This book has identified a range of challenges for literacy teaching and learning in multilingual settings. It has also discussed a number of ways in which schools can respond more effectively to children's needs. Making change, however, is not an easy process. This chapter:

• sets out the urgent need for the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers;

• identifies the weaknesses of traditional models of delivery;

• considers what effective professional development looks like, paying particular attention to the transformative potential of 'communities of practice' where people with a common interest collaborate over an extended period, to share ideas and solve problems, thus taking ownership of the change process;

• emphasizes the role of international collaboration in finding solutions to common problems.

The need for training

Teachers working in multilingual communities frequently find themselves reinventing pedagogies devised originally with monolingual, more culturally homogenous populations in mind. They need to engage with a host of issues which vary from one setting to the next: in countries of immigration, are new arrivals best taught separately or in mainstream classrooms? Is phonics teaching suitable for children learning to read in English as an additional language? How much time needs to be dedicated in bilingual programs to each language? To what extent does this vary over time and from one setting to the next? These and a host of other questions confront teachers on a daily basis.

As answers to these questions have gradually become clearer, so, too, has the need for training. There are however, serious shortages of specialist second language teachers, bilingual educators and heritage/community language teachers.