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    CLIL in languages other than English
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    Guiding principles

CLIL in languages other than English –
Successful transitions across educational stages

Overview
Concepts and
background
Curriculum
Teacher
education
Collaboration
Teaching
materials
Portfolio and formative assessment

Specific guidelines in the curriculum

A curriculum is ‘an overall description of the aims, content, and organisation of courses in an educational institution (ministry, school, etc.) generally providing a framework of objectives for different levels and sometimes defining methodologies to be used’  Source: ECML resource website A quality assurance matrix for CEFR use (2016-2019). In a broad understanding, a curriculum can be defined as ‘a tool for organising learning’ Beacco et al. (2016).
Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education. Council of Europe, p. 18.. Curricula developed by a ministry of education or by local authorities organise learning at the national and regional level (macro level) and are at the center of the resources on this subpage.

Curriculum and CLIL LOTE transitions

Why should transitions in CLIL LOTE be supported through curricula – what is the added value?

The official written curricula are the main tool guiding and affecting the reality of institutions. They represent an educational policy intention Holmen, A. (2011).
Den gode gartner og ukrudtet. In: C. Haas (red.), Ret til dansk. Aarhus Universitetsforlag, p. 40. and are important management tools in the design of the national education policy Hovdenak, S. S. (2000).
90-tallsreformene – et instrumentalistisk mistak? Gyldendal Akademisk, p. 25..

Thus, it is important that also CLIL LOTE and CLIL LOTE transitions are described in curricula to ensure that there are clear goals and structures for CLIL LOTE and when students are moving from one educational level to another. Our project has been interested to learn how CLIL LOTE transitions can be supported by curricula developed by a ministry of education or by local authorities, and we have collected inspiring practices from diverse contexts. 

Resources to support schools and teachers in the concrete implementation of these curricula through exemplary teaching materials, examples for the use of portfolios and suggestions for collaboration at different levels can be found on the subpages Teaching materials, Portfolio & formative assessment and Collaboration.  

CLIL LOTE study

The CLIL LOTE study has shown that: 

  • There is a lack of guidelines for CLIL LOTE transitions in the national curricula: Only around 5 % of the informants reported that specific guidelines and around 9 % that some guidelines for CLIL LOTE transitions can be found in their national curriculum.
  • Lack of specific guidelines for transition in curriculum was seen as one of the challenges in implementing CLIL both in language classroom and in other subjects.
  • Specific guidelines for transition in curriculum was seen as one of the main ways to ensure successful transition in CLIL LOTE.

Short introduction to the resources

Are you a curriculum designer or a decision-maker – and do you want to gather ideas for how to support transitions in CLIL LOTE through curricula? 

On this page you can find curriculum scenarios that have been analyzed based on the model “Relationship between vertical and horizontal coherence” presented in the Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education Beacco et al. (2016).
Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education. Council of Europe, p. 100..

The model can, according to the authors, be used to systematically design curriculum scenarios distinguishing between two kinds of coherence:

  1. "vertical (or longitudinal) coherence throughout the learning process, transcending the various levels of the education system"  
  2. "horizontal coherence between languages (language of schooling and foreign, regional, minority, migration and classical languages) and between languages and other subjects." (Beacco et al., 2016, p. 100) Beacco et al. (2016).
    Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education. Council of Europe, p. 100.    .

The curriculum scenarios presented on this page focus on CLIL and hereby establish horizontal coherence between languages and other subjects. Furthermore, some of the scenarios take horizontal coherence into account integrating other languages than the target language (Content and Languages Integrated Learning, CLsIL) The concept of Content and Languages Integrated Learning (CLsIL) has been introduced by Candelier et al. in the “Discovery Module” of the Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures (FREPA/CARAP).

Based on Candelier et al’s (2012) definition for pluralistic approaches to languages and cultures, CLsIL is in our project defined as follows: The term ‘Content and Languages Integrated Learning (CLsIL)’ refers to didactic approaches that use teaching/learning activities involving several (i.e. more than one) languages/varieties of languages in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), instead of dealing with the target language in isolation. The scenarios establish vertical coherence between different educational stages: from pre-primary (ISCED0), primary (ISCED 1), lower secondary education (ISCED 2), upper secondary education (ISCED 3) to tertiary education (ISCED 5-7).

Vertical coherence

ISCED3

ISCED2
 

ISCED1

ISCED0

Horizontal coherence

Relationship between vertical and horizontal coherence
(Beacco et al., 2016, p. 100)

Resources

On this page you can find three main resources:

An exemplary national curricula scenario establishing

a) vertical coherence designing CLIL LOTE transitions from (pre)primary (ISCED0) to secondary education (ISCED3) and
b) horizontal coherence integrating other languages than the target language


Un scénario exemplaire de programmes nationaux établissant

a) cohérence verticale concevant des transitions EMILE-LOTE de l'enseignement (pré)primaire (CITE0) à l'enseignement secondaire (CITE3) et
b) cohérence horizontale intégrer d'autres langues que la langue cible

Related resources

A Handbook for Curriculum Development and Teacher Training. The Language Dimension in All Subjects

The Handbook is described as a policy and working document which promotes convergence and coherence between the linguistic dimensions of various school subjects, e.g. by proposing measures to make explicit in curricula the specific linguistic norms and competences which learners must master in each school subject. 

Web page of the publication

Guide for the development and implementation of curricula for plurilingual and intercultural education

The Guide provides a general picture of the issues and principles involved in designing and/or improving curricula, and of pedagogical and didactic approaches which open the way to fuller realisation of the general aim of plurilingual and intercultural education taking into consideration the language of schooling and the other languages taught and used at school. Furthermore, the Guide proposes practical approaches to developing curricula, illustrated by scenarios and other devices.

Web page of the publication

Quote: Recommendation

“Those responsible for national, regional and institutional policy in all educational sectors should [… ] ensure that the language dimension of all subjects is made explicit in curriculum guidelines and curriculums”
Recommendation on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for democratic culture

Working group

The curriculum group which prepared the resources of this section was coordinated by Petra Daryai-Hansen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) and Satu Koistinen (Helsingfors stad, City of Helsinki, Finland).

Group members: Luca Agostino (Académie de Versailles, France), Phil Ball (Federation of Basque Schools, Basque Country), Dagma Barti (Ministerio de Educación, Andorra), Nóra Ni Bheaglaoich (Mary Immaculate College, Ireland), Aina Būdvytytė (Siauliai Academy of Vilnius university, Lithuania), Sona Hakobyan (European University of Armenia, Armenia), Daniela Kappler (SUPSI-DFA, Switzerland), Gemma Kelly (Manor House School and Associate with Post-Primary Languages Ireland, PPLI), Carmen Marchan (Ministerio de Educación, Andorra), Susanne Jacobsen Perez (Roskilde Universitet, Denmark), Caterina Poggi (University of Iceland, Iceland), Laura Quigley (Post-Primary Languages Ireland, Ireland), Maria-Luisa Sanchez (Le Conseil de l'Enseignement des Communes et des Provinces, Belgium) and Diana-Maria Stanciu (Regina Maria National College, Ploiesti, Romania).