The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), with its 36 member states, develops tools and initiatives to support language learning, multilingualism, and ultimately, a better understanding of each other and democracy in Europe. However, it is difficult to turn Europe-wide expertise into concrete, sustainable change across individual institutions in the member countries. Training events and workshops are valuable parts of this process, but the real goal is to create a snowball effect that reaches whole regions and school systems, ultimately benefiting all learners.
One of the ECML’s key innovations in response to this challenge is the Training and Consultancy programme, in which a group of experts visits a specific country to introduce a selected project or tool to stakeholders in the school system, providing support for its local implementation.
Austria provides an illustrative case of how the ECML’s Roadmap-Tool to support the language(s) of schooling can be embedded in national school development initiatives like the ÖSZ’s project “Language sensitive School Development” that started in 2024 on behalf of the Austrian Ministry of Education. The project began with a Training & Consultancy event in November 2024 for the first cycle of lower secondary schools from the regions Styria, Lower Austria, Carinthia and has now entered its second cycle with a new group of schools from the regions of Upper Austria, Salzburg and Burgenland.
A tool for whole-school reflection
The Roadmap is a web-based, user-friendly and customized self-assessment tool to foster a whole-scale school-development, through a focus on support for the languages of schooling. The tool allows five stakeholder groups ─ school principals, teachers, school staff, learners and parents, all of them contributing to successful language learning at school – to participate through online questionnaires in the following 9 areas:
- Awareness of the linguistic dimension (staff as language models)
- Development of linguistic knowledge and skills (varied language registers)
- Metalinguistic awareness (language in subject learning)
- Role of languages in learning (multilingualism, language connections)
- Attitudes towards languages (visibility and appreciation of linguistic diversity)
- Informal language learning (creating opportunities)
- Language resources in the school (knowledge of the languages of students, families and staff)
- Professional development (support for teachers)
- Orientation for newly arrived students and families (communication, translation of documents)
The Roadmap thus encourages schools to consider how all languages present in the school interact with teaching, learning and participation. Importantly, it highlights the need for structural support: individual teacher enthusiasm can spark progress, but sustainable change requires a coordinated whole-school strategy.
Austria’s approach: professionalisation through networking and support
In Austria, genuine school improvement is only possible when multiple layers work together: the ECML sets the scene and guides the participating schools through the self-assessment process using the Roadmap-Tool in the first cycle. The national partners – the Teacher Training Colleges (Pädagogische Hochschulen), regional Education Authorities (Bildungsdirektionen), school quality managers, and the Austrian Centre for Language Competence (ÖSZ) support the process and translate the results into local practice.
The Austrian Roadmap cycles bring together six to seven schools from several regions. The cycle begins with a kick-off meeting, during which each school uses the Roadmap to evaluate its current situation (IST-Stand). The results then become the foundation for planning tailored measures to strengthen language-sensitive education. The cycle continues with an online follow-up session focusing on impulses, progress, and exchange. This is followed by hands-on development work in each participating school, culminating in a final conference that consolidates both the network and the development work. Throughout the process, Teacher Training Colleges and the ÖSZ offer pedagogical support and expertise.
Insights from the first cycle: motivation, momentum and small wins
The first Austrian School team-cycle began in November 2024, when seven school teams from Styria, Lower Austria and Carinthia met in Graz for the official kick-off. The event was supported by the ECML’s Roadmap expert Selin Öndül (Zurich), who emphasised:
“Language acquisition is the most relevant aspect of school-based learning. It is the task of every school with diverse language backgrounds to get the most from their educational setting for their students. Not only the individual teachers' efforts but also a systemic, well-planned whole-school strategy is necessary.”
This message resonated strongly with the participating schools. Feedback from head teachers highlighted how the event sparked immediate action:
“Yes, absolutely! I was already in contact with my school yesterday and with a school development team in Lower Austria. We have already discussed the next steps.”
(Head teacher, secondary school)
Teachers also pointed to the concrete, human aspects of multilingual awareness:
“I really liked the small things ─ letting children count in their first languages, valuing their home languages, making them visible. Not insisting on German at all times but seeing the children and their languages so they stay motivated.”
(Head teacher, secondary school)
These reflections reveal an important aspect: language-sensitive education is not only a theoretical framework but a matter of daily interaction, visibility and respect.
From reflection to action: the follow-up meetings
First follow-up (April 2025)
By the time the first follow-up meeting took place in April 2025, five school teams were still actively engaged. They were joined by representatives from three Teacher Training Colleges as well as school quality managers from Carinthia and Lower Austria. Key achievements included:
- implementation of the Roadmap assessment
- recognition of language-sensitive education as a development priority
- formation of school teams to drive internal processes
However, challenges emerged as well ─ especially the difficulty of reaching all teachers in a school. Experts reassured teams that change takes time and encouraged them to celebrate small steps. Their advice emphasised:
- multilingualism as a resource
- involving parents
- teaching linguistic “operators” (e.g. describe, compare, justify) consciously and repeatedly
- interpreting incremental improvement as success
Teams also began planning further actions: motivating the entire teaching staff, establishing coordinating groups, observing each other’s classes and checking textbooks for language-sensitive design.
Second follow-up (Melk, November 2025)
The second follow-up in November 2025 focused on methods and didactics. School teams exchanged experiences, tested tasks and explored classroom strategies. By this time, the Roadmap process had started to generate the intended snowball effect: a second cycle was already under way.
The growing impact: new cycles and broader reach
In June 2025, the ÖSZ started in Linz a second cycle with eight schools from Upper Austria, Salzburg and Burgenland and again with the ECML’s Roadmap expert Selin Öndül. Their first follow-up took place on 25 November and will be followed by a second in spring 2026. A third cycle is planned for 2027, involving Tyrol and Vorarlberg.
As Selin Öndül summarised after one of the Austrian events:
“Austrian schools are on the way to greater success for all students.”
Anna Gazdik, Österreichisches Sprachen-Kompetenz-Zentrum
Photo credit: Anna Pirato