Pathways through assessing, learning and teaching in the CEFR

Background to the ECEP project

This website results from a project run within the ECML's (European Centre for Modern Languages) Empowering Language Professionals programme entitled "Encouraging the culture of evaluation among professionals".

Abstract of the project

The ECEP project aims – as in the case of previous projects such as IMPEL, E-PORTFOLIO, VALEUR and LEA – at building self-confidence among language teachers, whose image and mission are too often affected by social, technological and political (in particular, supranational) changes. The project should enable them to develop a free and autonomous attitude towards the Common European Framework, beyond the "for or against" debates. These debates exist even at a high level and too often hide the fact that the Framework is ... a framework.

The project aims at reinforcing the status and the image of teachers as well as restoring their professionalism, in order to help them feel more confident and conscious and to enable them to adapt the Framework without cultural or personal reserves, and that through several steps, they will develop:

• an awareness of possible positive contributions of their spontaneous knowledge of evaluation and assessment;
• an understanding of both issues and freedoms related to Common European Framework;
• an appropriation of the framing lines and the operational steps suggested by the Framework starting from the key concepts;
• a framework for the implementation of the principles of the CEF and other European documents on the basis of personal reflection, in a way that suits the variety of cultural contexts, in order to support the consistency of the teaching process while respecting diversity.

Acknowledgement

The ECEP publication and website result from the work of an international network established within one of the ECML projects. We would like to thank all who worked on ECEP, in particular the project coordination team for their motivation and active involvement.