Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL

Critical literacy (CL), which refers to the use of diverse communication media to analyse and critique everyday social practices, has often been credited with advancing inclusion and diversity in schools. However, criticality has been seen as a missing dimension in Content and Language Integrated Le...

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Autores: Bozbiyik, Merve, Tompkins, Leah, Morton, Tom, Gerns, Pilar, Kääntä, Leila, Sulkunen, Sari, Pérez Fernández, Lucila María
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:ucreareposit::c9e5fa848ff374fa6658e19a31f5d170
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/40364
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Critical literacy
Disciplinary literacy
CLIL
Lower secondary education
Curriculum analysis
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spelling Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLILBozbiyik, MerveTompkins, LeahMorton, TomGerns, PilarKääntä, LeilaSulkunen, SariPérez Fernández, Lucila MaríaCritical literacyDisciplinary literacyCLILLower secondary educationCurriculum analysisCritical literacy (CL), which refers to the use of diverse communication media to analyse and critique everyday social practices, has often been credited with advancing inclusion and diversity in schools. However, criticality has been seen as a missing dimension in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and the extent to which it figures in mainstream curricular documents is unclear. In this scenario, we aim to determine how CL is represented in lower secondary curricula in different national contexts and subject areas. We examined curricula in history and biology subjects, which are commonly taught through a CLIL approach, in three national contexts: Finland, Italy, and Spain. We used a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, complementing an analysis of curriculum documents with a coding process informed by CL and Critical Thinking (CT) theories. The study reveals that CT and CL are present in both biology and history, but are emphasised differently across countries. Biology curricula tend to integrate CL more visibly, while history favours CT despite its disciplinary potential for perspective-taking. These differences highlight the need for greater balance and explicitness in how criticality is represented across subjects, with implications for designing curricula that better support criticality, both in mainstream and CLIL contexts.This article is based upon work from COST Action CLILNetLE (CLIL Network for Languages in Education: Towards bi- and multilingual disciplinary literacies) CA21114, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).Taylor & FrancisUniversidad de Cantabria20262026-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttps://hdl.handle.net/10902/40364Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2026, 47(4), 2066-2083reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabriainstname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:ucreareposit::c9e5fa848ff374fa6658e19a31f5d1702026-06-02T12:39:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
title Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
spellingShingle Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
Bozbiyik, Merve
Critical literacy
Disciplinary literacy
CLIL
Lower secondary education
Curriculum analysis
title_short Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
title_full Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
title_fullStr Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
title_full_unstemmed Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
title_sort Comparative analysis of critical literacy in lower secondary curricula in Finland, Italy and Spain: implications for CLIL
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bozbiyik, Merve
Tompkins, Leah
Morton, Tom
Gerns, Pilar
Kääntä, Leila
Sulkunen, Sari
Pérez Fernández, Lucila María
author Bozbiyik, Merve
author_facet Bozbiyik, Merve
Tompkins, Leah
Morton, Tom
Gerns, Pilar
Kääntä, Leila
Sulkunen, Sari
Pérez Fernández, Lucila María
author_role author
author2 Tompkins, Leah
Morton, Tom
Gerns, Pilar
Kääntä, Leila
Sulkunen, Sari
Pérez Fernández, Lucila María
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Cantabria
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Critical literacy
Disciplinary literacy
CLIL
Lower secondary education
Curriculum analysis
topic Critical literacy
Disciplinary literacy
CLIL
Lower secondary education
Curriculum analysis
description Critical literacy (CL), which refers to the use of diverse communication media to analyse and critique everyday social practices, has often been credited with advancing inclusion and diversity in schools. However, criticality has been seen as a missing dimension in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and the extent to which it figures in mainstream curricular documents is unclear. In this scenario, we aim to determine how CL is represented in lower secondary curricula in different national contexts and subject areas. We examined curricula in history and biology subjects, which are commonly taught through a CLIL approach, in three national contexts: Finland, Italy, and Spain. We used a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, complementing an analysis of curriculum documents with a coding process informed by CL and Critical Thinking (CT) theories. The study reveals that CT and CL are present in both biology and history, but are emphasised differently across countries. Biology curricula tend to integrate CL more visibly, while history favours CT despite its disciplinary potential for perspective-taking. These differences highlight the need for greater balance and explicitness in how criticality is represented across subjects, with implications for designing curricula that better support criticality, both in mainstream and CLIL contexts.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
2026-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10902/40364
url https://hdl.handle.net/10902/40364
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Taylor & Francis
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2026, 47(4), 2066-2083
reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
instname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
instname_str Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
reponame_str UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
collection UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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