Subhan Zein
In Indonesia, a dramatic policy change will make English a compulsory subject in primary schools from the year 2027 to 2028. This chapter focuses on the challenges faced by primary English education following this change. It analyses the positioning of English in Indonesia, a superdiverse context with more than 700 languages, and examines how this affects primary English education. The chapter shows that while the recent policy is important for preparing future generations with adequate English proficiency to compete with other countries, it is rife with challenges posed by Indonesia’s superdiversity. Teachers struggle with using first, second, and/or third languages (L1, L2, and L3) for teaching English, not to mention their own English proficiency. Further, the call for multilingual education at the primary level remains academic due to the absence of political will. It has not translated into language education policy, leaving teachers without guidance for how to tackle complex student needs in Indonesia’s superdiverse context. This chapter reiterates the call for multilingual education, where teaching English is given importance alongside the Indonesian language and indigenous languages. The need for a multilingual focus in teacher education to prepare teachers to tackle the complexity of a superdiverse context is also highlighted. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Joanna Rokita‑Jaśkow and Melanie Ellis; individual chapters, the contributors.
Sunway University, Malaysia; School of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, United Kingdom; Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), Indonesia
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