The Pro-M (training professionals about early multilingualism) tool is targeting teachers in higher education training the next generation of early childhood professionals. A lot of study programs already provide future professionals with insights in multilingualism. However, teachers still express a demand for more teaching materials on early multilingualism. The Pro-M website provides a broad range of materials on early multilingualism that are easy to integrate in an existing class within the professional or academic track. Pro-M provides teachers with accessible videos and texts, with basic or in-depth insights. Most materials are provided in Dutch, but some are available in English. The materials can be explored using the ‘leermaterialen’ tab or can be browsed using the search function. Almost all materials are downloadable.

The Pro-M teaching materials are developed based upon an interdisciplinary FWO-funded research project running between 2018 and 2022. It focused on day care centres and parenting support centres in 19 Flemish and Brussels communities. The research part looked into the perspectives of both professionals working with young children, and multilingual families’ parents. The research consisted of two parts:

• The quantitative part is based upon a large-scale survey with professionals and parents about multilingual upbringing and collaboration between both parties.
• The qualitative part builds upon interviews, focus groups and observations.

The Pro-M teaching materials are partly based upon previous research about the theme of early multilingualism. It is complemented by scientific articles from the Pro-M research team. A short summary of the research can be found in this video developed for the ‘Opgroeienfestival’ in 2021.