This ethnographic study explores aspects of bilingual education in two early childhood German–English education centres in Australia. Using various sources of data and multiple methods of analysis, it investigates the processes at work when establishing and implementing a bilingual programme and examines the language attitudes, ideologies and practices of the parents, educators and administrators involved. It addresses the complex relationship between the childcare provider and its clientele in its socio-political context in an attempt to arrive at a broader understanding of institutional bilingual education in early childhood. The book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in bilingual education, language ideology and early childhood education studies, as well as to teachers, trainee teachers and childcare providers.

Victoria Benz has extensive experience in the teaching of German as a second language to all age groups from the pre-primary to the tertiary sector. She is Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow at Macquarie University, Australia and her research interests include bilingual early childhood education and language attitudes and ideologies.