Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of COMPASS (Didaktische Kompetenzen in der mehrsprachigen Klasse [Didactic Competences in Multilingual Classes]), a two-year research and professional development initiative on inclusive plurilingual education that is being carried out in South Tyrol, Italy. Launched in 2021, the initiative includes a training course for teams of primary school teachers. Its aim is to promote the development of some of the competences and tools that are necessary to leverage linguistic diversity in the classroom and embrace more inclusive and socially just forms of education. In addition to its training component, COMPASS includes a longitudinal research study aimed at documenting whether the course has any impact on the participants’ beliefs, knowledge and practices. In this contribution we will discuss some of the preliminary findings of our study by drawing on data from one school team, i.e. nine teachers of various subjects working at the same school in a suburban area of South Tyrol: focusing on the concept of the schoolscape, i.e. the display and use of language-related signs in educational environments (Brown, 2012), the chapter will discuss whether and how the participants developed a more responsive attitude to the issue of the implicit and explicit language hierarchies that are present in their educational environment, as well as whether this has an influence on the way languages are displayed and used in school.