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Languages of Education Framework
Progress Report
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to update member states on the progress that has been made on
the Languages of Education Framework project since the intergovernmental conference held
in Prague in November 2007. There have been three meetings of the planning group as a
whole and a further meeting of sub-groups to work on specific aspects of the project. As the
next conference is planned for 2009, it is important that member states are kept informed of
how the project has developed in 2008 and what further consultation is planned.
Planning Meetings
The meeting held straight after conference in Prague gave an immediate opportunity for the
working group to take note of the feedback from delegates and plan the future direction of the
work. Key themes which emerged from the conference1 included a reiteration of the potential
value of a framework in supporting member states with the challenge of improving language
competence, and a recognition that values of cultural diversity, democratic citizenship and
social inclusion need to shape policy and practice in language education. The conference also
endorsed the importance of embracing language across the curriculum as well as language as
subject, and supported the need for a framework document that is flexible and dynamic. The
working group saw a considerable advantage in the development of a web-based framework
document. This would allow flexible presentation of issues and material, reflecting the way the
different topics interrelate, and opportunity for users of the framework to access sections that
are of particular relevance to them. It would also allow scope for the complexity of the issues
to be explored in more depth through further hyperlinks, without making key sections of the
document overly complex and inaccessible.
The use of a web-based document or platform then has considerable potential for extending
the breadth and scope of the project. However at its meeting in January 2008 the working
group recognised the need to develop the work in stages so that the framework could be
launched without necessarily having been developed in full. Interim feedback from users could
then contribute to and shape the further development of the project. It was thought to be
necessary to have achievable short-term targets as well as longer term goals. It was
recognised that a number of texts written for previous seminars and conferences could be
adapted and used in the framework and a small editing group will be created to take that work
forward. It was also recognised that some practical issues need to be addressed and several
key texts are also needed to form the basis of the first stage of the framework. Six sub-groups
were therefore formed to work on specific aspects of the project.
Website
One group has worked on the website design developing a vision of how the framework might
be conceived in different levels and how it could eventually lead to a highly interactive platform
with contributions by users, links to policy documents, resources and examples of practice. It
would also allow links to other Council of Europe publications (e.g. the Common European
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The Prague Conference report is available at:
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Framework of Reference for Languages). Eventually the framework could serve as the focus
for the development of a ‘community of practice’ with the emphasis less on a static document
as product but more on interaction and the continuous development of ideas and resources.
Further discussion will be needed on different levels of access, on whether it will be an open
resource or whether some elements should be password protected.
Questionnaire
A second group has developed an extensive and comprehensive questionnaire addressing a
wide range of issues associated with the framework. The working group will decide how to
make best use of the questionnaire for example as an optional self-evaluation tool or as a
source of data collection (perhaps in a shortened version) to inform the further development of
the project and to share information on how policy and practice either converges or varies
from one context to another. It is intended that a version of the questionnaire will be piloted in
the near future.
Documents
Other groups have worked on specific texts. Draft versions of these texts were presented and
discussed at a meeting of the whole working group in May 2008. On the basis of the feedback
received the sub-groups will revise those texts by October 2008 with a view to publishing a
first version of the framework at the start of 2009. A brief description of the content of the
documents as developed by the various sub-groups follows.
General introduction
It was felt that a short non-technical introduction would be essential, particularly given the fact
that many future users of the framework will not have been part of its development through the
various conferences and seminars. The introduction sets out the aims of the framework and
how the term ‘languages of education’ is both a structural device to identify the different areas
of the curriculum concerned with the development of language (language as subject,
language across the curriculum and foreign language education) but it is also a term which is
intended to embody a commitment to key values central to the work of the Council of Europe:
human rights, plurilingualism, diversity, social cohesion and democratic citizenship.
Assessment and Evaluation
Documents have been written by this group which will form the basis for one of the ‘modules’
on the website and will provide an overview of some of the key issues and challenges. They
will address practical issues related to the possibility of situating assessment for language as
school subject within the wider construct of language(s) of education as well as the need to
reconcile portfolio approaches with more formal testing.
