Ministers’ Deputies
Information documents
CM/Inf(2009)24 23 April 2009[1]
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Annual Report of the Governing Board of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the European Centre for Modern Languages (Graz)
to the Committee of Ministers (January-December 2008)
Information document for the GR-C meeting on 19 May 2009
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2. Introduction to the 2008 Annual Report
4. Information, documentation, dissemination
5. ECML programme evaluation and impact of the ECML’s work
6. Co-operation within the Department of Language Education and Policy
7. Co-operation with other institutions
11. Statutory decisions in 2008
Information on
‑ Budget of expenditure 2008
‑ List of ECML publications and CD-ROMs distributed in 2008
‑ Central events in 2008
‑ Expert meetings and missions, network meetings, preparatory meetings and statutory meetings in 2008
‑ List of members of the Governing Board in 2008
‑ List of projects within the ECML medium-term programme 2008-2011
‑ Consultants’ annual report 2008 complemented with statistical data from programme evaluation
‑ Co-operation with Canada
can be found on the website of the Centre at the following address: http://govboard.ecml.at/
The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) in Graz, Austria, is an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, set up in 1994 to promote the learning and teaching of languages in Europe. The ECML currently has 34[2] member states.
The ECML's mission is to support its member states in the implementation of their language education policies taking account of the recommendations of the Council of Europe. It does this by promoting innovative approaches and disseminating good practice in the learning and teaching of modern languages and in this way addresses issues directly related to good quality education as a pre-requisite for social cohesion, intercultural dialogue, and democratic citizenship – priority issues identified for the work of the organisation as a whole at the Warsaw Summit in 2005.
The ECML runs 4-year medium-term and 2-year short-term programmes of projects organised in co-operation with European experts in the field of language education.
Through this programme, consisting of expert meetings, workshops, conferences and research projects to which participants from the member states are invited, the ECML provides a platform for gathering and disseminating information, stimulating discussion and training multipliers in matters related to language education. It also maintains Europe-wide networks for teacher trainers, researchers and educational administrators.
The ECML in Graz, the Language Policy Division (LPD) and the Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Strasbourg together make up the Council of Europe’s Department of Language Education and Policy within Directorate General IV, Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport. The role and activities of the Graz Centre are complementary to those of the Language Policy Division, whose primary responsibilities are the elaboration of policies and guidelines for promoting linguistic diversity and plurilingualism and the development of policy planning and standard-setting reference instruments.
2008 was the first year of the Centre’s third medium-term programme, 2008-2011, entitled Empowering language professionals: Competences – Networks – Impact – Quality.
Empowering language professionals programme
The programme takes place against the backdrop of major developments in the sphere of education involving both the Council of Europe and the European Union. These include the elaboration of a European Indicator of Language Competence, the action programme in the field of lifelong learning (2007-2013), the Lisbon strategy objectives in education and training, the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008) and the United Nations International Year of Languages 2008. It is also a time in which teachers have to contribute to demanding national education reform processes and face up to major challenges, for example, standard-linked tuition and result-oriented assessment, greater autonomy of educational institutions, increasing ethnic and cultural heterogeneity among students and promotion of lifelong or recurrent education.
Within such a context, the ECML is convinced that the key to the realisation of better language teaching and learning processes and results is to be found in increasing awareness of and confidence in the capacities of professionals in language education.
The new programme has four thematic strands:
A. Evaluation;
B. Continuity in language learning;
C. Content and language education;
D. Plurilingual education.
These strands take account of national priorities identified by the Centre’s member states in their language policies.
The vision of empowering teachers highlighted in the programme is pursued through the following objectives:
Following a rigorous selection procedure the Governing Board formally adopted the programme comprising 20 projects – 15 medium-term (3-4 years) and 5 short-term (1-2 years) – in September 2007. All projects were successfully launched in 2008. Further projects focusing on arising needs will be added to the programme in 2010-2011 through a call for tender process.
Accession of Montenegro
Montenegro officially joined the Partial Agreement on the European Centre for Modern Languages on 7 August 2008, becoming the Centre’s 34th member state[3].
In announcing the decision the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Milan Roćen, highlighted the importance of strengthening dialogue, better communication and understanding among countries. To foster a democratic environment, the Centre plays an important role in encouraging quality and innovation in language teaching.
The launch of the new programme generated strong interest among several states which are not yet members of the Partial Agreement. Follow-up contacts by the secretariat proved particularly encouraging in the cases of Canada (see next section), Serbia and Portugal.
Appointment of the new Executive Director
Following an external recruitment procedure involving over 200 candidates, Waldemar Martyniuk was appointed to the post of ECML Executive Director as from 01 October 2008. Mr Martyniuk was formerly based at the Centre for Polish Language and Culture of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, as Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics. He had also previously been seconded to the Language Policy Division for a period of two years where his work focused on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Both the Chair and senior Vice-Chair of the ECML Governing Board attended the interviews in a consultative capacity.
During the ECML Governing Board meeting on 23-24 October the new Director highlighted coherence, co-operation and communication as priority areas which deserved particular attention:
New Chair of the Governing Board
Alan Dobson (UK) was elected to the position of Chair of the Governing Board for the term 2009-2010 replacing Gábor Boldizsár (Hungary), who stepped down at the end of 2008 after having been a member of the ECML’s Bureau for 14 years.
In 2008, the ECML organised 32 programme events in Graz involving a total of 326 participants:
In order to enable teams to present their projects to a wider audience and promote further synergies in the programme 2 expert meetings, involving 8 participants, were held at the venues of large-scale language education conferences related to the themes of the projects. These meetings took place at the 15th World Congress of Applied Linguistics in Essen and the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Fusion conference in Tallinn.
7 national events involving a total of 385 participants were held in 7 of the ECML’s member states:
For these events, the ECML funded an expert mission, covering the cost of one project team member to moderate the national training event and a local coordinator’s fee.
1 event took place within the context of the “Quality training at grassroots level” (QualiTraining2):
· Prague, Czech Republic (24 participants).
