Türkiye: experts involved in ECML activities

A high-level Turkish delegation led by President of the Board of Education (BoE) Cihad DEMİRLİ and other government - officials and experts visited the ECML on 27-28 February. The study visit, organised within the scope of the European Union and Council of Europe joint project on Enhancing Foreign Language Education Quality in Türkiye, followed on from the delegation’s two day visit to the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg.

The Graz leg of the visit focused on providing an insight into the history of language education at the Council of Europe and the important contribution of the ECML, as well as on learning from the experiences of implementation of the CEFR and its Companion Volume at national level presented by experts from Austria, Slovenia and Lithuania. The visit offered a rich platform for exchange, with inspiring examples of current Turkish initiatives in foreign language education, in addition to the Enhancing Foreign Language Education Quality in Türkiye project, also presented, such as:  Promoting Inclusive Education for Kids in the Turkish Education System, Integrating Technology to Language Learning,  the Maarif Model of the Century of Türkiye and Transforming Education for Sustainable Development.

At the conclusion of the visit the President of the Board of Education confirmed Türkiye’s strong interest of in the work of the Centre and the intention to initiate procedures to become a member state of the ECML Enlarged Partial Agreement.

The project is co-funded by the European Union and Council of Europe and is implemented by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Turkish Ministry of National Education. It is a transformative project aimed at enhancing the quality of foreign language education across Türkiye. This initiative seeks to align foreign language education within the country with international standards, focusing on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the CEFR Companion Volume (2020). Over a five-year period (60 months), the project will develop and implement resources and training programs, and elaborate policy recommendations to empower both educators and learners.

In this context, The Council of Europe is looking for a maximum of total number of 50 providers for national consultancy and 60 providers for international consultancy, only as natural persons, to support the implementation of the project with a particular expertise on research, advice, co-ordination and facilitation in relation to the policy recommendations, material development, and capacity building.

HOW TO SEND TENDERS?

Your bid must be submitted through the e-procurement platform:

International Consultancy: https://eproc.coe.int/callfortenders/278

National Consultancy: https://eproc.coe.int/callfortenders/279

Bids submitted by email or letter will be rejected.

The deadline for the submission of tenders is 10 December 2024 by 18:00 GMT+3.

Please note that you need to register first to access the platform.
If you have any questions, please ask them through the platform.

BEFORE SENDING YOUR TENDER, CHECK THAT IT INCLUDES:

• One completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement (The Act of Engagement must be completed, signed, and scanned in its entirety (i.e. including all the pages). The scanned Act of Engagement may be uploaded page by page (attached to a single email) or as a compiled document, although a compiled document would be preferred. For all scanned documents, .pdf files are preferred.)
• A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, including the list of publications, where applicable, demonstrating clearly that the tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria;
• Proof of language proficiency (a graduate degree from a department where the language of instruction is fully English, or proof of language test taken; i.e. TOEFL, IELTS);
• Motivation letter, maximum two pages long, clearly, and concisely indicating:
  • how the tenderer meets each of the eligibility criteria (common and lot-specific) for each of the lots applied for
  • a list of the countries for which the tenderer has specific knowledge of the foreign language education and/or experience in implementing technical co-operation projects.
• Sample of a most recent relevant document in English (e.g. needs assessment report, policy paper, guideline, training material, brochure, article and or speech) recently authored by the tenderer on foreign language education;
• Contact details of 3 (three) references (phone and e-mail address).

Source: Council of Europe Education Department, Strasbourg, 21 November 2024

The GlobELT 2015 Conference brought together researchers, practitioners, and educators with an  interest in language teaching and linguistics at all levels from around the world to promote connections between theory and practice and to explore different perspectives on the application of research findings in different contexts.

Three eminent linguists were invited as keynote speakers: David Newby (University of Graz, Austria), Rod Ellis (University of Auckland, New Zealand) and Gülcan Erçetin (Boğaziçi University, Turkey).

David Newby presented the European Portfolio for student language teachers (EPOSTL) of which he is  one of the authors. The EPOSTL is a self-assessment tool for language teachers in initial training, helping them to monitor and reflect on their experiences, performance and progress in the course of their teacher education programme. It builds on insights from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and the European Language Portfolio (ELP), as well as the European Profile for Language Teacher Education. Since its publication in 2007, the EPOSTL has been widely used at universities and teacher education institutions throughout Europe. In the meantime, interest in the EPOSTL, which is available in 14 languages, is growing beyond the borders of Europe.

The audience, who came from a variety of mainly non-European countries – Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi-Arabia, Syria and Turkey –, expressed a great deal of  interest in this powerful tool.

The organisation committee of this event was chaired by Ismael Hakki Mirici (Hacettepe University, Turkey), who attended the ECML Conference “Crossing continents: EPOSTL around the world” in Graz, Austria, on 18-19 February 2014.

Conference proceedings will be published in Elsevier’s Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences (ISSN: 1877-0428).

Conference website

David Newby presenting the EPOSTL              David Newby with EPOSTL fans