The integration of migrants and the impact on it of their acquisition of competence in the language(s) of the host country are a focus for political debate and policy initiatives in a growing number of Council of Europe member states, as is demonstrated by the surveys carried out by the Language Policy Unit in 2008 and 2010 (a third survey is planned in 2013).

The aims of this website are:

• to offer a platform that enables member states to exchange experiences and reflect on policy and practice in this area;
• to provide assistance to member states in developing coherent and effective policies and in reviewing existing policies in keeping with shared Council of Europe values and principles;
• to provide practical support for the effective implementation of policy;
• to encourage good practice and high quality in the provision of language courses and in assessment of language proficiency.

Those responsible for devising policies, course provision, assessment and tests in national contexts may not always have full or easy access to relevant information and resources at a European level. With this in mind, a number of guidelines, studies and instruments have been developed by the Language Policy Unit so as to provide concrete support for policy developers and practitioners, and indeed for all those directly involved in migrant language education.

In summary, the aim of this website is to offer a practical means of pooling and accessing useful resources. It has been developed with the help of a group of experts in various fields.

Overview of section contents

• The top part of the right-hand menu enables users to browse this site

  by key term which are linked to short papers discussing concepts and approaches or introducing tools

  by category of document: Council of Europe guidelines and background documents, case studies, reports on surveys, conference reports, etc.

  by event: list of events with conference reports, and papers produced for international events

   

• The lower part of the right-hand menu provides links to pages addressing main areas of policy and practice