university's linguistic and cultural diversity is complemented by its location near the Austrian border, giving researchers easy access to a wider European network of academic peers. Its small size is another advantage, enabling the kind of close relationships with local stakeholders that larger institutions rarely achieve.

The region’s nature offers an extra incentive for prospective researchers. “The quality of life is very high and we have a very beautiful landscape, with the Dolomites, the Alps. So people who are into outdoor sports, who love adventure and mountains, will find themselves in exactly the right place, beyond everything the work environment has to offer,” says Barbara.