Belgian CLIL Teachers’ Professional Identity

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a generic term referring to a teaching approach whereby content is taught through a second or foreign language. For Belgian teachers entering the CLIL classroom, this dual-focused approach is a challenge, since they are either trained as content or language experts. This demands a professional (re)orientation which current teacher training programs in Belgium do not yet offer. How CLIL teachers interpret this multiple role and how they deal with it in practice, constitutes their professional identity. Insight in CLIL teachers' professional identity is expected to be useful in helping them to cope with the 'CLIL-challenge' by contributing to the development of teacher training programs for CLIL.