Report from the ECML Think Tank and PNF meeting (Dec 2024)
CercleS as a partner of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) of the Council of Europe was invited to a Think tank entitled “Fostering motivation in language education: what role for decision-makers and educators?” co-organised by the ECML and European Commission and held in Graz on 4th December 2024 and the ECML Professional Network Forum (PNF) meeting held on 5th December 2024.
The think-tank (www.ecml.at/motivation) brought together 50 participants from 31 countries and aimed to “strengthen awareness of the importance of addressing motivational issues related to the learning of languages other than/in addition to English; take stock of research trends on motivation and highlight examples of interesting educational practice which are potentially transferable/
adaptable to other counties and contexts; and identify key factors influencing motivation”.
The think tank showcased several project results as examples of good practice; compared major achievements and challenges in different countries in parallel workshops; and concluded with a panel discussion (representatives from the European Commission (Anna Solé Mena), Ministries of Education (Karine Dekeukelaere, BE, Diana Saccardo, IT) Elena Valenzuela (OLBI, Canada) and CercleS (Libor Stepanek)), which reacted to questions collected from the Think tank participants during the day. (see programme)
At the PNF meeting, the members (https://www.ecml.at/Portals/1/documents/PNF/PNF-EN.pdf), including CercleS, informed one another about their activities in 2024. A new ECML-PNF Letter of Intent was discussed, and new EC policies and OECD PISA in language were presented. CercleS informed about the new EC and some of its plans, its events, the success of LLHE and invitation to collaborate on a project focused on the CEFR CV awareness, use and training in individual countries. The project received an enthusiastic reaction, provoked vivid discussion and concluded with confirmation of future support and collaboration from other PNF members.
Here are some points or links of interest:
- a) ECML encouraged PNF members to:
- nominate their representatives to the ECML workshops of the current programme projects.
- share their main events at the ECML International Events Calendar (https://www.ecml.at/resources/internationaleventscalendar/tabid/165/language/en-gb/default.aspx)
- b) EALTA, ALTE and EQUALS presented their plans for conferences and events, as well as materials and programmes they have developed, e.g.
https://ealta.eu/documents/resources/CEFR%20alignment%20handbook.pdf or LAPP (https://www.alte.org/Language-Assessment-Professionalisation)
- c) ECSPM – encourages everybody, individually or as institutions to support and sign the Declaration for Multilingualism in Higher Education (https://ecspm.org/declaration-for-multilingualism-in-higher-education/), and in discussion on LLHE suggested abstracts in other languages than English could be encouraged.
- d) Canadian institutions (OLBI and CCERBAL) have expressed their interest to collaborate more with CercleS, especially on the new project.
Report by Libor Štěpánek
Brno, Czech Republic
6 December 2024
For a pdf version of the report, see below:
