The 2-day meeting (6-7 February 2018) at the ECML in Graz, Austria, was an excellent opportunity for the ECML project experts to discuss ongoing project developments with their fellow project coordinators.

They explored synergies between the different projects and exchanged good practice in project methodology. They discussed ongoing work on the development of their products and how to best disseminate the wide range of final results which will be achieved by the end of 2018 and 2019. They reflected on critical success factors to promote the achievements across and at the end of their respective project life cycles, to implement, to mediate, to possibly further develop them and to maximise impact in the various national and individual contexts. Finally they shared initial ideas for both the contents and the structure of the next ECML programme (2020-2023). They also highlighted the added value, both professional and personal, of coordinating ECML projects, seeing this as an opportunity to bridge policy, research and practice and contribute to making a real difference to quality language education in Europe.

Impressions of the meeting (photo gallery on Facebook)

Current ECML programme of activities 2016-2019: "Languages at the heart of learning"

One of several aims of the project "Towards a Common European Framework for Language Teachers" is the piloting and further development of existing instruments. In 2018, there are important news for three instruments: 

A new website profils-langues.ch has been launched for foreign language teachers and student teachers to self-assess their language competences in the target language. The website also contains model tasks for formative assessment by teacher educators, based on the Profession-related Language Competence Profiles (available in English, French, German and Italian here). In 2018, further insights from the piloting activities will feed into the CEFRLT project at the ECML.

Work is continuing on a parallel version of the existing Eaquals Framework for Language Teacher Training and Development that is aimed specifically at teachers of languages for academic purposes working on courses intended for students in higher education. The aim is to raise the awareness of teachers and others with different levels of experience in this sector concerning the specific areas of knowledge and skill required for this kind of language teaching. A validation exercise will be undertaken in 2018.

The overall structure of the future "Framework of reference for the training of teachers in the use of pluralistic approaches" has been stabilized (ethical and political dimension, linguistic and cultural competences, methodological competences) after discussions and exchanges at presentations. It should now be subject to only a few adjustments. The framework is based on the Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures (FREPA) and the Skills Reference Data in Didactics of the Intercomprehension (REFDIC). In 2018, efforts will focus on the internal structure of each dimension, and on the declination of skills in savoirs, savoir-être and savoir-faire.

How can teachers, teacher educators and other stakeholders in language education be informed about the wealth of existing instruments that describe language-related teacher competences? How are these instruments used in practice by teachers, teacher educators and curriculum planners? These questions lay at the heart of two intensive meetings of experts on the project team. 

In June 2017, the team met in Switzerland to discuss a beta version of the project website. Different ways of accessing the catalogue of instruments were discussed and drafted, including search functions to match the different profiles of instruments, and vignettes to describe, for instance, how a teacher educator could combine different general and more specific instruments in a curriculum. The discussions were continued in September 2017 in Graz, where the team agreed on further improvements to the website, and discussed the results of a Europe-wide survey on the use of instruments conducted in early summer. 

In 2018, the piloting of the website will coincide with a consultation on a further key output of the project. This is a new inventory which will draw on existing models of teacher competences, and will seek to link individual competences with professional learning experiences that further develop the capacity of teachers to place languages at the heart of learning and to support key Council of Europe actions in the field of education.

• Project website: English - French

The project team:
Lukas Bleichenbacher (coordinator), Francis Goullier, Richard Rossner, Anna Schröder-Sura

The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe is compiling case studies or practice examples of the use of instruments and frameworks that describe the competences and experiences of language teachers and, with respect to language-related issues, of all teachers.

We are therefore inviting teachers, teacher educators/ trainers, administrators/officials at all levels, and employers to share their experiences of using these instruments.
 
The practice examples will be published on the website of the current ECML project Towards a Common European Framework for Language Teachers. The examples aim to inspire the choices and practices of potential users of such instruments. See a non-exhaustive list of instruments here.
 
The practice examples may describe the use of a given instrument or framework, for example, in and for teacher education, professional development, counselling, evaluation, or decision-making in educational policy.
 
The ECML and the project team would be delighted to learn from your experience. We are compiling your information by means of a survey questionnaire. We will transform your answers into a text that we will send to you before publication.
 
The practice examples will be reviewed and published online by the project team. If you have any questions, please contact Lukas Bleichenbacher or Anna Schröder-Sura.
 
This questionnaire will be online until 22 July 2017.

Please feel free to contribute in English, French or German.

Link to the online survey

The European Language Gazette, the ECML's e-newsletter, provides up-to-date news about the ECML (events, projects, resources), the Language Policy Unit and other relevant sectors of the Council of Europe, as well as our partners. It focuses on national developments in the field of language education in the member states and beyond.