In addition, 1 regional workshop was organised within the “Minority languages, collateral languages and
bi-/plurilingual education” (EBP-ICI) project. The event, which was hosted in Lyon, was co-financed and
co-organised by the ECML and the Institut national de recherche pédagogique (INRP) (27 participants).
Within the ECML’s flexible support measures for dissemination and assistance for development needs programme:
Main trends
Launching the third medium-term programme
In 2008, 19 of the 20 new teams met at the ECML to initiate work on their projects[4]. The work of each of the projects is based on a project description specifying the context of the project, its target groups, aims, the expected results and their sustainability. This description is complemented by an overall project management plan developed by the team in liaison with the secretariat. This comprises an action plan, a dissemination plan and an evaluation plan. All information is available to the public via dedicated project websites set up by the ECML for each project www.ecml.at/empowerment.
7 projects are grouped under the ‘Evaluation’ thematic strand. The issues in this area cover assessment and testing as well as quality of evaluation and language education in general. They reflect the need for more practical tools for teacher educators and teachers. Despite the diversity of the project themes and approaches – some of them focusing on the dissemination of existing tools, like the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) publication or the QualiTraining Guide, and others elaborating new training kits, like “Encouraging the culture of evaluation among professionals” (ECEP) and “the Level estimation grid for teachers” (CEF-ESTIM) - the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is used as the key reference point for project developments in this area. The programme consultant’s appraisal of this year’s activities notes that “activities undertaken within the frameworks of the projects are in line with the goals of the strand”, whilst also indicating that, “the full impact of all of the projects on reform processes remains to be seen”.
Projects within the ‘Continuity in language learning’ strand focus on teacher development issues across educational sectors. They promote learner autonomy and lifelong learning approaches such as the use of the European Language Portfolio and ICT by language teachers. Summarising the year’s activities, the programme consultant for the strand indicates that all four projects in this area “make an important contribution to continuity in language learning as the ELP is an important instrument to ensure continuity and ICT on the other hand will be of higher importance in the future and offers possibilities for distance learning and further training of language teachers.”
Projects in the ‘Content and language education’ strand had a promising start in creating transversal synergies. In particular, the two projects dealing with the topic of “Content and Language Integrated Learning through languages other than English” engaged in constructive discussions during their two expert meetings which were scheduled parallel to one another. The positive response to this cross-project collaboration generated motivation to investigate the work of other projects in this strand more closely and to envisage exchange and co-operation in 2009. The programme consultant of this strand praised another common feature of the 5 projects in this area, “the very idea of integrating language and content with the promotion of plurilingual and intercultural approaches contributes to better quality of language education in Europe”.
‘Plurilingual education’ is at the core of the mission of the ECML - projects in this strand are expected to contribute in a significant way to the implementation of Council of Europe and European Commission policy on plurilingualism. In his review of the project results achieved in 2008, the programme consultant of this strand anticipates that they “can make an important and coherent contribution to plurilingual education”. The “Language associations and collaborative support” (LACS) project differs from others in this strand in that its focus is not on concrete educational approaches but rather on the promotion of synergies between the work of the ECML and the activities of teachers’ associations. As developments are taking place in parallel with the EU sponsored European Network of Language Teachers Associations (REAL 2), there is a clear challenge for the project to establish efficient communication methods for key stakeholders in this area.
Project management
The ECML introduced a number of new features designed to support project communication and administration with the overall objective of enhancing quality within the ECML programme. Special attention was given in particular to the review, finalisation and implementation of the new ECML programme evaluation scheme (see details under section 5).
Project teams generally consist of four experts in the field of their project theme, coming from different ECML member states. As a means of promoting the work of the ECML in non-member states, the Centre has accepted to include experts from non-member states, Italy, Portugal and Belgium, in five project teams. Within the framework of co-operation with the Canadian partner, the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) (see section 7) experts from Canada participate in 6 of projects of the programme. The secretariat has asked team coordinators to designate two distinctive roles to qualified team members as a way of guaranteeing close involvement of team members in dissemination and in plurilingual issues:
As it is the first experience of working with the ECML for more than half of team members, substantial time was devoted during the project launch meetings to introducing the work of the Council of Europe in the area of languages. By making this context of ECML project work explicit and encouraging teams to actively establish links between their project with the Centre and their own networks a basis was laid for a new generation of ECML experts to act as key players in dissemination.
Development of the new programme and project websites
The ECML set up an interactive website for coordinators (http://coordination.ecml.at) based on a Content Management System. This website functions as a platform for internal communication between coordinators, consultants and the secretariat. It has already proved to be an effective online instrument for supporting project management and evaluation.
The site, which is also accessible through the address http://www.ecml.at/empowerment, serves as the key entry point to the new programme for the wider public. All projects are listed under their respective thematic area and the individual project websites can be accessed through this reference site. Alternatively, the project websites can be accessed by using the project acronym in first place followed by ‘ecml.at’, i.e. for the case of the CARAP project. http://carap.ecml.at.
Through this provision, each of the projects now has an instrument at its disposal which can support its work in a number of ways:
Ø as an ‘intranet’, enabling coordinators to liaise with the ECML and the programme consultants (in particular: setting and reporting on annual objectives, agreeing upon dates for project activities, submitting and archiving relevant documentation);
Ø as a platform for networking with project participants and piloting materials which also documents the project process;
Ø as an ‘extranet’ website, communicating to/interacting with a wider audience and publishing and disseminating project output.
The first year of operation with the new system has proved an experimental and developmental phase. Together with the teams, the secretariat explored the technical potential, the practical needs of the users and limitations set by the system and in resources available. For all website correspondents training was provided; some teams even asked for training of all team members. All sites have developed substantially over the year even though some projects are, for the time being, restricting themselves to a minimum of updates. Other projects have made thorough use of the tool and are now benefitting from the elaborated interactive features. Some of the projects have already developed the space available for the public into attractive sites full of practical resources (e.g. http://epostl2.ecml.at , http://elp-tt2.ecml.at).
Although the experimental phase has not yet achieved all initial expectations in terms of ease of implementation and user-friendliness, feedback from teams has been positive. Teams have, in general, developed a sense of ownership of their websites and recognise the potential benefits of active use, in particular for networking and dissemination purposes.
The aims of the European Day of Languages, declared an annual event by the Committee of Ministers in 2001, are to:
· alert the public to the importance of language learning;
· increase awareness and appreciation of ALL the languages spoken in Europe;
· encourage lifelong language learning.
The Day is coordinated jointly by the European Centre for Modern Languages and the Language Policy Division.
On 26 September 2008, the eighth European Day of Languages was celebrated across Europe. Visits to the EDL website (www.coe.int/edl) have increased significantly year by year since the site’s establishment in 2002. Between June – October 2008, the EDL website received over 1 million hits and more events were recorded in the EDL database of activities by 26 September than in any other year to date:
The workshop held at the ECML premises this year in celebration of the Day was from the “Content based teaching + Plurilingual/cultural awareness” (ConBaT+) project. The project’s focus on promoting plurilingualism and pluriculturalism made it a natural choice for the EDL and the project team took up the challenge enthusiastically of adding a special EDL ‘flavour’, developing a special weblog for the Day.
In the EDL 'language treasures' database the Portuguese word 'saudade' topped the polls for 2008. The idea of the database, which was set up in 2006, is to compile a list of words from different languages which no translation can do justice to. Saudade was submitted more often than any other word to the database in 2008. In Portuguese it (roughly!) expresses a feeling of missing and longing for something or someone.
Among the large-scale media events celebrating the EDL a conference entitled "Etats Généraux du Multilinguisme" took place at the Sorbonne in Paris. It was organised by the French presidency of the European Union and the Council of Europe was represented by the Head of the Department for Language Education and Policy and the ECML's Head of Programmes. In the publicity material produced for the conference, a full page was devoted to the promotion of the Council of Europe's EDL website.
It is planned for 2009 to run a ‘slimline’ survey based on the statistics available and interviews/questionnaire feedback with identified focus groups as this could provide useful indications for how the Council could most effectively provide support for the Day in years to come.
Communication, Documentation and Resource Centre
In 2008 a restructuring process began within the documentation and resource centre.
The basic ‘library’ function of the documentation and resource centre was reduced and its main orientations revised. The centre’s key functions are now to play a coordinating role for the network of ECML national contact points and for the production and dissemination of ECML products. As the majority of the Centre’s products are web-based and even paper-based materials can easily be converted into an electronic format, it represents a logical progression for the functions of the resource centre and the Centre’s website to merge. With the adoption and wider implementation of the ECML content management system it is no longer necessary to have separate entities for providing content and making it available online. One unit, which is in a position to be able to assess user-needs and develop promotional materials accordingly, is now responsible for both functions.
The increased importance of the “wider professional communication of the benefits arising from its work”[5] was also addressed in the restructuring process. With a greater emphasis on the promotion and ‘marketing’ of the Centre’s work it is envisaged that the ECML can raise its profile as a key actor in the field of language education in Europe. The appointment of a former web coordinator/ press officer assistant from the Directorate of Communication in May to the renamed ‘Communication, Documentation and Resource Centre has helped to facilitate this process.
Publication in professional journals
In 2008, efforts to place an article about the work of the ECML in well-known professional journals have been pursued. In the July issue of the journal Language Teaching (Cambridge University Press) under the section “Research in progress”, the ECML published an article entitled: “The European Centre for Modern Languages: recent projects”. This summary article contains contributions from the following ECML authors:
In addition, ECML coordinators and team members are publishing progress and results of their projects in journals of their networks.
ECML programme-related documentation
[For more information see http://www.ecml.at/]
The following resources were published in 2008:
Promotional materials:
· brochure of the ECML’s third medium-term programme of activities 2008-2011 entitled "Empowering language professionals: Competences - Networks - Impact - Quality",
· European Language Gazette: issues 13 (spring/summer) and 14 (autumn/winter),
· ECML list of publications (updated)
· updated version of the leaflet on the ECML Communication, Documentation and Resource Centre.
· 4 bilingual ECML posters,
· insert for the ECML flyer with details on the current programme,
· trilingual flyer on the ECML as part of the Conference folder for participants at the World Congress for Applied Linguistics,
· new ECML PowerPoint presentation available via the Centre’s website in three languages;
· promotional film on the ECML.
Translation of ECML publications
In 2008 the ECML and the Council of Europe approved eight translation requests for the following publications of the Centre:
1) Four requests for translation into Hungarian from the Hungarian Institute for Education (Budapest, Hungary):
2) Four requests for translation of the following publication:
Newby, David / Allan, Rebecca / Fenner, Anne-Brit / Jones, Barry / Komorowska, Hanna / Soghikyan, Kristine (eds.), European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages - A reflection tool for language teacher education
These are in addition to the translation requests approved in 2007 for this publication: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Lithuanian and Polish.
Information and dissemination
National Contact Points (NCP)
The ECML’s Contact Points are the agencies in each member state and in Canada which disseminate the Centre’s products and information on its work to national professional networks.
In February, April and July 2008, the results of the second medium-term programme of the ECML (2004-2007) were distributed to the NCPs according to their requests (i.e. over 5,100 publications, CD-ROMs, reports and flyers).
A new website dedicated to the NCPs was established with the assistance of the Contact Points (http://contactpoints.ecml.at). The site offers a national page for each country and provides a platform for communication among the network.
The activity reports submitted by the NCPs for 2007 which highlight good practice and expertise in the field of dissemination at the national level are also available via the national pages - summary versions of the documents can be viewed by the wider public, with the full version of the reports available only via restricted access.
