Latest articles
10.03.2022
Adaptation of ECML resources: Ireland launches an Intercultural Look at our Schools Toolkit
An Intercultural Look at our Schools Toolkit is an online toolkit for self-evaluation and support for intercultural and linguistic diversity in schools wishing to address inclusion. It was developed in Ireland as a localised version of the self assessment tools established by the ECML project “A Roadmap to support the languages of schooling” (which is available in English, French, German and Finnish).
Set up at the initiative of the Post-Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) in collaboration with Dublin-Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) the Irish toolkit aims to:
- raise awareness of the role students’ plurilingual and pluricultural identities and competences play in their learning in a school setting;
- support teachers and school management in facilitating and promoting students’ access to the curriculum;
- encourage schools to cast an intercultural look at aspects of school life beyond the classroom to ensure that all languages and cultures of the school community are included and valued.
The toolkit advocates for a whole-school approach to improvement. It surveys and includes the voices of all members of the school community.
Find out more at : https://ilaos.ppli.ie/
Watch video
21.10.2021
Webinar “Roadmap for supporting the language(s) of schooling”
Webinar “Roadmap for supporting the language(s) of schooling”
We know that language lies at the heart of all learning; we know that highly developed competences in the language of schooling are key to learner achievement. But do we understand the importance of adopting a whole-school approach for identifying and addressing learners’ linguistic needs?
If you would like to find out about the benefits of a whole-school approach when it comes to the language of schooling, as well as tips on how to engage all stakeholders in your school community, then this webinar is for you.
Roadmap is a web-based, user-friendly resource for creating a strategic whole-school development plan which will foster inclusion by raising awareness of all languages present in the school community and provide concrete guidance on how to advance learners’ competences in the language(s) of schooling.
It offers an interactive self-assessment tool, practical materials and a large database of promising practices and can be adapted to specific national contexts. One such adaptation has already taken place in
Ireland- why and how this was done will be presented at the webinar.
The webinar is intended for all those working in language education and on language-related themes within school development - teachers, teacher educators, school leaders and administrators.
Webinar in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGqMab9rdMM
Recording from 21 October 202128.04.2021
“Supporting the language(s) of schooling: The ROADMAP - a web-based, user-friendly and customised self-assessment tool to foster school development”: ECML training and consultancy events in Malta
Local organiser of the ECML training and consultancy events: Alice Micallef, Malta.
Date of the online events: 18-19 November, 11 December 2020.
Participants: 23 participants; education officers for Maltese, English, Science and Maths and the Early Years who support teachers in schools and provide professional development sessions, amongst other work related to curricula, and assessment; heads of school; curriculum education officers working in schools; teachers.
An ECML workshop and consultancy session was organised in November and December 2020 in the context of the ECML training and consultancy offer for member states : “Supporting the language(s) of schooling: The ROADMAP - a web-based, user-friendly and customised self-assessment tool to foster school development”. A project was initiated with stakeholders in state schools with the aim of raising awareness and to help stakeholders work towards a whole-school strategy to support the development of students’ competences in the language(s) of schooling. Stakeholders were familiarised with the Roadmap tools and discussed the specific linguistic support required for learners in local school contexts. This includes learners with a migrant background as well as other learners who require support in one or both languages of schooling. A consultation meeting was held to discuss and plan the way forward in this regard.
The first phase of the project will address the situation in the Early Years and Primary sector and to initiate discussion across school sectors. The Roadmap tool will be used in schools to evaluate and address requirements related to the languages of schooling. Stakeholders from various schools and sectors are invited to form part of the working group with the aim of discussing and disseminating information on the Roadmap project.
Alice Micallef, local organiser of the ECML training and consultancy event
Related ECML resource website