Issues in the Implementation of CLIL in Pre-Vocational Education in The Netherlands

Abstract

The increasing momentum behind the use of Content Language and Integrated learning (CLIL) within the Dutch educational system is a disputed one. Despite a considerable body of literature supporting the benefits of CLIL many stakeholders feel otherwise and are reluctant to employ CLIL despite the generally positive literature. Others are more enthusiastic and take (forms of) CLIL on board only to dismiss its principles after a number of years, leaving them disappointed; some educational institutes manage to implement a different approach to teaching successfully whereas others seem to fail. Hence there is a need for research to explore the issues that may cause disjunction between CLIL models of best practice as described in literature and everyday work situations. This thesis seeks to explore the complex ways in which professionals negotiate and relate to the implementation of Content and Language Integrated learning. An interview study was conducted to identify the complex ways in which professionals negotiate and relate to the implementation of Content and Language Integrated learning as well as an identification of disjunctures when experiences and expectations of the professionals were placed next to each other and compared in detail. This thesis presents the key findings of in depth semi- structured interviews with six teachers and two headmasters in secondary education at two different locations. The stakeholders were closely involved in the implementation of CLIL. The analysis I employed sought to interpret and pin down insiders' views on the consequences of the implementation of CLIL in their professional and social lives by means of inductive approaches and techniques. The data procured from the interviews were very rich and meaningful, which support the discussion on issues in the implementation of CLIL. The findings showed that the stakeholders at each setting approached CLIL differently and experienced different forms of disjuncture. The obstacles and possible frictions have been mentioned in this study which require attention, for when the frictions described in this study are addressed in a profound and resolute manner the CLIL case, or any new educational implementation, may well be furthered.