Exploring the partnership between language minority parents and professionals in early childhood education and care a systematic review

There is a steady rise in the number of children growing up in environments where more than one language is spoken. As language education is a crucial part of children’s development, an increasing body of research is being conducted into minority-language parenting and education. While the literature on the partnership between language-minority parents (hereafter LM parents) and professionals in early childhood education and care (hereafter ECEC professionals) is developing, there is a lack of systematic knowledge as to the societal and scholarly implications of these studies. Influenced by Spolsky’s language policy framework, the aim of the present study is to systematically review previous studies on the relationship between LM families and ECEC professionals in relation to (dis)continuities between language beliefs, practices, and management. The studies included in this review feature samples of LM families with children from birth to five years of age who attend an ECEC institution. Out of 1,434 identified studies, 26 were retained for our review. Results show that all three components of language policy (practices, management, and beliefs) are equally important when it comes to partnership between parents and professionals. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed.