On March 25 and 26, the European Centre for Modern Languages played host to teachers, researchers and experts from around Europe for the Pluriwell workshop on “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers”. The event in Graz marked the culmination of more than two years of work on the Pluriwell project. 

The sessions were attended by participants from 28 different Council of Europe member states, including working teachers, policymakers and university-based teacher educators. The workshop offered a chance for this diverse group of attendees to get their first look at the tools in the new Pluriwell toolkit. “Being able to try out our tools with such a diverse knowledgeable group of colleagues was immeasurably beneficial", said Pluriwell second language documentalist Gerit Jaritz. 

Indeed, the participants brought with them a wide range of perspectives from very different language teaching and learning contexts. Emmanuel Julien, a French and Spanish teacher based in Andorra, observed that the plurilingual wellbeing tools could be of special interest to teachers in “reception” classrooms for migrant students. “With these students, who come primarily from South America, Ukraine, and the Philippines, the teachers, who are at least bilingual, use plurilingualism to break the ice, avoid language barriers, and facilitate a quick and positive integration into their new environment", he said. 

One theme that emerged during the workshop discussions was the importance of recognizing the relationship between teacher and student wellbeing and how this can contribute to learning. As Frank Hansen, head teacher at Aarhus Kommune in Denmark noted, “There is a clear connection between teacher well-being and student well-being… It is important that we have an eye for and qualify the connection between multilingualism and wellbeing not only among students, but also among teachers. This is the core and great relevance of the Pluriwell project.” 

Dolors Masats, a professor of language didactics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, is also a collaborator in the ECML project "A toolkit for implementing integrated didactics in language education", and she highlighted the relevance of plurilingual wellbeing to her own project. “[Participating] in a workshop entirely centred on the concept of teachers’ well-being raised my awareness of its key role in plurilingual education and of the need to explicitly refer to this perspective.” Masats highlighted the fact that “some Pluriwell techniques focus on helping teachers become aware of their own linguistic repertoires as a first step towards recognising those of their learners". She plans to incorporate parts of the Pluriwell approach into the materials selected for the Integrated Didactics Toolkit that is being created in the context of her ECML project. 

The debates and discussions at the workshop provided valuable insights that will be incorporated into the final outcomes of the Pluriwell project. “The participants’ feedback on the toolkit will help us improve and refine the tools before they are published", said project coordinator Caterina Sugranyes. The attendees also contributed ideas that will help shape the forthcoming Pluriwell website. “The new website is expected to offer structured, user-friendly resources, while also supporting awareness and shared practice among teachers and teacher educators", said Chang Zhang, a web expert who attended the event from Ireland. 

Incorporating a plurality of perspectives and contributions has been the norm for the Pluriwell project throughout. “Relationships and rapport are at the heart of wellbeing", Sugranyes said. “And they are also at the heart of this project, which has been a collective effort of the team, the participating teachers, the ECML, and now the workshop attendees. We are so grateful to all of them. Without them, this project would not have made sense to us, and we would not have been able to accomplish what we have done.” 

Authors: ECML Pluriwell team

• Also see: "Plurilingual wellbeing at the heart of democratic education: ECML Pluriwell project workshop"
• ECML project website “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers” (2024-26) (available in English and French): www.ecml.at/pluriwell

The two-day workshop “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers”, held on 25-26 March 2026 at the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz, marked an important step in the development of the Pluriwell project (2024-2026).

Teachers’ wellbeing is increasingly recognised as a key factor in shaping high-quality, inclusive education. Within the Council of Europe’s broader commitment to democratic culture and education, teachers play a central role – not only as educators of their subjects, but also as professionals navigating linguistic diversity, cultural complexity and evolving learning environments. Supporting teachers in reflecting on their own language repertoires and identities is therefore essential.

The Pluriwell project addresses this by focusing on the concept of plurilingual wellbeing. How is this concept defined? It is not only being aware of and valuing the potential of one’s own language repertoire; it is also feeling comfortable with using this repertoire in a variety of personal and professional contexts. As the project coordinator, Caterina Sugranyes, explains, “much of the focus has always been on what we can’t do – plurilingual wellbeing shifts the focus to what we can do.” This dimension of wellbeing underpins teachers’ ability to foster plurilingual, intercultural and democratic competences in the classroom. Caterina Sugranyes also highlights that plurilingual wellbeing is closely linked to democratic culture, involving “positive emotions, openness to the world and relationships” – key elements for learning and living together in diverse societies.

The Graz workshop brought together 37 participants – including the expert team, consultant and partners – from 28 Council of Europe member states. As part of the four-year programme Language Education at the Heart of Democracy, the workshop provided a space for testing and refining the Pluriwell toolkit and for reviewing other project outputs, including guiding principles and teacher testimonials. The insights gathered will now feed into the finalisation of the project results, including the future Pluriwell website, making the outputs more widely applicable across different European educational contexts.

The ECML workshop reaffirmed the importance of placing teacher wellbeing – particularly in its plurilingual dimension – at the heart of efforts to strengthen education systems, support professional practice, and promote democratic culture through language education. This was echoed in the words of the project consultant, Chantal Muller, “When our languages – and, by extension, our identities – are valued, we feel recognised and respected for who we are. This recognition enhances teachers’ sense of wellbeing and enthusiasm, which in turn positively influences their teaching practices and interactions.”

• Also see: "Workshop draws dozens to Graz to shape the future of plurilingual wellbeing"
• ECML project website “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers” (2024-26) (available in English and French): www.ecml.at/pluriwell

The ECML project Pluriwell is approaching one of its key milestones, as experts from Council of Europe member states will descend on Graz, Austria for a workshop entitled “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers”. The event will be held on March 25 and 26, 2026 at the ECML’s head office in Graz, Austria.

The star of the show during this two-day gathering will be the new Pluriwell Toolkit for Teachers’ Plurilingual Wellbeing. The project’s expert team, along with participating teachers and Pluriwell schools around Europe, have been creating, refining and reflecting upon the tools in this toolkit for nearly a year and a half. “This is far from the debut of these tools, because teachers have been working with them and piloting them over the past year,” said project coordinator Caterina Sugranyes. “But it will be a great chance to share them more widely than ever” she added.

Teachers and researchers in plurilingual education will be coming to Graz from 28 different Council of Europe member states. “It is a kind of a launch party, because the workshop will mean that we can use our tools with colleagues from so many different countries and contexts”, said Sugranyes. For most, this will be their first look at the toolkit, and they will have the opportunity to try out some of the featured activities for themselves. “We are really looking forward to getting the reactions of such a diverse and accomplished group”, said website correspondent Latisha Mary. “And of course, we are eager to showcase our work, and especially the work that our participating teachers have done”, she added.

This event is one of the final steps toward the creation of the permanent Pluriwell website. It will be the repository for the toolkit and all the other Pluriwell work on plurilingual wellbeing, which will place the tools in context. “Getting feedback from the participants in Graz will help us to investigate more deeply the potential of the tools in many different sociolinguistic contexts,” said the project’s communications officer, Karen Aaroe. 

ECML Pluriwell team

• ECML project website “Fostering the plurilingual wellbeing of language teachers” (2024-26) (available in English and French): www.ecml.at/pluriwell