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Home > ECML-Programme > Programme 2020-2023 > Crossborder vocational education > Cross border vocational education

Cross-border vocational education


Language learning and teaching in cross-border vocational language education settings requires specific concepts and approaches. 

During the project, we, the team members of this project, shared many different experiences and expertise from our different European border regions, in order to co-construct the following content. In addition, we carried out a Europe-wide survey on language teaching and learning in cross-border vocational education. This provided important insights into different other border regions and we are grateful to all the survey participants for their support. 

Based on the survey results, we developed our guide around the following three thematic sections in cross-border vocational language education contexts:

Plurilingualism
Intercultural competences
Languages, disciplines and professions
Lessons learned from a survey on language teaching and learning in cross-border vocational education

The survey was carried out in 2021 and completed by 139 participants from many different countries/border regions as illustrated in the maps:

About half of participants work as (language) teachers; other respondents were academic researchers, teacher educators, students/trainees and further persons involved in (language) education in cross-border contexts.

What is your view? 

Since every cross-border vocational (language) education context is individual, we have prepared 10 questions from our survey for you. You are invited to reflect on your language teaching and learning context. You can also share and discuss the questions and reflections with your colleagues.
What is your view?

Key findings of the survey

In general, language learning and teaching support in cross-border vocational training and teaching programmes is perceived as being somewhat insufficient, according to participants' knowledge and experience. In addition, the concept that English language skills are sufficient in today’s multilingual society needs to be discussed.

On balance, fostering intercultural competences and language skills are at the same time the most important benefits and challenges of cross-border vocational training and teaching programmes. They can also be understood as the ability to change perspectives and connect the language competence(s) to a varying social and professional context. 

If you are interested in more detailed insights into the findings of our survey, please check below or follow the link here.

Enquête — Partie 1 : Langues et cultures dans les régions frontalières

Cette partie de l'enquête s'est concentrée sur les langues qui sont enseignées et apprises dans les régions frontalières, sur les attitudes des apprenant·es à l'égard des différentes langues et sur les évaluations des enseignant·es à ce sujet.

Les langues considérées comme les plus importantes et les plus utiles pour les étudiant·es et les stagiaires sont la/les langue(s) officielle(s), l'anglais, la/les langue(s) officielle(s) du/des pays voisin(s) et les langues familiales (classées par ordre du nombre de mentions). Selon les répondant·es, l'anglais est la langue la plus appréciée par les apprenant·es, tandis que les langues voisines sont le plus souvent citées comme des langues que les apprenant·es n'aiment pas. Ces dernières étaient principalement perçues comme difficiles et liées à des préjugés historiques et culturels ainsi qu'à des conflits politiques. En outre, les participant·es ont déclaré que les langues d'État n'étaient souvent pas très populaires parmi les étudiant·es, ce qui explique leur manque de motivation pour les apprendre. En outre, les politiques linguistiques nationales ne semblent toujours pas rendre l'enseignement des langues voisines obligatoire (par exemple, l'enseignement du letton en Lituanie, qui est très similaire au lituanien et peut donc être appris avec relativement peu d'efforts).

Selon vous, quelle(s) langue(s) est/sont la/les plus utile(s) pour vos apprenant·es ?  Veuillez les classer par ordre d'importance (trois au maximum).


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En ce qui concerne les programmes d'études, l'enquête révèle qu'environ la moitié seulement des programmes d'enseignement des participant·es incluent les langues voisines. Pour conclure, les répondant·es ont recommandé, entre autres souhaits, de fournir un apport théorique et pratique sur l'éducation bi- et plurilingue, de s'attaquer aux stéréotypes linguistiques et de trouver des moyens de sensibiliser tous les acteur·rices impliqué·es dans l'éducation (linguistique) transfrontalière à la pertinence de l'apprentissage des langues voisines.

