Leena Maria Heikkola

Leena Maria Heikkola is an Adjunct Professor specializing in Finnish language and multilingual education. Her research focuses on linguistic diversity in educational contexts, teacher preparedness for multilingual classrooms, and the integration of sustainable development goals into language teaching. She has conducted postdoctoral research under the EKKO (2021–2024) and KOTI (2023–2027) projects funded by the Kone Foundation. Her work bridges policy, pedagogy, and sociolinguistics to address challenges in multilingual education systems.

Key research interests include pre-service teacher training, language policies, and the role of multilingual resources in diverse classrooms. She has published extensively on topics such as language choice in education, teacher perceptions of multilingualism, and curriculum reform impacts. Her contributions span both Finnish and international contexts, addressing issues like linguistic equity and culturally responsive pedagogy.

Recent publications emphasize the social dimensions of sustainability in language education, the practical implementation of inclusive teaching strategies, and the analysis of spontaneous speech patterns in bilingual interactions. She actively participates in academic discourse, serving as a peer reviewer for journals like Aikuiskasvatus and The Teacher Educator.