Local organiser: Danijela Đilas, Bureau for Education Services

ECML experts: Terry Lamb, United Kingdom; Chantal Muller, Belgium

Participants: 29 (foreign languages teachers, teachers of the language of schooling, teachers of other subjects, school principals and deputy school principals, representatives of teachers’ associations, policy makers and advisers/supervisors for quality assurance)

“The Montenegrin educational system just recently encountered the reception of children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds – migrant/refugee learners. The Bureau for Education Services, within its competencies, took a number of steps. We created and equipped our schools with “Guidelines for the inclusion of migrant students in educational institutions in Montenegro”. Our support continued by organizing consultations on the application of the prepared guidelines. Organizing the ECML-EU training Supporting Multilingual Classrooms in Montenegro, the training event focusing on inclusive, multilingual, and intercultural approaches, was a significant step further in supporting our schools and raising the quality of education for migrant and refugee students.

The event promoted a positive attitude towards linguistic and cultural diversity by developing an understanding of the principles and values underlying pluralistic and intercultural approaches. Carefully tailored training offered diversified pedagogical approaches and resources, and professional development materials, that will help toward capacity building for the development of an education system that is responsive to the needs of all students, both migrant and non-migrant. On this occasion, our focus was on helping practitioners use adequate tools for improving the development of multilingual competencies for all students. The workshop encouraged collaboration between all of the participants. Sharing experiences and networking enticed the creation of clusters and coming up with ideas for joint projects, involving multilingual classrooms seen as a resource for our education system.”

 Danijela Đilas, local organiser, 11 May 2023

ECML project website: Supporting multilingual classrooms – EU-ECML cooperation agreement 2023 "Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning"