The transformative power of local language encounters: implications for teacher education

Scotland’s “1+2 Approach” introduces a second language (L2) for primary school pupils at age 5 and a third (L3) at age 9. While L2 has received most attention, L3 offers schools flexibility and more creativity. This chapter explores L3 as a radical space for pedagogical innovation, drawing on three Scottish studies of projects which actively engaged local communities, fostering encounters with local languages. They empowered students and teachers to learn and use languages in locally relevant ways, reshaping their identities as learners and educators. Through adopting a secondary analysis of teachers’ oral data, we illustrate how these local language encounters provided opportunities for potentially transformative experiences, for both teachers and pupils alike, and consider the implications for those involved in various teacher education contexts.