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    Programme 2020-2023
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    Think tank: Transversal competences

Transversal competences in foreign language education

In many education systems, the development of learners’ transversal competences has become an important focus of policy. Working on learners’ ‘transversal competences’ means developing their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in areas such as global citizenship, education for sustainable development and media education, and also their intrapersonal and interpersonal ‘21st century skills’, which include co-operation, teamwork, critical thinking, and digital literacy etc.

Developing transversal competences is crucial for students as they prepare for the daunting challenges of tomorrow. It is for this reason that, along with the foregrounding of plurilingual education, pluralistic approaches and mediation inspired by the work of the Council of Europe, the focus on transversal competences is now having a significant impact on school curricula. The 2020-2023 ECML programme, entitled Inspiring innovation in language education. Changing contexts, evolving competences, highlights work on transversal competences in important ways, for example in the projects on mediation, on teacher competences and on CLIL across educational stages.

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