The Third Trinity College London Language Education Forum took place in Madrid on 7 November 2014, with support from the Spanish Ministry for Education, Culture and Sport, CNIIE (Centro Nacional de Innovación e Investigación Educativa), the Secretaria de Estado de Educación, Formación Professional y Universidades and the Dirección General de Evaluación y Cooperación Territorial.

Following the introductory speeches by Barry Lynam, National Consultant of Trinity College London and by Javier Arroyo, Director of CNIIE, and by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Ms. Sarah Breslin, Executive Director of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe, gave a presentation (in Spanish) on “The challenges at European level of quality language education for the XXIth Century”. This presentation addressed the wider issues facing European society today – immigration, youth unemployment, growing xenophobia – and the important role of quality language education in helping address these issues. Ms Breslin outlined the support offered by the Council of Europe, and in particular the wealth of material and expertise within the ECML. She concluded by outlining the priorities identified by ECML member states for the next programme 2016-2019, priorities which clearly reflected the challenges in Spain, and by reminding the audience of the added value of the Centre as a platform for European cooperation in the field of language education.

Sarah’s presentation was followed by a round-table discussion, moderated by Neus Figueras, University of Barcelona. The discussion focused on the need to provide more support for teacher education, both initial and in-service and to ensure real, tangible benefit for the learner. The discussion concluded with the need to initiate further discussions on the evolving paradigm in teacher education to improve learning.


Forum programme, keynote speakers, press release (in Spanish)

Photo impressions: