Teacher competences for languages in education - not available in 2024

The ECML offers its member states European expertise in language education adapted to the concrete needs and specific contexts within individual countries. This bilateral support in a range of key areas helps strengthen the cooperation between member states and the ECML by taking the expertise gained from ECML projects directly into member states. ECML experts work with national authorities and local experts to devise and implement in-country activities, tailored to the particular context and target audience.  For 2025 a number of new areas are on offer which  build on the results of projects run within the Inspiring innovation in language education programme (2020-23). Please note that activities offered in cooperation with the European Commission are subject to a separate Call for requests which will be issued in late November.

The  following  ECML training and consultancy activities are on offer for 2025:

• Plurilingual and intercultural education: teacher and learner competences
• Steps towards implementing plurilingual and intercultural education
• Plurilingual and intercultural education in early language learning
• The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts – Focus: teacher and learner competences  
• The CEFR Companion Volume: Mediation and other key concepts – Focus: curriculum and evaluation
• Learning environments where languages flourish – Focus: Plurilingual and intercultural education
• Learning environments where languages flourish – Focus: Early language learning
• Action research communities for language teachers
• Fostering digital citizenship through language education
• Language for work – Work-related second language learning for adult migrants and ethnic minorities
• Beyond CLIL – Pluriliteracies teaching for deeper learning
• A roadmap for schools to support the language(s) of schooling

Details of the proposed activities, practical information and the application form can be found here: www.ecml.at/Trainingandconsultancy.

Requests for a Training and consultancy activity must be submitted via the national ECML representative in the Governing Board. Educational professionals interested in a particular activity should therefore contact their national representative.

The application deadline for 2025 is 15 November 2024.

“Inspiring innovation in language education: changing contexts, evolving competences” – Join the livestream!

The conference represents the culmination of the four years of work of the ECML’s “Inspiring innovation in language education: changing contexts, evolving competences”  programme, involving, among others, 9projects, 1think tank, 12offers of training and consultancy (TaC) and a series of initiatives developed with the support of the European Commission.

The conference is aimed at all language education professionals and in particular at ECML stakeholders, policy makers and persons with a professional focus on the practice of language education (curriculum development, teacher education, material design…).

The programme involves plenary presentations, speeches, a round table, a series of smaller workshops for the presentation and discussion of programme outputs and outcomes as well as envisaged links to activities in the 2024-2027 programme.

The workshops on the second day of the conference will be organised thematically:

• Language teacher and learner competences,
• Transversal dimension of language education / Competences for life and work,
• Plurilingual and intercultural education,
• Languages of schooling; language in subjects.

Within each given theme there will be a focus on the completed project resources and related TaC activities from the current programme. Presenters will focus on the inspiring and innovative aspects of their TaC activity/new resources and will consider how the different approaches and materials presented in their thematic session complement one other.

This will also be an excellent opportunity to get a preview of the new ECML programme “Language education at the heart of democracy” (2024-2027).

In order to ensure access to a wider audience, the event will be streamed in both working languages (English and French) and the recordings made available on the ECML website.

Conference web page: English – French

Conference programme: English – French

Join the live streaming here – no registration required: English – French

#ECMLCELVconf2023

The ECML offers its member states European expertise in language education adapted to the concrete needs and specific contexts within individual countries.

On 26 January 2023, seven training and consultancy (TaC) teams exchanged their experience in the field of:

• Action research communities,
• CLIL and beyond – pluriliteracies,
• Language for work,
• Language of schooling in subject learning,
• Plurilingual and intercultural approaches (CARAP/FREPA),
• The ROADMAP - a self-assessment tool to foster school development,
• Setting up learning environments where modern languages flourish (online presentation),

focusing on highlights, challenges and learning opportunities, and conclusions for 2023 activities.

The network meeting with the local organisers from Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Slovak Republic and Slovenia took place on 27 January. The participants got an overview of the TaC offers and their benefits from previous experience, national contexts and needs, and the ECML support provided. Individual meetings took place for local organisers with the TaC teams to discuss the organisation and arrangements of their national events planned this year.

In 2023 the ECML will conduct 23 training events in 17 member states:

In addition, up to 25 workshops will be organised in ECML and EU member states through the Centre’s cooperation action with the European Commission – these will be announced shortly.

• More information on the ECML training and consultancy offer

Photo gallery

Local organiser: Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, University College of Teacher Education (UCTE) Styria, Austria

ECML experts: Anna Schröder-Sura (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Switzerland / University of Rostock, Germany) and Lukas Bleichenbacher (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Switzerland)

Number of participants: 23 teacher educators, mainly from UCTEs in Austria, but also from South Tyrol

At this event, funded by the ECML and organised by the NCoC BIMM* in cooperation with the University of Teacher Education Styria, teacher educators, who are constantly faced with the task of describing the competences of teachers, e.g. when drawing up curricula or competence grids, were informed by Anna Schröder-Sura (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen/ University of Rostock) and Lukas Bleichenbacher (University of Teacher Education St. Gallen) about important results of the ECML project “Teacher competences for languages in education”. This project has gained important insights from the analysis of a large number of competence descriptions in the field of language education about how they are structured, which competences they contain and which system they follow. The participants were impressed by the variety of existing description models and extremely interested in the results of the analysis. The findings from this event were seen by them as valuable support for the creation of high-quality descriptions of teaching competences and will subsequently be integrated into the current and future curriculum revisions in the area of teacher education. The further development of national competence models such as the DaZKompP (German as a Second Language – Competence Profile for Teachers) will certainly also benefit from the information conveyed in this event.

* The NCoC BIMM (BIMM) is an Austria open network of universities of teacher education and experts and institutions which focuses on education in the context of migration and multilingualism.

Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, UCTE Styria, Graz, Austria

• Related resources and more information about the ECML Training and Consultancy offer on “Teacher competences for languages in education”

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Lehrkompetenzen in der sprachlichen Bildung beschreiben – Lehrerbildner*innen aus Österreich und Südtirol werden von europäischen Expert*innen beraten

Bei dieser vom EFSZ geförderten und vom NCoC BIMM in Kooperation mit der PH Steiermark durchgeführten Veranstaltung wurden die Lehrerbildner*innen, die immer wieder vor der Aufgabe stehen, die Kompetenzen von Lehrkräften zu beschreiben, z.B. bei der Erstellung von Studienplänen oder Kompetenzrastern, von Anna Schröder-Sura (PH St. Gallen/ Universität Rostock) und Lukas Bleichenbacher (PH St. Gallen) über wichtige Ergebnisse des EFSZ-Projekts „Teacher competences“ informiert. Dieses Projekt hat aus der Analyse einer Vielzahl von Kompetenzbeschreibungen im Bereich der sprachlichen Bildung wichtige Erkenntnisse darüber gewonnen, wie diese strukturiert sind, welche Kompetenzen sie enthalten und welche Systematik sie verfolgen. Die Teilnehmenden waren beeindruckt von der Vielfalt der bestehenden Beschreibungsmodellen und äußerst interessiert an den Ergebnissen der Analyse. Die Erkenntnisse aus dieser Veranstaltung wurden von ihnen als wertvolle Unterstützung für die Erstellung qualitativ hochwertiger Lehrkompetenzbeschreibungen gesehen und werden in der Folge in die aktuell laufenden bzw. in Zukunft anstehenden Studienplanüberarbeitungen im Bereich der Lehramtsstudien einfließen. Auch die Weiterentwicklung nationaler Kompetenzmodelle wie des DaZKompP (Deutsch als Zweitsprache – Kompetenzprofil für PädagogInnen) wird sicher von den in dieser Veranstaltung vermittelten Informationen profitieren.

Klaus-Börge Boeckmann, PH Steiermark, Österreich

• Training & Consultancy Angebot des EFSZ “Teacher competences for languages in education”

Local organiser: Nataša Pirih Svetina, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ECML experts: Anna Schröder-Sura, Germany; Richard Rossner, UK'
Participants: about 30-50 language teachers

In mid-April 2021 the workshop “Teacher competences for languages in education” was carried out on ZOOM for participants from various educational institutions in Slovenia. The participants were primarily language teacher trainers from various departments of the University of Ljubljana, and among them were also some language teachers from secondary and higher education institutions involved in the national project “Languages matter”co-funded by ESS EU funds. The workshop, conducted by Richard Rossner and Anna Schröder-Sura, members of the 2016-2019 ECML project, a “Guide to Teacher Competences for Languages in Education” team, focused on the various teacher competences related to languages and language use.

Participants at the workshop were thrilled about work done in this project as well as happy to get the opportunity to familiarise themselves  with at least some of more than 40 existing teacher competence frameworks. The participants were grateful for such brilliant assistance from both leaders of the workshop in exploring the relevance and usefulness of these frameworks, resources and tools in teaching practice. However, they also expressed their opinion that no online workshop, no matter how well organised, could ever replace live experience and face-to-face discussions and exchanging experiences.

Nataša Pirih Svetina

• Related resources and more information about the ECML Training and Consultancy offer on “Teacher competences for languages in education”

Slovene version

Delavnica “Učiteljeve competence za jezike v izobraževanju” v slovenskem kontekstu

V sredini aprila 2021 je bila s pomočjo ZOOM-platforme izvedena izobraževalna delavnica “Teacher competences for languages in education”, ki so se je prvenstveno udeležili učitelji jezikov ter izobraževalci jezikovnih učiteljev predvsem s Filozofske in Pedagoške fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani ter učitelji jezikov z osnovnih in srednjih šol, vključenih v nacionalni projekt Jeziki štejejo (JEŠT), ki je sofinanciran s strani ESS. Delavnica, ki sta jo izvedla Richard Rossner in Anna Schröder-Sura, člana ECML projekta 2016-2019 z naslovom Guide to Teacher Competences for Languages in Education, se je osredotočila na različne učiteljeve zmožnosti, povezane z jeziki in njihovo rabo. Udeleženci delavnice so bili presenečeni nad količino obstoječih referenčnih okvirov, ki govorijo o učiteljskih zmožnostih, znanjih in spretnostih v povezavi z jeziki, kakor tudi nad delom, opravljenim v navedenem projektu. Hvaležni so bili vodjema delavnice, ki sta jih tako učinkovito vodila pri seznanjanju vsaj z nekaterimi koristnimi viri in orodji, ki jim bodo v pomoč pri njihovem nadaljnjem delu. Ne glede na odlično organizacijo in izvedbo delavnice pa so izrazili tudi svoje mnenje, da bi bilo delo v živo, z diskusijo in neposredno izmenjavo izkušenj še mnogo bolj koristno in navdihujoče.

Nataša Pirih Svetina

Date: 23-24 October 2020
Local organisation: Centre for Foreign Language Teacher Training and European Education of The University of Warsaw; Danuta Romaniuk
ECML experts: Anna Schröder-Sura (Germany), Wilfrid Kuster (Switzerland)
Participants: 86 in-service teachers and students (MA), PhD students, teachers of foreign languages, teacher trainers, programme developers, researchers

The ECML Training and Consultancy event dedicated to opening its project ("Teacher competences for languages in education") to the wider European community proved full of inspiring and innovative ideas - just like ECML workshops, conferences, resources, and  thewebsite. It is always a pleasure, privilege and satisfaction to take part in, and it brings tangible benefits for the local community. For us it was a true incentive to open up to new educational ideas and communities, to open up to cooperation with other subject areas beyond foreign languages, and with the sign language community. The latter, so far, has existed on the periphery of education and teacher training but it is high time to change this paradigm and cooperate for the benefit of all the learners and societies. Expert ECML guidance together with the work of the engaged, friendly, and inspirational project team has been a great step in this much needed direction.