A workshop for the NCPs, coordinated by Terry Lamb, Gábor Boldizsár and the ECML secretariat was held at the Centre on 11-12 September 2008. The event enabled the Contact Points to take stock of developments since their last meeting in 2004 and to exchange information and experience on their work. The specific objectives of the event were to:
The event proved highly successful - the Action plans outlining further information and communication activities drafted by each NCP for publication on the website; demonstrate the high level of commitment of the Contact Points in promoting the work of ECML.
As a result of the workshop the national pages of the website were further customised according to individual needs (access languages in addition to French and English, discussion forum for national networks and/or a calendar, etc.).
The European Language Gazette, the ECML online newsletter
In June and December 2008, the ECML online newsletter was distributed to 5,344 subscribers; the number of subscriptions increased by 18% in comparison with 2007.
Important mailings
Results of the 2004-2007 projects
The publications, CD-ROMs and reports resulting from the second medium-term programme (2004-2007) - totalling 37 products - can be classified in the following categories:
Each publication was sent by post to the following target groups (21,500 publications in total sent to approximately 2,400 contacts):
In addition, the ECML responded to 200 individual orders from 32 countries.
Third medium-term programme (2008-2011)
Between July and September 2008, the Empowering language professionals brochure of the new programme of activities 2008-2011 was sent to over 800 ECML contacts, including the Governing Board, the National Nominating Authorities, the National Contact Points, the coordination teams and the consultants of the first, second and third ECML programme of activities, the partners of the Austrian Association of the ECML, the Steering Committee for Education of the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representatives.
Travelling exhibition
The Centre’s travelling exhibition consists of twenty-two stands presenting the projects of the second medium-term programme Languages for social cohesion (2004-2007). The ECML sends the stands to partners wishing to promote the work of the Centre.
In 2008, the exhibition was displayed in part or in its entirety within the framework of 27 conferences and other major events in the field of language education organised in 11 member states and Canada:
- Austria (8 events),
- Canada (2 events),
- Estonia (1 event),
- France (5 events),
- Germany (1 event),
- Greece (1 event),
- Italy (1 event),
- Lithuania (1 event),
- Romania (1 event),
- Spain (3 events),
- "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (1 event),
- United Kingdom (2 events).
Among the highlights was the exhibition held at the Council of Europe presenting the work of the Department of Language Education and Policy (24-28 November) which was opened by the Secretary General. The event was organised together with the Language Policy Division and the Secretariat of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages during the 1042nd meeting of Ministers’ Deputies. It coincided with the meetings of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the European Language Portfolio Validation Committee of the Council of Europe and the International seminar on Teaching Romani. This event represented an excellent opportunity to disseminate the ECML’s products and achievements to high-level decision-makers as well as to European language experts.
The ECML also participated in the 15th World Congress for Applied Linguistics: AILA 2008 – Multilingualism: challenges and opportunities (Essen, Germany, 24-29 August 2008) which brought together 1,600 experts in the field of applied linguistics. The Centre organised a symposium involving 6 project coordinators from its Languages for social cohesion programme in addition to its participation within the conference exhibition.
The participation of the Deputy Director in the press conference on the eve of the event also resulted in a radio interview with the national broadcaster Deutschlandfunk and a press article.
Publications downloaded from the ECML website
The results of the ECML projects are distributed free of charge as long as stocks last. All products can also be downloaded from the web section dedicated to the ECML publications: http://www.ecml.at/publications. In addition, ECML publications are sold through the Council of Europe online bookshop: http://book.coe.int.
Since February 2008, visitors to the site downloading a publication have been invited to indicate their e-mail address and country of residence. 710 persons from 76 countries entered their details. In 2009, these contacts will be used for conducting a readers’ feedback survey.
Requests for information
The CDRC answered 415 requests for information and documentation[6] from 44 different countries.
Visits
In addition to visitors participating in scheduled programme activities, some 150 other persons (mainly students and teachers) were also received at the CDRC.
Specific support for projects
The Communication Documentation and Resource Centre offered its services to participants at central workshops:
The CDRC also supervised the distribution of materials for the regional events.
Communication measures
Visibility – defining ECML´s visibility plan
In line with the Council of Europe’s Communication Strategy contacts were taken up with the Directorate of Communication and its specialised services to discuss the development of a plan to raise visibility of the Centre.
The initial benefits of this collaboration were free access to the Council of Europe’s photograph databank, the Council’s daily press review and the possibility to record podcasts.
Tools to promote the ECML
At the ECML national contact points meeting in September concrete promotional tools were presented: such as the PowerPoint documents for general presentations, posters highlighting the projects of the third programme and a 6-minute promotional film on the ECML.
Press and media contacts
A database with contacts to the local, regional, national and international press in Austria was established. Contacts were established with the Austrian national news agency APA and its service provider APA-OTS which proved to be of use in the distribution process of press releases or notes to editors, news or photo alerts on a European level.
Press review
A press review demonstrating the media outreach of the activities of the Centre in 2008 was compiled and published on the Centre’s website and posted within the ECML premises. This included press articles on the arrival of the new Director and European Day of Languages 2008 coverage by France 3 Alsace, Tele 5, and ORF Austria reflecting the ongoing high level of interest of the media. The day-long radio coverage of the EDL 2008 event with interviews of the Centre´s staff members at the ORF in Graz, also proved a success for the regional outreach of the Centre.
2008 represented a challenging year in the further development of the ECML web platform. As indicated in section 2, significant staff resources were devoted to the initial set-up and customisation of the new content management system for use within the ECML and subsequently to developing collaborative working platforms for the 20 projects within the programme, training the designated ‘web correspondent/s’ within each team to upload content to the sites and to servicing the network of website correspondents and making technical modifications where required.
The most immediate benefit of the new platform has been in facilitating the networking function within projects. This was particularly visible where an operational network was established following an ECML central event with a specific function, such as piloting of materials/testing new approaches or conducting a survey. The platform enabled members of the network to remain in contact with their peers and with the team and to report back on progress. The platform clearly supports the work of projects and also makes the working process more transparent.
