Sarah Breslin, Executive Director of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) and Head of Language Policy, represented the Council of Europe at the CLILNetLE Closing Forum in Madrid from 3-5 September 2026.
CLILNetLE, a COST Action funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology, is a network of researchers and teacher educators from across Europe and beyond focusing on bi/multilingual disciplinary literacies (BDML) in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The Action has developed a flexible model to help subject teachers support their learners to build and communicate knowledge in discipline-specific ways. This model is presented as a “tree” with five main branches or dimensions, including the bi-multi-and translingual, the critical and the technological dimensions.
During a round table on “Teacher, policy and research perspectives on BMDL”, Sarah Breslin praised the work of the Action which builds on the Council of Europe’s innovative work related to the language/s of schooling, while emphasising the need to take the developments further in languages other than English and in multilingual classroom settings. She also used the opportunity to appeal for greater clarity and consistency in research and terminology which would help engage more teachers and policy makers.
The work of CLILNetLE complements ongoing project developments at the ECML, such as “CLIL teaching materials for developing 21st century competences” with Julia Hüttner (Action Chair of CLILNetLE) on the project team and “Pluriliteracies for global citizenship – Deeper learning in the foreign language classroom”. Updates and outputs are available on the ECML project websites, as well as on the ECML’s CLIL thematic area.
As the CLILNetLE network draws to a close, Sarah Breslin invited participants to look ahead to the upcoming call for project proposals in 2027 for the ECML’s next programme (2028-2031) – an opportunity for language education experts to develop new collaborative projects and build on the momentum created by CLILNetLE.
