Local organiser: Gudrun Smuha, Directorate General for Secondary Education II

ECML experts: José Noijons (the Netherlands), Karine Dekeukelaere (Belgium)

Participants: 24 language testers and examiners, teachers and teacher trainers, curriculum developers

From 7 to 9 October 2025, the canton of Geneva hosted a RELANG workshop, organised jointly by the Council of Europe's European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) and the Directorate General for Secondary Education II. This training workshop brought together professionals involved in language teaching and assessment at all levels of education in Geneva, as well as from the Teacher Training Institute.

This unique event provided an opportunity to explore the ethical and educational foundations of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and its Companion Volume. Participants discussed key issues: the cultural approach to other languages and countries, communication as a vehicle for mutual understanding, and the fairness and validity of language assessments.

In practical terms, the three days-workshop provided an opportunity to deepen understanding of the CEFR descriptors, compare current assessment practices and design assessment tasks. The remarkable expertise of the ECML experts makes this training workshop a real lever for new cantonal initiatives.

The workshop reaffirms the central role of language learning in building citizenship and social cohesion, celebrating linguistic diversity as a shared asset.

Gudrun Smuha, local coordinator, 14 November 2025

ECML project website: RELANG, ECML-EC cooperation agreement 2025 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"