Enquête — Partie 2 : Programmes d’enseignement et de formation professionnels transfrontaliers

Cette partie de l'enquête portait sur les programmes transfrontaliers d'enseignement et de formation professionnels et sur la connaissance et les attitudes des étudiant·es à l'égard de ces programmes. Au total, 168 participant·es y ont répondu.

Même si la majorité des participant·es ont déclaré que des programmes transfrontaliers de formation professionnelle et d'enseignement existaient dans leur région frontalière, environ un tiers d'entre eux·elles n'en avaient pas connaissance.

Existe-t-il des programmes transfrontaliers d'enseignement et/ou de formation professionnels dans votre région ?


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Les participant·es n'ont pas exprimé d'opinion tranchée (qu'elle soit positive ou négative) sur l'enseignement et la formation professionnels transfrontaliers, si ce n'est que la grande majorité d'entre elles·eux les considèrent comme utiles. La plupart des participant·es n'avaient aucune expérience de ce type d'enseignement et de formation, de sorte que leurs réponses étaient basées sur des besoins perçus plutôt que sur des expériences réelles. L'offre de tels programmes semble assez limitée, tout comme la connaissance qu'ont les participant·es de leur existence. En outre, il convient de préciser que si un grand nombre de participant·es ont fait référence aux programmes Erasmus+, ceux-ci ne peuvent être considérés comme des programmes transfrontaliers de formation professionnelle et d'enseignement. Néanmoins, les participant·es ont eu beaucoup d'idées de sujets et ont contribué au contenu de ce projet.

Quels sont les apports/thèmes que vous considérez comme importants pour le manuel d'enseignement axé sur l'enseignement des langues dans l'enseignement professionnel transfrontalier ? (plusieurs réponses possibles)


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Survey - Part 1: Languages and cultures in border regions

This survey part focused on the languages that are taught and learned in border regions, and on the learners’ attitudes towards the different languages and respectively the teachers’ assessments on it.

The languages considered most important and most useful for students and trainees were the official language(s), English, official language(s) of the neighbour country/countries, and family languages (ranked in order of the number of mentions). English was the language most appreciated by learners in the opinion of the respondents, while neighbouring language(s) were most often named as languages that learners disliked. The latter were mostly perceived as difficult and were related to historical and cultural prejudices as well as political conflicts. Furthermore, participants stated that neighbouring languages often were not very popular among students, which explains their lack of motivation to learn them. Additionally, national language policies still seem not to make the teaching of neighbouring languages compulsory (e.g. teaching Latvian in Lithuania, which is very similar to Lithuanian and therefore can be learned with relatively little effort). 

In your opinion, which language(s) is/are the most useful for your learners?  Please rank them according to their importance (max three). 


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With regard to curricula the survey reveals that only about half of the participants' teaching programmes include neighbouring languages. To conclude, respondents recommended, amongst other wishes, providing theoretical and practical input on bi- and plurilingual education, addressing language stereotypes, and finding ways to sensitize all actors involved in cross-border (language) education to the relevance of learning neighbouring languages.

Survey - Part 2: Cross-border vocational education and training programmes

This part of the survey focused on cross-border vocational education and training programmes and students' awareness and attitudes regarding such programmes. In total 168 participants answered it. 

Even though the majority of participants stated that cross-border vocational training and teaching programmes existed in their border region, around one third of participants were not aware of them.

Do cross-border vocational education and/or training programmes exist in your region?


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Participants did not express a strong (either positive or negative) opinion on cross-border vocational teaching and training, except that the vast majority (would) consider it useful. Most participants had no experience with such teaching and training, so their answers were based on perceived needs rather than on actual experiences. Offers of such programmes seem to be rather limited as is participants' awareness of their existence. Furthermore, it should be clarified that whilst a high number of participants referred to Erasmus+ programmes, these cannot be classified as cross-border vocational training and teaching programmes. Nevertheless, participants had a lot of ideas for topics and input for the contents of this project: 

Which input/topics do you consider important for the teaching manual focusing on language education in cross-border vocational education? (multiple answers possible)


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References

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