As referred to in section 3, the new content management system was introduced for the National Contact Points and for the Governing Board. In 2009 it is envisaged to extend it to the European Day of Languages website and to the general website of the ECML.
Two new web servers were installed for the hosting of the ECML content management system and for Moodle, an open source e-learning software platform, so far used by the “Developing Online Teaching Skills” (DOTS) project to impressive effect.
Substantial work was carried out on the further promotion of the ECML publications. In 2008 a summary page with links to all project results from the Languages for social cohesion programme was set up http://www.ecml.at/socialcohesion. Since June 2008 ECML publications were downloaded over 200,000 times from the Centre’s website, with the European Portfolio for Student Language Teachers, alone, downloaded over 30,000 times. In 2009 the Centre will look into ways of further facilitating access to publications and promoting the results of its work to target groups.
The ECML’s vocation to be a reference point for international activities organised in the context of the teaching and learning of modern languages continued to find justification in the increasing use which is made of the “International Events Calendar” on its website. Numerous events held in the member states and beyond are regularly added to this database.
Statistics[7]
Programme consultants
The four programme consultants appointed for the Centre’s 2008-2011 programme are:
· Isabel Landsiedler, Karl Franzens Universität, Graz;
· Frank Heyworth, European Association of Quality Language Services (EAQUALS);
· Hanna Komorowska, Warsaw University;
· José Joaquin Moreno Artesero, Consejería de Educación, Comunidad de Madrid, replaced in the second half of he year, due to personal reasons, by Waldemar Martyniuk, and from 2009 onwards by Sauli Takala, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Their principal tasks are:
The use of consultants in the ECML’s programme is designed to contribute to transparency and visibility within the Centre’s work. Their role is nevertheless advisory: the ECML Secretariat and the Governing Board, who are informed of communications between the consultants and the coordinators or project teams, remain responsible for decisions on all matters linked to the programme.
In 2008, the main objective of the consultants’ work was, in collaboration with the ECML Head of Programmes, to support the launching of the third medium-term programme projects, to comment on their annual plans and to write their annual evaluation of projects’ progress.
Implementation of the new ECML programme evaluation scheme
In the Evaluative report on the activities of the European Centre for Modern Languages adopted by the Governing Board in February 2006, it was recommended that the ECML ‘…take further steps to ensure systematic and effective evaluation of the quality and impact of its activities, products and services and wider professional communication of the benefits arising from its work.’
As a result, the ECML Secretariat set up a working group, assisted by Christopher Tribble, an expert on evaluation who had worked on the Evaluative report, and Frank Heyworth, ECML programme consultant, with the task of developing evaluation procedures to be integrated into the new programme from 2008.
The aim of such procedures was to assist the Centre in achieving coherence in evaluation, in providing transparency to stakeholders and in promoting more reflective work and self-evaluation within projects in the third medium-term programme. The results of these evaluative instruments will provide valuable data for an annual statistical report.
An annual cycle for issues related to project management was implemented in 2008:
All individual evaluation tools (report templates, questionnaires, etc.) were initially piloted in 2007 and a complete set of the tools has been compiled in a dossier (hard-copy and online) for team access. Due to the comprehensive nature of evaluation scheme, time had to be set aside at the 2008 meetings launching the projects to explain the objectives, the structure and the tasks involved for teams. Over the course of the year, feedback on the application of the scheme was collected by the secretariat which was discussed at the consultants’ meeting in December and, as a result, final changes to the scheme were adopted.
Benefits after the first year of implementation:
The overall acceptance of the scheme by all actors involved can be taken as an indicator of the willingness to look at project work as a learning experience and the ECML as a learning institution.
Statistical evidence of impact: data from participants of ECML activities
71 % of the 255 participants of workshops, network meetings and regional workshops completed the post-event evaluation questionnaire.
The following data summarises the responses given to a set of questions relating directly to the objectives of the programme 2008-2011. This information is not a direct measurement of impact with regard to concrete action in member states but can serve as an indicator of impact:
Objective 1: enhancing the professional competence of language teachers
Ø 95 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the event has contributed to developing their professional competence.
Objective 2: strengthening professional networks and the wider community of language educators
Ø 98 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the event has motivated them to become more active in networking with the professional community.
Objective 3: enabling language professionals to have greater impact on reform processes
Ø 93 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the event encouraged them to play a more influential role in reform processes in their professional environment.
Objective 4: contributing to better quality of language education in Europe
Ø 89 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the event highlighted quality aspects of language education that they will promote in their professional environment.
As from 2009, this data will be complemented by figures relating to actions undertaken by participants as a result of their learning experience at an ECML activity. This data will be collected using a further tool within the ECML programme evaluation scheme: an impact questionnaire sent out to all participants of central workshops six months after the event. As these activities were only held in the second half of 2008, there is not yet sufficient data available for the 2008 report.
Feedback on logistics and organisation of events from participants of ECML activities
The information on achievement of programme objectives was complemented by the following assessment of administrative support:
· 97 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that pre-event administrative information from the ECML Secretariat / from the organisers was good;
· 99 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the event facilities were good;
· 100% of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the service provided by ECML staff / the organisers was good;
· 96 % of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that accommodation and travel arrangements were good.
Co-operation with the Language Policy Division (LPD) within the Council of Europe’s Department of Language Education and Policy is an integral part of the functioning of the ECML.
Within the Centre’s 2008-2011 programme, several projects have close links to the LPD’s work. The Secretariats of both units are active in promoting complementarity and coherence between work undertaken and ensuring that relevant results of the ECML’s work feed into the Division’s work, where appropriate, and vice-versa.
The two projects linked to the implementation of the European Language Portfolio (“ELP-WSU” and
“ELP-TT2”) represent good examples of such synergies. Further projects, in the ‘Evaluation’ strand, offer training in relating language examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and in the ‘Plurilingual education’ strand, relating to the teaching of minority languages and to the languages of schooling will also be closely coordinated with the LPD.
