The colloquium sets out to address the following questions:

• What insights have been gained from using radically different modes of language education during the Covid pandemic – remote, hybrid, socially distanced?
• How can the challenges of examinations and assessment be overcome?
• What innovative kinds of support for learners and teachers have been developed?
• What specific challenges have arisen in relation to ensuring inclusive language education for all?
• Do we need a new kind of “educational literacy”?

Over the last eighteen months, the ECML’s Professional Network Forum has led an initiative focusing on the impact of the pandemic on language education. Co-funded as part of the ECML-EC Cooperation Agreement, this series of activities began with a Europe-wide survey on language teachers’ experiences during Covid and on lessons learned. 

The colloquium will look back in order to move forward: it will report on the results of the survey which attracted over 1750 responses and on the activities which have followed it. These include two online think tanks, case studies by teachers, and a draft guide for language educators on how to cope with the kind of challenges caused by the pandemic.

Drawing also on related ECML-EC Training and consultancy activities in the areas of assessment and multilingual classrooms, and on responses to Covid developed by the European Commission and by the OECD, it will consider how this wealth of experience and knowledge might impact on future ECML programmes and act as a springboard for shaping a promising future for language education in Europe at the levels of policy, teacher education and classroom practice. 

The colloquium will be of interest to all those working in the field of language education: decision-makers, curriculum developers, teacher educators and classroom teachers.  

The event will take place in a hybrid format in English and French. A very limited number of places are available to take part within the Zoom meeting and be involved in the group work – these will be allocated to ensure an equitable geographical distribution within ECML and EU member states. It will however also be possible to view the event online (see links on this page).