Plurilingual and intercultural education
The concept of plurilingualism has been a key focus underlying the development of the project
and this document seeks to characterise the concept of plurilingual and intercultural education
as simply and accurately as possible. The approach taken in the document has been to
examine briefly a number of aspects as follows.
When addressing plurilingual education a number of basic initial considerations need to be
recognised: all societies are multilingual and multicultural, albeit in different ways; all schools
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are environments open to a plurality of languages and cultures; all languages are plural; all
identities are plural; all types of education are plurilingual and intercultural to varying degrees.
An exploration of the concept of plurilingual and intercultural education needs to address both
what plurilingual and intercultural language is and what it is not. The main components of
plurilingual and intercultural education are identified as: the official majority language(s) of
schooling; at least one other language learnt in-depth; other languages, which are valued
irrespective of their status and position in the curriculum; development of a capacity for
reflecting on language and on the relations between languages and cultures; awarenessraising and preparation (beyond the linguistic dimensions) for intercultural relations and
mediation. Plurilingual and intercultural education means establishing synergy among these
different components within an overall values-based educational project.
The document will address various possible combinations of plurilingual and intercultural
education: all types of plurilingual and intercultural education are realised in specific contexts
and there is no one recipe or recommended methodology; all types of plurilingual and
intercultural education are part of a medium- and long-term process and there is no preferred
method.
Criteria for the feasibility of plurilingual and intercultural education are also addressed: all
types of education are de facto plurilingual and intercultural to varying degrees, but the
educational approach needs to be specifically conceived and constructed in this way and
given its full meaning. The Guide for the Development of Language Education Policies in
Europe2 provides a wide range of suggestions in this connection; the media also have a role
to play alongside the policy-makers, teachers, head teachers and other partners from the
educational community.
Entitlement
The purpose of this document is to address the issue of plurilingual education from the
perspective of entitlement to a quality education for all. The concept of ‘entitlement’ captures
the idea that education is a human right and is thus a basic values issue concerning the
languages of education, and in particular the major languages of schooling.
The current project follows on from the previous work of the Language Policy Division.
Language education must take full account of the plurality and heterogeneity of its target
groups and also pursue clearly defined purposes and pinpoint expectations in terms of the
students’ language skills at different stages and levels of their schooling.
This dual requirement involves linking up student entitlement to the recognition, development
and complexity of their language repertoires and their intercultural competences, with an eye
to personal success and social integration with whatever skills the school explicitly or implicitly
requires of its students in order to guarantee such success and integration.
The issue of characterising standards posited as indicators and descriptors of the target
capacities stands at the crossroads between individual rights and institutional expectations.
The document will aim to provide an inventory of students’ rights in terms of plurilingual and
intercultural language education and match up these rights with specifications vis-à-vis
learning objectives so as to facilitate subsequent contextual construction of standards and
profiles at different schooling levels.
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http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Linguistic/Guide_niveau3_EN.asp
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This study has involved three major assumptions: while plurilingual and intercultural education
is a challenge, an obligation as well as an opportunity for the future of European societies, it
must also be based on the language of schooling, which is the subject taught and the main
vehicle for other types of disciplinary teaching; the relationship between rights and
expectations needs to be conceived from the perspective of the experience which schools
offer their students (leading, inter alia, to a portfolio-oriented approach); very specific attention
must be paid to target groups from deprived or migrant backgrounds, and considering that in
terms of plurilingual and intercultural education such groups deserve just as much if not more
attention than other students.
Language as subject
This document explores the implications of the languages of education perspective for
language as a subject (LS). It does so within the context of addressing the challenges that
modern plurilingual societies within Europe have to deal with in compulsory education with
regard to language education. The document explores what is involved in moving from a
rather traditional approach to language as subject that is in many countries characterised by
a more or less explicit assumption of monolingualism and homogeneity to a conception that
takes into account diversity in various areas (languages, cultures, social groups). This move to
a multi-faceted conception of LS includes an awareness of recent changes in social
environments that are linked to technological developments, such as the advent of the new
media and their demands on young people.
