Prof Claudine KIRSCH

Claudine Kirsch is Full Professor of didactics of languages and literacies at the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences at the University of Luxembourg and member of the Institute for Research on Multilingualism (MLing). She specialises in Language Learning and Teaching, Multilingualism, and Early Childhood Education. She read Science of Education at the ISERP (Teacher Training Institution) in Luxembourg and subsequently worked for nine years as a primary school teacher in Luxembourg. She took both her Masters and her PhD in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, funded through the British Council and a grant from the ESRC. While carrying out her PhD, she was a visiting tutor at the University of Luxembourg where she delivered continuous professional development in didactics of language learning and mathematics. She also worked part-time in the research project DECOTEC (Development of Expertise in Collaborative Open Technologically enriched Educational Contexts). From 2003-2011 she worked as a lecturer at Goldsmiths and taught on BA, MA and PhD programmes and the Primary PGCE. She set up and coordinated several courses including the primary Modern Foreign Languages programme and the bilateral exchange programmes between England, France, Germany and Spain. This required close collaboration with the Teacher Development Agency (TDA), an executive agency of the Department of Education, and the National Centre for Languages (CILT) where she acted also as a national languages trainer. Claudine Kirsch was as an external examiner for an MA programme in Languages at King’s College in London and the BA in Education, Culture and Childhood at the University of Sheffield. In January 2012, she was appointed at the University of Luxembourg. She teaches on BA, MA and PhD programmes. Claudine Kirsch’s research interests include foreign/second language learning and teaching, multilingual pedagogies, translanguaging, multilingualism, family language policies, early childhood, and language learner strategies. Since her appointment in Luxembourg, she has been the PI of six research projects:

• iTEO (2013-2017) examined the use of the App iTEO for teaching and learning languages in preschools and primary schools (funding: Ministry of National Education, Childhood and Youth (MENJE) and the University of Luxembourg)
• MuLiPEC (Developing Multilingual Pedagogies in Early Childhood) (2016-2019) investigated the influence of professional development on the development of multilingual pedagogies in formal and non-formal early childhood education settings (funding: Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and MENJE)
• COMPARE (Collaboration with Parents and Multiliteracy in early Childhood Education, 2020-2023) examined the development of multilingual literacies and collaboration in ‘crèches’ (funding: FNR, MENJE, National Youth Service (SNJ) and the University of Luxembourg)
• COVID-KIDS (Understanding the influence of COVID-19 on children’s and adolescents’ school experience and subjective well-being (01.05 2020 – 30.04.2022) examined the ways in which social distancing coupled with the challenges of home schooling affects children’s and adolescents’ educational experiences and subjective well-being.
• EUKO (European Kids Online, June 2023 – December 2026) explores the use of digital online media of youth and children in more than 20 European countries (University of Luxembourg, MENJE/ BEE Secure)
• AGENTIVE (Advancing teacher education at universities towards open and cross-sectoral early childhood multilingualism, AGENTIVE, 1.10.2024 – 30.09.2026) aims to enhance the digital transformation of schools and universities through open access, flexible and modular early language learning resources and innovative approaches to teaching multiple languages in ECEC through school-university-business synergies (funding: Eramus+, University of Luxembourg (PI, Luxembourg), Web2Learn (Greece), Pädagogische Hochschule Graubünden (Switzerland), Universität Münster (Germany), Libera Universia du Bolzano (Italy), University Na Primorskem Universita del Litorale (Slovenia)

• June 2023 – December 2026: EUKO (PI: Oslo)
• October 2024 – September 2026: Digital, multilingual and cross-sectoral early childhood education through school-university-business synergies (AGENTIIVE)
• May 2021-November 2023: Digital Media as Language and Literacy Learning Spaces in Multilingual Families (DigiFam), Dr. Maria Obojska

• Yana Nebolsina: Homeschooling of primary school children Luxembourg’s multilingual curriculum and its outcomes (01.10.2022 –) (self-funded)

• Dr. Valérie Kemp: Children’s early literacy meaning-making in multilingual early childhood education (15.07.2020 –14.06.2024, defense on 16 July 2024) funding through FNR CORE COMPARE
• Dr. Melanie Noesen: Mehrsprachigkeit und Inklusion. Sprachlernzugänge durch Portfolioarbeit entwickeln (15.11.2014 – 15.05.2022, defense on 15 July 2022) – self-funded
• Dr. Flavia Bley: (Trans)-local Language Learning Spaces of Three Newly Arrived Brazilian Preschool Children in Luxembourg: Two Multi-Sited Ethnographic Case Studies on the Supporting Structures of Their Parents, Teachers and Educators (15.10.2015 – 14.10.2021, defense on 14 December 2021) – self-funded
• Dr. Simone Mortini: Emergent multilingual children’s agency within translanguaging practices with peers and practitioners in formal and non-formal early childhood education settings in Luxembourg (15.07.2016 –  14.06.2021, d defense on 4 October 2021) funding through FNR CORE MuLiPEC
• Dr.  Sarah Degano: Understanding multilingual pupils’ translanguaging practices: a qualitative study in two primary schools (15.01.2017 –  14.01.2020, defense on 31 March 2021) funding through FNR CALIDIE PRIDE
  
  Co-Supervision in CET:
• Dr. Kevin Simoes Loureiro: The implementation of the plurilingual education policy in the Luxembourgish non-formal early childhood and care sector? A policy field analysis confronting perspectives from policy and practice level experts by using a mixed-method approach (01.07.2019 – 30.06.2023, defense 27 June 2023) – funding through FNR CALIDIE PRIDE
• Peiru Bai: Plurilinguisme, représentations et identités des familles chinoises au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg : tensions entre héritage et intégration  (01.05.2018 – 31.04.2022, defense 14 November 2022) – self-funded
• Dr. Demosthenes Dimitrakoulakos, 2018.

I co-supervised 4 students with Prof. Dr. Eve Gregory at Goldsmiths, between 2008 and 2011.