Danuta Romaniuk

• More information about the ECML Training and Consultancy offer on "Teacher competences for languages in education"

Polish version

Wydarzenie typu Training and Consultancy z ramienia ECML, którego nadrzędnym celem było otwarcie projektu ECML  (Kompetencje nauczyciela w zakresie języków w edukacji) na szersze grono odbiorców, obfitowało w inspirujące i innowacyjne zagadnienia – takie jak inne warsztaty, konferencje, zasoby i strona instytucji z Grazu. Udział w tych wydarzeniach to zawsze przyjemność, przywilej i satysfakcja, która przynosi namacalne korzyści lokalnym społecznościom. Dzięki inspiracjom płynącym z ECML byliśmy gotowi otworzyć się na całkiem nowe idee w edukacji oraz nowe środowiska, na współpracę w ramach innych przedmiotów niż język obcy oraz ze społecznością języka migowego. Użytkownicy tego języka do tej pory funkcjonowali na obrzeżach edukacji i kształcenia nauczycieli. Nadszedł jednak czas, aby zmienić ten paradygmat i rozpocząć jakże potrzebną współpracę dla korzyści wszystkich uczących się oraz społeczeństw. Eksperckie wsparcie ECML i praca zaangażowanych i inspirujących członków zespołu projektowego to duży krok w tym potrzebnym kierunku.

Danuta Romaniuk

Date: 19 November 2020
Format: Online via the Zoom platform
Local organiser: Marianthi Karatsiori
ECML trainers: Lukas Bleichenbacher (coordinator of the ECML project “Teacher competences for languages in education”) and Catherine Diederich, St. Gallen University of Teacher Education (PHSG), Switzerland
Participants: 80 participants including language teachers (the majority), 10 general teachers at the primary education, 10 researchers, 4 school advisors

The 2016-2019 ECML project, A guide to teacher competences for languages in education, focused on teacher competences in the area of language and languages. These competences are crucial to the quality and effectiveness of language education, and increasingly in education across the curriculum. During the project various resources for teacher educators and policy makers were developed. These include an online guide to 40 existing teacher competence frameworks and a comprehensive taxonomy of teacher competences (values, knowledge and skills) related to the teaching of languages, including the languages of schooling.

The University of Macedonia and the Department of Educational and Social Policy (Thessaloniki, Greece) promoted the cultivation of these competences via an online training addressed to teachers. Seventy teachers, 10 researchers and 5 school advisors participated in the training from Central, Western and Eastern Macedonia region. The aim of the workshop was to familiarize participants with the resources developed during the project, to assist them in exploring the relevance of these competences to teacher education in Greece. Participants identified and described the competences of teachers of languages and other subjects in their specific contexts and developed appropriate and concrete approaches and measures to promote them effectively in their context.

The ECML experts, Lukas Bleichenbacher and Catherine Diederich, presented the Guide to teacher competences for languages in education. Marianna Karatsiori was the local organiser. All three contributed to the moderation of the workshop.

Marianna Karatsiori, local coordinator

• More information about the ECML training and consultancy offer "Teacher competences for languages in education" for member states

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Greek version

Iκανότητες των εκπαιδευτικών για τις γλώσσες στην εκπαίδευση

Το έργο του ECML 2016-2019, ένας οδηγός για τις ικανότητες των εκπαιδευτικών για τις γλώσσες στην εκπαίδευση, εστιάζει στις γλωσσικές ικανότητες των εκπαιδευτικών. Ο Οδηγός ταξινομεί τα 40 υπάρχοντα πλαίσια ικανοτήτων των εκπαιδευτικών σε αξίες, γνώσεις και δεξιότητες που σχετίζονται με τη διδασκαλία γλωσσών. Αυτές οι ικανότητες συνδέονται με την ποιότητα και την αποτελεσματικότητα της γλωσσικής εκπαίδευσης και επηρεάζουν το πρόγραμμα σπουδών.

<Η Online επιμορφωτική δράση εκπαιδευτικών για τις γλώσσες στην εκπαίδευση, με τίτλο: «Teacher competences for languages in education», πραγματοποιήθηκε από το Τμήμα Εκπαιδευτικής και Κοινωνικής Πολιτικής του Πανεπιστημίου Μακεδονίας και ειδικότερα από την διδάσκουσα Μαριάνθη Καρατσιώρη, ΕΔΙΠ Διδακτικής Μεθοδολογίας στις Επιστήμες της Γλώσσας και της Τεχνολογίας, σε συνεργασία με το Ευρωπαϊκό Κέντρο Σύγχρονων Γλωσσών του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης. Η δράση απευθυνόταν σε μόνιμους εκπαιδευτικούς των Περιφερειακών Διευθύνσεων Πρωτοβάθμιας και Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης Δυτικής Μακεδονίας, Κεντρικής Μακεδονίας και Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας και Θράκης.