LS is not the only area of the curriculum concerned with developing essential language skills
but LS is a key area in developing knowledge, skills and attitudes in language. Taking into
account this function of LS, the group has started to work in more detail on the dominant
domains of the subject: reading, writing, speaking and listening, reflection on language. The
approach aims at balancing various – often competing – perspectives. Thus, Bildung3 in
language – a central aim within the framework project – sometimes seems to compete with
more functional aims, though the necessity of mastering skills cannot be ignored. Broadening
perspectives includes an explicit approach to diverse learner groups – diverse with respect to
the language repertoire of learners, to social and cultural background, to gender and more.
Special attention is paid to vulnerable learner groups. The document also takes up the issue
of common descriptors and is developing descriptors based on a comparative study of several
national curricula. This work follows up recent developments in the field and contextualises
the descriptors and their use within a broader conception of language education. The work in
progress explicitly addresses policy-makers and curriculum designers in the various countries.
Hence, the group develops key questions for reviewing and designing LS-curricula in
plurilingual education. An important task for the coming months is to work on the two domains
speaking and listening and reflection on language. The work will need constant reviewing in
the light of work that is done in a general perspective on languages of education and on
language across the curriculum in order to synchronise the various efforts.
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Bildung (in German) means developing and bringing out the full potential of a human being, based on his/her
nature, but stimulated and structured by education (nurture). This dynamic concept encompasses both the product
or relative state reached by a human being as well as the process of becoming educated/becoming one's own self.
During this process the mental, cultural and practical capacities as much as the personal and social competencies
are being developed and continuously widened in a holistic way.
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Language Across the Curriculum
This document reinforces the view addressed at the Strasbourg (2006) and Prague (2007)
conferences that language education does not only take place in the subject areas specifically
designed for it but continues in all other subjects, even when they are considered as “nonlinguistic” (like biology, history, maths, the arts or sport). In these contexts, language learning
happens normally in a non explicit way; the communication requirements are often less
obvious to both teachers and students, but they are definitely there: subject learning always
involves language learning at the same time, and communication is an integral part of subject
competence. In addition, the management of classroom learning and the functioning of school
as an institution requires communication skills on the part of the learner which go beyond the
mere subject-specific communicative demands: only if learners master the language(s) of
schooling (in this wider sense) will they be successful and can make full use of what they are
offered at school. Therefore, it is important that students know what is expected of them in
communicative terms, that they are informed about their rights as to the development of the
relevant communication competences. These competences could be described in an explicit
way and taught as part of the curriculum up to a certain level (described as educational
“standards”).
The acquisition of subject-specific knowledge would benefit from a communicative base,
linguistic support and semiotic mediation in general. It is hardly possible without the help of
appropriate strategies of comprehension, production and negotiation of subject meaning.
Communication competence, therefore, is an integral part of an unfolding subject competence
- it is a necessary component of thinking and acting according to subject-specific conventions
and goals.
In particular, the group is working towards identifying the dimensions for a general languages
of schooling framework, focussing on subject-based communication requirements within
certain subjects as well as across subjects, grouping them into certain domains. The goal is to
operationalise the competences thus identified in performative terms in current national
curricula with the help of appropriate descriptors and indicators. This work builds on the three
comparative studies in 2007 analysing selectively the new curricula in England, Germany,
Norway and the Czech Republic as to their communicative demands in History, Mathematics
and the Sciences but for this more targeted work focuses at this stage on the German and
German-speaking countries contexts.
National / Regional events
Several countries (Norway, Slovenia…) are organising national seminars on languages of
schooling to which they are inviting a member of the Council of Europe working group. A
seminar is being organised in Moscow for the CIS countries where the questionnaire for
analysing curricula will be introduced.
Next Steps
It is intended that final drafts of the documents will be presented to the working group at a
meeting in October for discussion and further revision. These along with some of the existing
documents will form the basis for the first stage of the framework on which feedback will be
sought from member states prior to the next European conference in Spring 2009.
M. FLEMING
June 2008
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