To underline the increasing importance of the ECML’s role in the implementation of the ELP and ensure synergies, it was decided already in 2007 that there would be reciprocal representation of the European Validation Committee (EVC) and the Governing Board of the ECML when discussions in these bodies warranted it. The Chair of the EVC, attended the October 2008 meeting of the Governing Board in Graz in order to participate in the discussion on the new medium-term programme progress. Similarly, a representative of the Governing Board attended the meeting of the EVC in Strasbourg. EVC meetings are also attended by the Centre’s Deputy Executive Director/Head of Programmes.
Finally, as each year, the ECML and the Language Policy Division cooperated closely in the organisation of the European Day of Languages (see section 3).
Co-operation with the European Commission
In 2008, the ECML continued its efforts to intensify co-operation with the relevant units of the EU. The Centre was pleased to welcome the Head of the Commission’s Multilingualism Policy Unit to its premises.
Harald Hartung, Head of the Multilingualism Policy Unit, took part in the ECML Governing Board meeting in October 2008 where he presented an update on the European Commission’s work on multilingualism. There are several examples of the Council and the Commission taking up and building upon each other’s work in the area of languages. The three examples below illustrate in a particularly interesting way the synergies possible between the work of the Council and the Commission.
The “CEF-ESTIM” project is one of the activities constituting the ‘Evaluation’ strand of the Centre’s current programme. It focuses on further adapting the ’Dutch CEFR Grid’ for teachers for use in linking teaching tasks to the levels of the CEFR. The Grid was originally developed under the auspices of a European Commission project as an on-line tool for the analysis of testing tasks in terms of categories and levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)[8].
The European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages, piloted for implementation in the “EPOSTL2” project, also draws on the results of the European Commission funded European Profile for Language Teacher Education - a Frame of Reference produced by Southampton University (UK).
Other projects from the Centre’s Languages for social cohesion programme (2004-2007) involving co-operation with the European Union are D4 “LCaS” which worked in complementarity with the EU Lingua project “EXPLICS” and B3 “ICOPROMO” which benefited from a project in the framework of an EU Leonardo programme.
Other co-operation
Following co-operation with several experts from Canada in projects in the 2004-2007 medium-term programme, joint initiatives for a more formalised co-operation between Canada and the ECML led to the signing of a “Memorandum on Co-operation and Liaison between the European Centre for Modern Languages and the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI), University of Ottawa” in January 2008. According to this memorandum OLBI acts as the national liaison office and contact point for the ECML in Canada by facilitating the participation of Canadian experts in ECML activities and by disseminating ECML work across the country to relevant institutions. The strategic objective of this co-operation, as stated in the memorandum, is to create favourable conditions for full Canadian membership of the ECML.
Six of the 20 projects (“LACS”, “EBP-ICI”, “CONBAT+”, “ELP-WSU”, “DOTS”, and “ECEP”) within the current programme now benefit from the participation of Canadian experts selected by OLBI. Their involvement is fully funded by the Canadian authorities. To take stock of the added value and the impact of the co-operation with Canada, feedback from these participants is collected by the ECML on a regular basis. The OLBI has drafted an evaluative report summarising the first year of implementation of the memorandum and providing an outlook on action planned for 2009.
Co-operation and exchange between language experts from Japan and the ECML in 2008 focused on the key policy tools developed by the Language Policy Division and the ECML, in particular on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). In this context a delegation from Japan attended the ‘ELP in whole-school use’ ELP-WSU seminar in Graz on 29-31 October.
Both the ECML and the Language Policy Division were represented at the event: “Euro-Arab Days: towards a better mutual comprehension” coordinated by the Council of Europe and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) in Tunis on 27 and 28 October. Initial contacts were established at the conference which will facilitate further discussions with ALECSO in 2009 on possible co-operation.
Co-operation with the World Federation of Modern Language Associations (FIPLV) provides the basis for the “LACS” project which focuses on the dissemination of the results of the ECML’s work through the networks of language teacher associations. FIPLV is unique in being the only international multilingual association of teachers of languages. It has Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) ‘operational relations’ status with UNESCO and has ‘participatory’ status as an NGO with the Council of Europe. The FIPLV world council meeting took place at the ECML in April 2008. On this occasion the ECML contribution to this co-operation (also through providing a postal address for FIPLV and hosting its archive) received warm recognition and the Centre was assured that FIPLV’s existing channels of communication with its worldwide network will be open to the ECML as a platform for dissemination.
Other institutions acting as cooperating partners in projects of the new programme are the European Association for Quality in Language (EAQUALS), the Dutch Institute for Educational Measurement (CITO), the CLIL Cascade Network (CCN), the National Association of Language Advisers, UK, the Institut national de recherche pédagogique (INRP), the European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education (CercleS) and Moscow State Linguistic University.
At local level, the ECML actively participated in the founding of ‘Sprachennetzwerk Graz’, a city of Graz network on languages (see section 10). The ECML is a key partner through its European dimension and expertise.
Within the 2008-2011 programme the direct costing of project activities has been based upon an overall figure of €2.25 million. This figure is estimated as the absolute minimum operational budget necessary to run a high-quality, effective programme given the current the level of staffing (11 full-time staff members).
In establishing the programme, the Secretariat has sought to balance the numbers of activities equitably over the four years of the programme so that the budget required for each of the years is approximately the same.
The 2008 budget of the ECML, comprising €1,598,500 in member state contributions, was approved on 27 November 2007 at the 1012th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies. This was supplemented by a carry-over of approximately €237,500 from the 2007 programme account and €75,000 from the staffing and overheads budget. The ECML’s working budget in 2008 therefore totalled €1,911,000. The large carry over from the previous year’s budget resulted primarily from late invoicing of 19 publications from the Languages for social cohesion programme (2004-2007).
