ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the importance of paying attention to and hearing bilingual children’s and their parents’ voices within the English education system. It highlights the need to engage with bilingual children’s and their families’ values, opinions, beliefs and perspectives, on an individual basis, without making assumptions about the cultural and linguistic background, stereotyping or employing unhelpful myths surrounding bi- and multilingualism. The chapter discusses research conducted with Polish–English bilingual children, families and host schools, and, to some extent, draws on an article published in Sustainable Multilingualism, the findings and recommendations are likely to apply to other bi- and multilingual children, their families and schools. It provides a more open communication with children and their parents, especially migrant parents, and the need to withhold often unhelpful and parents’ ability to exercise their rights to know about decisions taken in schools in relation to their children as well as their right to support children’s learning.