Read the latest issue: English - French

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Issue no. 36 – Contents

Focus on ECML programme developments – "Languages at the heart of learning" (2016-2019)

Latest project developments

"Language awareness in subject classes": participate in an online survey

"Towards a Common European Framework for Language Teachers": latest news

e-lang project in 2016: laying the foundations for a digital literacy in the language teaching and learning context

"Promoting excellence in sign language instruction (PRO-Sign2)": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 1-2 March 2017) – cooperation partnership with Moscow State Linguistic University

"A quality matrix for CEFR use": ECML workshop (Graz, Austria, 15-16 November 2016) – Interview with Denis Vigneron, French participant

ECML training and consultancy for member states

Network meeting of local organisers and ECML consultants (Graz, Austria, 7-8 March 2017) and upcoming national training workshops

National training workshop "Supporting multilingual classes" in Slovenia (Koper, 2-3 March 2017)

National workshops "A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning" in Malta (Floriana, 2-3 March 2017) and Latvia (Riga, 6-7 March 2017) 

Forthcoming events

Recent ECML publication: Language skills for successful subject learning – CEFR linked descriptors for mathematics and history/civics

European Day of Languages

National developments in Armenia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland

Professional Network Forum of the ECML: upcoming events

Council of Europe developments

The linguistic integration of adult migrants: some lessons from research

Council of Europe Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM) (ECML, Graz, Austria, 29-31 March 2017)

International Roma Day – 8 April

Pestalozzi programme: creating an online community of action researchers – summer school 2017

Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: developments in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Kosovo*, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

Urban policies for inclusive integration and diversity advantage: join the Intercultural Cities 2017 Milestone Event (Lisbon, Portugal, 28-29 November 2017)

Cyprus Chairmanship Conference in Nicosia: "Securing Democracy through Education"

Recent publication

Editorial news from other organisations: Eurostat, Eurydice, OECD, Unesco, Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, Babylonia

Quick links

This unique project entitled Towards a Common European Framework of Reference for language teachers reached a first landmark in September with a Network Meeting involving 22 specialists from 14 countries. The vigorous discussions and insightful feedback provided plenty of food for thought for team members.

So far, in its preparing a guide to existing frameworks, 50 frameworks of teacher competences have been analysed. The results will also feed into an inventory of competences relevant to language education. The guide and inventory will be made available on a website in late 2017.

Download the list of instruments for teacher competences currently analysed by the project team

Website of the ECML project "Towards a Common European Framework of Reference for language teachers" (2016-2019): English - French 

The project team met in January 2017 for their second expert meeting. Having completed the analysis of a first shortlist of important instruments for teacher education, the team members discussed ways in which to present the tools to a wider public. It was agreed that the team will now prepare

• a website that offers different users (teachers, teacher educators, etc.) various pathways into the universe of frameworks for teacher competences;
• a database describing individual instruments in different categories that can be searched with keywords;
• in the entry for each instrument, a description of its most important characteristics, suggestions as to how it can be used, and a ‘spidergram’ graphic for quick visual information.

To make the information especially relevant and attractive, we will seek to add practice examples from educators, teachers, employers etc. who have used such tools in practice. In 2017, feedback from a larger audience of teacher students, teachers, educators and other experts on the first results of the project will be sought. Their responses will be vital in steering the project team towards what is needed by the potential different users in and beyond Europe. For the latter, the team members were happy to welcome Prof. Joseph Dicks (University of New Brunswick), their Canadian associate partner, to the meeting in Graz.

The project team

The ECML colloquium "Ensuring quality in language testing and assessment" (Graz, Austria, 7 December 2016) was a great success.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and participated - onsite and online! 

You may now watch or review the debates here:
- Videos and presentations of all sessions
- Photos

‘Towards a CEFR for Language Teachers’ is a uniquely exciting project. It aims to explore the many various frameworks and other resources that describe the competences of teachers involved in language education, and to prepare a guide comparing the most relevant ones. There will also be reports on work to further develop the frameworks that we ourselves have worked on, and a study of the feasibility of a ‘framework of reference’ for teachers engaged in different forms of language education.  This could contribute to the much-needed enrichment of teacher education and development as the role of languages in education increases in scope.

At our kick-off meeting in mid-January 2016 we made a good start on these aims. We began compiling a shortlist of 40 frameworks and other documents, and designed a procedure for analysing them. Then we can consult teacher educators and teachers on the scale and nature of the guide, which will feature case studies on the use of some of the tools.  We also learned more about the five instruments members of the project group have contributed to: the PEPELINO  portfolio, the EPG, the Eaquals Framework, the Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA), and the Swiss Profiles for profession-specific language competences, and their possible future development.

First drafts of this work will be ready by late summer 2016 so that we can gather feedback from experts and practitioners at our network meeting in early September.