ECML/CELV > Thematic areas > Employment and Languages

Introduction

In a study for the Council of Europe, Using Language Economics and Education Economics in Language Education Policy, François Grin points out that language knowledge has value. His studies show that individuals with language skills, provided that these are perceived as relevant to a company’s market, can earn more than those who do not have them; that the language profile of a company is a significant factor in its economic success; and that the degree of language knowledge in a country’s economy can be a positive or negative influence on its Gross National Product.

This is why languages are becoming more and more important for companies – from small businesses to multinationals – and they value, expect and also foster the language skills of their employees.

Enhancing employability is one of the central goals of education and language skills have an increasingly important role to play in achieving this goal. There is a clear need to make the lifelong learning of languages possible and effective by developing practical tools, methods and concepts to support young people and adults of all ages. In order to provide solutions to the various needs of employees, teachers and companies, a wide variety of approaches is required, all of which emphasize the positive potential of plurilingualism and its value in all walks of life.

Challenges

In a globalized world in which language skills are essential we face a number of significant challenges:

How can language learning in school – in addition to its contribution to quality education – equip learners to acquire the language skills they will need in their working lives?
How can companies best organize language training to meet the changing needs of the market place?
What contribution can new methods integrating online technologies and social media make and how can we create efficient learning environments which encourage learner autonomy as well as lively learning communities?
How can we convince companies of the benefits, both for themselves and their employees, of a positive attitude towards plurilingualism and intercultural competences?
What approaches can be developed to promote formal, non-formal and informal language learning?
How do we implement quality assurance for language training in companies?
What technological and human resources are available for traditional and non-traditional learning (e.g. volunteers working with migrants)?

How the ECML contributes to developing languages for work

The ECML has developed projects that focus on several of the issues mentioned above. The main projects targeting employment and languages in the Centre’s 2012-15 programme have been:

Developing migrants’ language competences at work (Language for work)

The project is working towards the establishment of a European learning network for languages at work: it recognises that the task of equipping migrant employees in the workplace with appropriate language skills requires the cooperation of all the different stakeholders. A range of resources on the project website, will support researchers, learning providers, employers, trade unions and policy-makers to address the specific needs of migrant and ethnic minority employees in learning (including formal, non-formal and informal learning) the language of the host country.

Languages in corporate quality (LINCQ)

As part of this project, a survey of companies and their attitudes to language skills in the workplace was carried out. It revealed that in many companies there was little awareness of the tools and resources available for promoting plurilingualism and language learning for professional purposes (e.g. European Language Portfolio, European Language Passport) and not much knowledge of how the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference could help employers select suitable staff and set targets for training. The aim of the project was to increase awareness of the development and assessment of language competences within the broad business community, in particular by encouraging companies to recognize plurilingualism as a significant element of the corporate quality.

Featured resources

A European learning network for professionals supporting work-related second language development (Language for Work)

"Language for Work" is a European learning network for professionals teaching the language of the host country to migrants and ethnic minorities in work-related contexts. The network helps members share and develop their practice.

Available in English

Go to the publication page

A pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning

A pluriliteracies approach builds on CLIL approaches to help learners become better meaning-makers, who can draw on content knowledge to communicate successfully across languages, disciplines and cultures. In this way it promotes deep learning and helps develop responsible, global citizens.

Available in English

Go to the publication page

Latest articles

05.05.2020
Language for Work training and consultancy begins

In December 2019, the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) accepted requests from four ECML member states (Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden) for training and consultancy support by the Language for Work (LfW) team to take place in autumn 2020.

The LfW team then agreed to meet for two days in April 2020 at the headquarters of the ECML in Graz to initiate the LfW Training and Consultancy (T&C) offer. The first day (21 April) would be for the ECML secretariat to brief the LfW team. The second day (22 April) would be for the LfW team to meet the representatives from the four ECML member states who would act as local coordinators of the LfW T&C events in their own countries.

Little did we know then that COVID-19 lockdowns would completely upend our much-looked-forward-to plans for that springtime meeting in Graz… Instead we found ourselves, each in his or her own country, sitting at home in front of the computer for an internet-enabled virtual meeting. We are very happy to report that this ‘remote’ format still allowed for a very productive meeting.

The overall aim of both days was to create a common understanding of the LfW T&C offer: its structure and conditions, and the roles and tasks of the LfW team, its event moderators (i. e. the team members responsible for carrying out the different events), and the local coordinators (i.e. the point-of-contact coordinators and any relevant colleagues).

On the first day, as originally planned, the ECML secretariat briefed the LfW team. On the second day, the meeting focused more specifically on the agreed LfW T&C events in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The local coordinators explained the context in their various countries regarding work-related L2 provision and rationale for training and consultancy from the LfW team. The type of event to be organised and the expertise requested from the LfW T&C moderators were discussed and a number of issues clarified, in relation to dates, venues, participant numbers and profile, etc. Bilateral consultations between the LfW T&C team and the local coordinators were initiated to take further concrete steps for each event.

The discussions were extremely informative and stimulating, certainly since the local coordinators and other partners are all experienced and committed LfW professionals. They expressed the wish to contribute to the events with their expertise and share the results.

In spite of the structural differences in migration and labour market policies in the various countries, common issues for the T&C events emerged:

How to conceptualise the cooperation between different actors in education, for example second language teachers and VET teachers or between educationalists (language teachers and providers) and employers and/or labour market administrations.
How to create sustainable support for workplace learning.
How to support migrants with limited or no literacy.

Will the events take place as planned? Only time will tell, but we will be busy preparing for them over the next few months anyway and we’ll certainly keep you informed in the meantime.

Bleiben Sie gesund!

The LfW T&C team

ECML dedicated web pages on the Centre's training and consultancy offer "Language for work: how to support work-related language learning for adult migrants"

23.04.2020
World Book Day (23 April): explore the digital collection of the ECML!

23.03.2020
New ECML publication: Communicating with migrants - Guide for staff in job centres and public services

Upcoming events

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Videos

Alexander Braddell on "A European learning network for professionals supporting work‐related second language development" (Language for Work)

Video presenting the publication on the occasion of the ECML conference in December 2015. The presentation took place in the context of a workshop involving two related ECML project results/publications: "Use of ICT in support of language teaching and learning" (ICT-REV) and "Using open resources to develop online teaching skills" (More Dots).

Ana Halbach, University of Alcala, explains the Graz Group's Pluriliteracies Model (Pluriliteracies)

Video presenting the publication on the occasion of the ECML conference in December 2015. The presentation took place in the context of a workshop involving two related ECML project results/publications: "Language skills for successful subject learning CEFR linked descriptors for mathematics and history/civics" (Language Descriptors) and "Towards whole school language curricula Examples of practice in schools" (PlurCur).

Teacher and learner competences	New Media in Language Education
Plurilingual and intercultural education	Curricula and evaluation
Migrant education and employment	Content and Language Integrated Learning
Languages of schooling	Early language learning
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