Teacher and learner competences

During the first week of May, the partners behind the project Pluriwell met at the ECML offices. The principal objective of the gathering was to continue to work on the project’s main outputs for the year, including the guiding principles for fostering plurilingual wellbeing and the forthcoming toolkit.

The Pluriwell teachers have been piloting the tools that they designed in the framework of the project with their local colleagues. In addition to trying out the new tools, these teachers, who have not been involved in the programme from the start, have been using a newly created feedback instrument to assess their effectiveness.

This information from outside voices is valuable because the ultimate users of the toolkit will be teachers at all levels of education who may or may not be especially sensitive to plurilingual issues, and the feedback will help shape the structure and contents of the final toolkit. This feedback instrument is one part of the quality assurance process. One of the goals of the expert meeting was to put measures in place to make sure the contributions and the final document meet the high standards of the ECML.

The whole Pluriwell team, experts and teachers, will meet again online on 16 June 2025 to share and test definitive versions of the tools.

Caterina Sugranyes (project coordinator)

• ECML project website “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers” (2024-26) (available in English and French) : www.ecml.at/pluriwell

The recent ECML Training and consultancy event in Oulu, Finland, showcased the transformative potential of the CEFR Companion Volume and its focus on mediation. With almost 90% of participants expressing satisfaction and confirming the relevance to their professional work, the MedVITBox training proved to be both impactful and inspiring.

Educators praised the practical value of the materials and approaches, while almost everyone thought that learners could benefit from the mediation activities. The event fostered collaboration, professional growth, and motivation to engage in educational reform and networking. Participants felt empowered to integrate new ideas into their teaching and promote quality language education.

Whether you are a teacher, trainer or policymaker, the MedVITBox trainings offer a unique opportunity to explore innovative strategies, exchange ideas with international speakers and strengthen your professional competence.

Authors: Johanna Talvensaari and Magdalini Liontou

More information about the training and consultancy offer of the ECML for member states: "The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts"

(in Finnish)

Osallistu MedVITBox-koulutuksiin!

Äskettäin Oulussa järjestetty ECML:n koulutus- ja konsultointitapahtuma toi esiin CEFR:n rakentavan vuorovaikutuksen (mediaation) käsitteen kieltenopetuksessa. Lähes 90 % osallistujista oli tyytyväisiä tapahtumaan ja koki sen sisällön merkitykselliseksi omassa työssään – MedVITBox-koulutus oli sekä vaikuttava että innostava.

Opettajat kiittivät materiaalien ja lähestymistapojen käytännönläheisyyttä, ja lähes kaikki uskoivat, että oppijat hyötyvät mediaatioon perustuvista toiminnallisista tehtävistä. Tapahtuma edisti yhteistyötä, ammatillista kasvua ja innosti osallistujia mukaan koulutuksen kehittämiseen ja verkostoitumiseen. Osallistujat kokivat saaneensa eväitä uusien ideoiden viemiseen omaan opetukseensa ja laadukkaan kieltenopetuksen edistämiseen.

Olitpa sitten opettaja, kouluttaja tai koulutuspäättäjä, MedVITBox-koulutukset tarjoavat ainutlaatuisen mahdollisuuden tutustua innovatiivisiin menetelmiin, vaihtaa ajatuksia kansainvälisten asiantuntijoiden kanssa ja vahvistaa omaa ammatillista osaamistasi.

Authors: Johanna Talvensaari and Magdalini Liontou

More information about the training and consultancy offer of the ECML for member states: "The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts"

On 20 May 2025, the AI Lang team held a pivotal meeting to advance one of the project’s key objectives: the development of the AI Lang Guidelines for the Use of AI in Language Education. The meeting also marked the official welcome of two new associate partners, Jérémie Séror and Konstantina Alevizou, whose expertise will contribute significantly to the project’s progress.

The Guidelines, which are one of the key deliverables of the project, build on the set of AI Lang principles of the use of artificial intelligence in language education: namely that AI-assisted language teaching and learning should be safe, ethical, meaningful, effective, reflective and critical. Each of these principles is articulated in guidelines, which are further operationalised in competences and context-specific statements. This hierarchical organisation ensures that the Guidelines flexibly balance long-term relevance with context-specificity. To ensure strong connections with real-world practice, the document will feature case studies that critically examine instances of AI-assisted language teaching through the lens of the AI Lang principles and guidelines.

A timeline for the production of the Guidelines document was established, and the team are actively engaged in developing this resource. We are looking forward to presenting a draft version at the workshop in Graz (25-26 November 2025), and eventually sharing the final resource with language teachers and learners.

Author: Achilleas Kostoulas, coordinator of the ECML project “AI for language education” (2024-27), www.ecml.at/AI-lang (available in English and French)