Total expenditure for the year amounted to € 1.57 million (status 10 February 2009). The following categories represented the major areas of programme expenditure in 2008 (2007 figures in brackets):
Although the average travel costs of a participant/expert rose in 2008 compared to previous years, due principally to unavoidable increases in the price of airplane tickets, the Centre was able to partially offset this in other areas:
In order to achieve greater accountability and transparency within the Empowering language educators programme, all honoraria related to projects are now covered through an annual project coordination fee. In the past coordinators and team members received fees based upon their involvement in individual workshops, regional events, national events and for the submission of the final publication manuscript. They were only entitled to receive a small coordination fee in years where they were not involved in any fee-paying events. Although the new system does not reduce the Centre’s expenditure in honoraria it represents further recognition of the ongoing nature of project-related work and clearly defines the roles fulfilled by the team members (coordinator, website correspondent, second language documentalist). The new system has achieved positive feedback and been appreciated by the expert teams working with the Centre.
With regard to staffing, the arrivals of the new Executive Director in the autumn and an Administrative Assistant and a Communication Assistant in the first half of the year mean that the Centre is now fully staffed.
The Secretary General requested that all Partial Agreements base proposals for 2009 on zero real growth. The draft budget was therefore prepared on the basis of an overall total of €1.604 million, with the small rise compared with 2008 relating to incremental increases in staffing costs and the change in status of three members of staff to fixed-term contracts.
Although the ECML budget has remained static or even fallen in recent years, the Austrian host authorities, who bear the main costs related to the running of the Centre and of its infrastructure, have been forced to increase their budget by 17% to approximately €440,000. The rise reflects increases in rent, electricity and the need to replace technical equipment such as the interpretation system, computer servers and workstations.
In order to carry out all activities foreseen within the programme adopted by the Board it would be necessary to increase the programme budget by approximately €25,000 Euros (1.6% of the overall budget) for 2010 and 2011. Even with the proposed increase, which would bring the programme budget back to its 2007 level, the Centre has lost flexibility within its core budget to carry out activities which were not originally foreseen in the planning of the 4 year programme. To be able to deal with emerging needs/special assistance the Centre now needs either to bring in new member states, attract third-party funding through co-operation projects, recuperate costs from certain areas or request voluntary contributions from existing member states.
At its 17th meeting the Governing Board expressed its strong support for the proposed increase in the programme budget of the Centre for 2010-2011 and its gratitude to the host authorities for the large-scale investment in the ECML which significantly reduces the overall outlay required from other members of the Partial Agreement.
The ECML has eleven full-time staff: eight permanent (posts) and three temporary (positions). The Centre also offers up to eight six-month traineeships each year to young graduates.
A number of changes took place within the Secretariat in 2008:
· Nathalie Gignoux was appointed as Administrative Support Assistant at the ECML and took up her functions in January. She formerly worked with the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Strasbourg and has previous working experience in financial institutions both in London and Brussels;
· Anna Kehl, formerly with the Directorate of Communication as a Web Coordinator / Press Officer Assistant, took up her functions at the Centre in May as Assistant Webmaster/Communication Assistant on a fixed-term contract of up to 5 years;
· Elke Göttl-Resch and Perrine Lamacq, the Centre’s two remaining temporary staff members at the beginning of the year were successful in the Council of Europe recruitment competition for temporary members of staff. As a result they qualified for fixed-term contracts for a period of up to five years.
The Centre also welcomed a total of eight trainees in 2008:
· Emmanuelle Audureau (France) – Programme;
· Myrto Gatsiou (Greece) – Website;
· Urszula Bolcun (Poland) – Resource Centre;
· Patricia Sáez Lahuerta (Spain) – Programme;
· Stefanie Öttl (Austria) – Programme;
· Mircea-Stefan Racoviceanu (Romania) – Website;
· Christina Fleischhacker (Austria) – Resource Centre;
· Aleksandra Zivkovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Administration.
The Austrian Association of the ECML (Verein EFSZ in Österreich) acts as the local partner of the ECML in Graz, thereby fulfilling Austria’s commitment as host country to provide a seat for the Centre and a local secretariat. Its main function is to maintain and develop the premises of the ECML and provide assistance in day-to-day logistics. It also plays a valuable role in acting as an interface between the Centre and local, national and regional bodies.
As part of this function, the Austrian Association organises initiatives and facilitates synergies between the ECML and the region. It supports events aimed at a broader interested local or regional public and works to facilitate the transfer of ECML project results to the region.
In the framework of the ECML’s medium-term programmes, the Association organises a series of events entitled: CONTEXT - Connecting tertiary education experts. The aim of these is to make the Centre’s work better known locally by inviting ECML experts to take part in an event connected to a subject matter of one of the project. The target group for these lectures, presentations or round table discussions are an audience of university students and teachers from Austria.
Another contribution to the dissemination process for the ECML’s work in Austria is the support that the Association provides to central activities for multipliers of the Graz-based Austrian Centre for Language Competence (ÖSZ – which is also the ECML’s Austrian contact point).
The Association has also invited all institutions in Graz involved in the field of languages to come together in the Sprachennetzwerk Graz (the Graz Language Network). This provides a platform for building up and strengthening synergies and exchange of information. Beyond the general objective of promoting plurilingualism, the Network aims to make the competences of the institutions based in Graz more visible both nationally and at European level and to underline the city’s specificity as a place of language-related expertise.
When the ECML’s premises are not being used for its programme activities, they may be used by outside institutions to host activities corresponding to the Centre’s vocation. The fact that the Graz Centre is one of the external Council of Europe offices has made it an obvious choice for events organised by or in co-operation with the Council of Europe, such as the workshops held in the framework of its “Pestalozzi” training programme for education professionals. At the same time, national educational activities are held at the Centre whenever possible, one example being the dissemination events organised by the Austrian Centre for Language Competence. A number of external international meetings and conferences have thus been attracted to Graz, drawn by the prestige of the ECML. These events raise the profile of the Centre and help to establish its reputation as an international meeting point within the region. External usage also provides a contribution to the considerable costs borne by the Austrian authorities for the provision of the ECML facilities.
