Date the event: 26-27 November 2025
Venue: Zagreb, Croatia
Local organisers: Danijela Ille, senior advisor for EFL, and Izabela Potnar Mijić, senior advisor for English and German as foreign languages, Croatia 
ECML experts: Barbara Sawicka (Poland) and Magdalini Liontou (Finland)
Participants: 29 senior advisors for English and German as foreign languages, regional leaders (secondary schools), teachers in secondary schools where mediation is an element of assessment
 

Teaching mediation is an important part of the foreign language curriculum in the Republic of Croatia. Languages which are taught as the first foreign language in grammar schools (and some vocational schools) have language mediation as an element of assessment. Therefore, it is important for teachers to feel confident in teaching mediation. They should also be able to select and apply a range of activities, methods, and forms of work in order to ensure that assessment results are as valid and meaningful as possible. The Training and consultancy event entitled “The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts” offers a wide range of examples and incentives that teachers can immediately apply in practice. It also provides a platform for exchanging ideas and supporting teachers in teaching mediation. After this professional training, teachers gained confidence in conducting mediation activities in the classroom and learned about different applicable types of monitoring and evaluation.
 

Izabela Potnar Mijić, Education and teacher training agency

• ECML training and consultancy offer for member states “The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts”

Croatian version

ZEROJ

Jezično posredovanje i drugi ključni koncepti

Poučavanje medijacije važan je dio kurikuluma za strane jezike u Republici Hrvatskoj. Jezici koje se poučavaju kao prvi strani jezik u gimnazijama i ponekim strukovnim školama imaju jezično posredovanje kao element ocjenjivanja. Zato je važno da nastavnici steknu sigurnost u poučavanju medijacije, mogu odabrati i primijeniti različite aktivnosti, metode i oblike rada kako bi rezultati vrednovanja bili što relevantniji. Stručno usavršavanje pod nazivom The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts (ZEROJ Jezično posredovanje i drugi ključni koncepti nudi široki spektar primjera i poticaja koje nastavnici mogu odmah primijeniti u praksi, ali i platformu na kojoj se mogu izmjenjivati ideje i pružiti podrška nastavnicima u poučavanju medijacije. Nakon ovoga stručnog usavršavanja nastavnici su stekli sigurnost u provođenju aktivnosti medijacije u učionici i upoznali različite primjenjive vrste praćenja i vrednovanja.
 

Izabela Potnar Mijić, Education and teacher training agency

What exactly is mediation? Do we fully understand the notions of plurilingualism, pluriculturalism and action-orientation as presented in the CEFRCV? To what extent have we already integrated these concepts into our teaching practice? What are the next steps we can take? 

These are some of the questions that were addressed in a two-day ECML Training and consultancy event which was part of the national network meeting of language teachers at upper secondary vocational colleges. 

This network meeting takes place every year and this year it was organised by CEBS and the Private University of Education, Diocese of Linz. Together with the two ECML experts, Silvia Melo-Pfeifer and Julia Consuelo Zabala Delgado, we discussed concepts, explored existing materials and developed our own classroom activities. The ideas focused on at the event were not completely new to the participants, as they had been discussed in previous professional development seminars. Therefore, the in-depth insights that this event provided were even more valuable.

Gaining a deeper understanding is absolutely essential since mediation, as well as plurilingual and pluricultural approaches, is anchored in the current curricula and will be even more prominent in the new curricula which are currently being developed. The two experts provided knowledge and material that will be adapted and used by the participants, not only for their own teaching, but also for teacher development activities. The MedVITBox training definitely strengthened the professional competence of everyone who took part.

Belinda Steinhuber and Ute Atzlesberger, Centre for Vocational Languages of the Federal Ministry of Education of Austria

• ECML training and consultancy offer for member states “The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts”

German version: 

Neue Konzepte verstehen – den Weg für weitere Innovationen ebnen 

Was genau ist Mediation? Haben wir die im CEFRCV vorgestellten Begriffe Mehrsprachigkeit, Multikulturalität und Handlungsorientierung in ihrem vollen Umfang verstanden? Inwieweit haben wir diese Konzepte bereits in unsere Unterrichtspraxis integriert? Welche nächsten Schritte können wir setzen? Dies sind einige der Fragen, die bei einem zweitägigen „Training and consultancy event“ des EFSZ behandelt wurden, das im Rahmen des jährlichen nationalen Netzwerktreffens von Sprachlehrkräften an berufsbildenden Schulen der Sekundarstufe II stattfand.

Das Netzwerktreffen wurde von CEBS und der Privaten Pädagogischen Hochschule der Diözese Linz organisiert. Zusammen mit den beiden EFSZ-Expertinnen Silvia Melo-Pfeifer und Julia Consuelo Zabala Delgado diskutierten wir Konzepte, untersuchten vorhandene Materialien und entwickelten eigene Unterrichtsaktivitäten. Die Themen, auf die sich die Veranstaltung konzentrierte, waren für die Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer nicht völlig neu, da sie bereits in anderen Fortbildungsseminaren behandelt worden waren. Umso wertvoller waren daher die vertiefenden Einblicke, die diese Veranstaltung bot. 

Ein tieferes Verständnis ist absolut notwendig, da Mediation sowie mehrsprachige und multikulturelle Ansätze in den aktuellen Lehrplänen verankert sind und in den neuen Lehrplänen, die derzeit entwickelt werden, noch mehr Gewicht erhalten werden. Die beiden Expertinnen stellten Wissen und Materialien zur Verfügung, die von den Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmern nicht nur für ihren eigenen Unterricht, sondern auch für Lehrerfortbildungen angepasst und genutzt werden können. Die MedVITBox-Schulung hat die fachliche Kompetenz aller Teilnehmenden definitiv ganz wesentlich gestärkt.

Belinda Steinhuber und Ute Atzlesberger, Center für berufsbezogene Sprachen des österreichischen Bundesministeriums für Bildung
 

The ECML offers its member states European expertise in language education adapted to the concrete needs and specific contexts within individual countries. This bilateral support in a range of key areas helps strengthen the cooperation between member states and the ECML by taking the expertise gained from ECML projects directly into member states. ECML experts work with national authorities and local experts to devise and implement in-country activities, tailored to the particular context and target audience.  Please note that activities offered in cooperation with the European Commission are subject to a separate Call for requests which will be issued in December.

The  following  ECML training and consultancy activities are on offer for 2026:

• Action research communities for language teachers
• Beyond CLIL – Pluriliteracies teaching for deeper learning
• The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts – Focus: teacher and learner competences  
• The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts – Focus: curriculum and evaluation
• Fostering digital citizenship through language education
• Language for work – Work-related second language learning for adult migrants and ethnic minorities
• Learning environments where languages flourish – Focus: Early language learning
• Learning environments where languages flourish – Focus: Plurilingual and intercultural education
• A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling
• Plurilingual and intercultural education in early language learning
• Plurilingual and intercultural education: teacher and learner competences
• Steps towards implementing plurilingual and intercultural education

Details of the proposed activities, practical information and the application form can be found here: www.ecml.at/Trainingandconsultancy.

Requests for a Training and consultancy activity must be submitted via the national ECML representative in the Governing Board. Educational professionals interested in a particular activity should therefore contact their national representative.

The application deadline for 2026 is 14 November 2025.