Οι επιμορφωτές ήταν μέλη της ομάδας του έργου «Teacher competences for languages in education» του Ευρωπαϊκού Κέντρου Σύγχρονων Γλωσσών. Πρόκειται για τον Lukas Bleichenbacher (Coordinator of the ECML Teacher competences for languages in education Expert Team, St. Gallen University of Teacher Education (PHSG), Switzerland) και την Dr. Catherine Diederich (Member of the ECML Teacher competences for languages in education Expert Team, St. Gallen University of Teacher Education (PHSG), Switzerland).

Date and venue: 4-6 November 2020; online (Serbia)
Local organisation: Tamara Đorđević, Language Policy Officer, Education Policies and Career Guidance and Counselling Unit, FOUNDATION TEMPUS, Belgrade, Serbia
ECML experts: Richard Rossner, UK; Lukas Bleichenbacher, Switzerland
Participants: 26 university teachers working in initial teacher education who are also involved in curriculum/syllabus development and adaptation

The online ECML workshop "Teacher competences for languages in education" was held on 4-6 November 2020 in cooperation with the Foundation Tempus. The participants were language professionals in Serbia with a background in language teaching methodology who work in initial teacher education.

The main aims of the workshop were to familiarise participants with the resources developed through the ECML project A guide to teacher competences for languages in education, to assist them in exploring their relevance to teacher education in Serbia and in drawing on the resources when reviewing teacher education curricula and syllabi.

During the workshop, the participants had the opportunity to explore the ECML Catalogue of frameworks and Taxonomy of teacher competences for languages in education, as well as to discuss teacher education curriculum review and examples of good practice in Serbia and Europe. Important topics addressed at the event also included teaching practice in initial teacher education and (self-)assessment of teacher competences.

The workshop enabled the participants to discuss topics relevant to their work both with the ECML experts and with their colleagues from other universities. They recognised the applicability of teacher competence frameworks and taxonomy in their own professional practice and welcome dthe opportunity to gain new insights and ideas as well as exchange experience.

Author: Tamara Đorđević

• More information about the ECML training and consultancy offer "Teacher competences for languages in education" for member states 

Article in Serbian:

Онлајн радионица Европског центра за живе језике: Компетенције наставника језика

Европски центар за живе језике Савета Европе и Фондација Темпус организовали су од 4. до 6. новембра 2020. године онлајн радионицу под називом „Компетенције наставника језика“. Догађај је био намењен стручњацима у области методике наставе страних језика који се баве иницијалним образовањем наставника.

Главни циљеви радионице били су упознавање са ресурсима пројекта „Водич за компетенције наставника језика“ спроведеног у оквиру Европског центра за живе језике, као и испитивање релевантности ових инструмената у нашем контексту и њихове употребе при ревидирању планова и програма за образовање наставника.

Током радионице учесници су имали прилике да истраже Каталог оквира и Таксономију компетенција наставника језика, као и да дискутују о приступима ревизији планова и програма за образовање наставника и примерима добре праксе у Србији и Европи. Међу важним темама радионице били су и методичка пракса у иницијалном образовању наставника и (само)оцењивање компетенција наставника.

Радионица је учесницима обезбедила простор за дискусију о темама важним за њихов рад, како са стручњацима Европског центра за живе језике тако и са колегама из других установа у Србији. Учесници су препознали могућности примене представљених инструмената у сопственој пракси, а нарочито вредним су сматрали пружену прилику за стицање нових идеја и размену искустава.

Детаљније информације о пројекту „Водич за компетенције наставника језика“, из којег је потекла ова радионица, доступне су на веб-сајту Европског центра за живе језике, где се налазе и ресурси везани за ову тему који могу користити стручњацима у области методике наставе али и будућим наставницима.

Author: Tamara Đorđević