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Putting language education on the political agenda: 
A new Council of Europe Recommendation on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture

www.ecml.at/
At a meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies on 2 February 2022, the new Recommendation to member states on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture was adopted.

This recommendation addresses two developments of concern to the Council of Europe: a tendency on the part of public authorities and civil society to think that proficiency in one additional language is enough; and the notion that proficiency in minority or migrant languages, widespread in today’s increasingly diverse societies, is harmful to societal cohesion.

To counter such developments, the Recommendation emphasises the cognitive, linguistic and social benefits of learning several languages, demonstrating the ways in which plurilingual and intercultural competences contribute to educational success, to societal integration and to understanding, assessing and formulating the arguments and opinions that are essential to democracy.

It sets out a holistic vision for language education, one which places language at the heart of all learning and which embraces all languages, and all educational sectors and players. Through its Explanatory Memorandum it guides member states towards the realisation of this vision by highlighting the range of rich resources developed by the Language Policy Programme and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML).

Resources in German

Zur Bedeutung von plurilingualer und interkultureller Bildung für die demokratische Kultur
Video – courtesy of ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Institute of Language Competence 

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 Powerpoint presentation

Presentation on Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 at ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Institute of Language Competence on 24 May 2024

The video was recorded at an event entitled “More than language: The importance of language education for democracy”. It brought together experts and decision-makers in adult education institutions in the field of migration and integration with a focus on German as a second language in German-speaking Switzerland. For more information on the event see here.

Download the Recommendation and its Explanatory Memorandum: English, Estonian, French, Italian

Download the recommendation in German, Norwegian (bokmål and nynorsk), Slovene

"Plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture; a Council of Europe Recommendation and its implications for the university sector" by David Little

This short article describes the characteristic structure of Council of Europe Recommendations, explains how they are developed, summarizes the content of Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1, and outlines its implications for the university sector.

Download article