Selected external events in 2008:
- 21–22 February 2008
Council of Europe seminar “Policies and practices for teaching socio-cultural diversity” organised by Directorate General IV, Division “European Dimension of education”
- 27–29 March 2008
Pestalozzi Workshop: "Plurilingualism, Diversity and Social Integration in Schools" / "Plurilingualismus und Schule" organised by the Austrian Ministry of Education and the Austrian Association
- 11–13 April 2008
Executive Board meeting and Meeting of the World Council of the World Federation of Modern Language Associations (FIPLV)
- 22 April 2008
CONTEXT event: “Uncovering CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning in Europe):
Trends, Scenarios and Challenges for Higher Education” organised by the Austrian Association
- 24–25 April 2008
Meeting of Austrian ECML multipliers 2008 “Stimuli for teacher education – potential for structural development” organised by the Austrian Centre for Language Competence
- 8–10 October 2008
Council of Europe Workshop “Pestalozzi module for trainer training on media literacy and human rights, module A” organised in the framework of the Council of Europe training programme for education professionals by Directorate General IV, Division “European Dimension of education”
17th Governing Board Meeting
Appointment of a New ECML Executive Director
The members of the Governing Board warmly welcomed the appointment of the new Executive Director of the ECML, Waldemar Martyniuk. Mr Martyniuk took up his functions on 01 October 2008 replacing the previous Director Adrian Butler (2003-2008).
Co-operation with ALECSO
The members of the Board gave their support to the ECML’s involvement in a major conference organised jointly by the Council of Europe and ALECSO (The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization) in Tunis in November. It was envisaged that the contacts made at the conference would enable the Centre to develop future co-operation with the Organisation particularly within the intercultural area of its work.
The Governing Board expressed its strong support for the proposed increase of €25,000 in the programme budget of the Centre for 2010-2011 which would enable the ECML to carry out all activities foreseen within the medium-term programme adopted by the Board.
The Board expressed its gratitude to the Austrian host authorities for the large-scale investment in the ECML which significantly reduced the overall outlay required from other members of the Partial Agreement. Members agreed to lobby their representatives on the Committee of Ministers with regard to the increase in the programme budget, where this was felt necessary.
The members of the Board congratulated the Secretariat on the thorough work which had been carried out in developing a comprehensive programme evaluation system and requested that the results of workshop questionnaires also be included on the Governing Board website so that members could easily access this information.
Board members also highlighted the need to look at the results achieved in the piloting phase before taking further decisions about how the system could best be applied.
The members of the Bureau had also suggested at their 38th meeting that the Secretariat inform the Directorate for Strategic Planning of the development of the system as it could serve as a an example of evaluation within the Council of Europe.
Call for short-term projects for 2010-2011
The Board decided that a Call for tender for the following areas should be organised by the Secretariat:
The Governing Board also requested that the Secretariat look into mobility in language education with a view to including a project on this topic within the Call. Although the European Commission was active in this area, sufficient scope existed to allow the ECML to assist the member states on a theme which was increasingly relevant in today’s society.
With regard to the dissemination of the Curriculum Framework for Romani, which was developed by the Language Policy Division, the ECML was asked to investigate feasible means of co-operation. Although it was recognised that this was an area which did not directly concern all member states it represented both a Council of Europe priority and a theme which several states were keen to advance.
The Secretariat was asked to draft the Call for tender for discussion at the 41st meeting of the Bureau of the Governing Board in February 2009, and for subsequent submission to the full Governing Board.
2nd medium-term programme report
At their 38th meeting, the Bureau members agreed that as the 4-year report was not a statutory obligation, and as only one document could be presented to the Committee of Ministers, the report of the 4-year Languages for Social Cohesion programme should be limited to a statistical and financial summary with a short introduction making reference to the four separate annual reports of the 2nd medium-term programme.
The final report was adopted by the members of the Board at their 17th meeting. The Board members also noted that country participation statistics would be sent directly to respective Governing Board members and National Nominating Authorities and posted, for restricted viewing only, on the national pages of the Contact Points website.
Election of the members of the Bureau for the term 2009-2010
In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Governing Board, the following members were elected by secret ballot to the Bureau of the Governing Board:
Chair – Alan Dobson (1st term);
Vice-Chair – Irena Mašková (1st term);
Bureau member – Eyjólfur Már Sigurðsson (1st term);
Bureau member – Eva Engdell, Member (1st term);
Bureau member – Vesselina Ganeva (1st term) – for 2009 only.
Translation of ECML publications
The Members of the Board fully endorsed the policy of encouraging the translation of ECML publications into national languages as a means of achieving wider impact for the results of the Centre’s work.
Departure of Gábor Boldizsár as Chair of the Governing Board
The members of the Governing Board joined the Secretariat in thanking Gábor Boldizsár, who stepped down as Chair at the end of 2008, for the great commitment he had shown to the Centre. He had been a member of the ECML’s Bureau for 14 years and worked with all 4 Executive Directors.
Mr Boldizsár commented that he had enjoyed the experience thoroughly and was proud of his time with the Centre. He looked forward to continuing his involvement on the Governing Board and wished his successor in the Chair every success in the future.
39th Bureau meeting
Annual programme 2008
The Bureau members requested that:
[1] This document is issued for information. It will not be the subject of an item on the agenda unless a delegation so requests.
[2] Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, United Kingdom.
[3] Montenegro has been a member state of the Council of Europe since 11 May 2007.
[4] The activities of the project “Training in Relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” (RelEx) start in 2009.
[5] DGIV/EDU/GRAZ(2006)9rev Recommendations adopted by the Governing Board with regard to the Evaluative report on the activities of the European Centre for Modern Languages
[6] This figure includes written replies but does not take account of requests within the framework of projects (during workshops, expert meetings, etc.) or of visitors to the Communication, Documentation and Resource Centre.
[7] Subject to revision.
[8] Developed by the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe