Recently, major policy shifts have occurred in Finland
regarding K-12 curriculum. One shift includes overt attention to work with
multilingual students, particularly from immigrant backgrounds. In order to
understand these policy shifts, this study reports the findings from an
analysis of policy documents and interviews with several policy actors engaged
in the development and implementation of the new Finnish National Curriculum.
From the analysis of the documents and conversations with administrators, as
well as a teacher educator and teachers, this study offers a perspective
regarding large-scale policy changes. Our findings suggest that curricular
policy changes have been made with regards to multilingualism and the role of
language.  These changes, in turn, have
important implications for the preparation of teachers to meet the increased
emphasis on multilingualism. This is evidenced by the views of administrators,
a teacher educator and practicing teachers who see the 2014 curriculum as
advocating for multilingualism as a valuable resource for learning. They were,
however, concerned about the practical implementation of the curriculum in
classrooms given the current content of teacher preparation. The case of
Finnish policy shifts with regards to working with multilingual students
provides valuable insights to improving policy work and preparation of teachers
in varying contexts around the world.