1. Good morning and welcome to this RELANG workshop, a workshop which takes place under a working partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe’s European Centre for Modern Languages.
In my presentation this morning I would like to give you first a very brief overview of this European partnership and after that I will talk to you about the European Centre for Modern Languages:
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2. “Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning”
European Centre for Modern Languages and European Commission cooperation on
“Innovative Methodologies and Assessment in Language Learning”
Relating language examinations to the common European reference levels of language proficiency: promoting quality assurance in education and facilitating mobility
Use of ICT in support of language teaching and learning
The partnership first began in May 2013, when the European Commission and the ECML signed a cooperation agreement, establishing a joint action “Innovative methodologies and assessment in language learning”.
The stimulus for cooperation itself between these two European institutions came about through conclusions adopted in by the Council of the European Union which invited the European Commission and EU member states to make good use of the resources and experience of the Council of Europe and in particular its European Centre for Modern Languages.
This joint action involved two initiatives which would provide workshops to EU and ECML member states:
RELANG – as you know .. Relating Language Examinations to the Common European Reference Levels of Language Proficiency: Promoting Quality Assurance in Education and Facilitating Mobility
And ICT-REV - an initiative offering training workshops to teachers and education stakeholders on the use of ICT in support of teaching and learning.
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3. "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" Belgium Lithuania Latvia
Greece
Ireland
Armenia
"the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
Belgium
Lithuania
Latvia
Hungary
Czech Republic
Montenegro
Romania
Slovenia
Iceland
Cyprus
Sweden 
Bulgaria
Spain
Austria
Norway
Finland
Croatia
United Kingdom
The initial action was based on a 12 month period – May 2013-May 2014 but towards the end of this term, the European Commission signalled interest in continuing the partnership for another year, and indeed this is also what happened towards the end of 2015.
So this year of activities is in fact the third year of workshops taking place as a result of this cooperation between the ECML and the European Commission.
Over the last two years, 29 workshops have taken place in ECML and EU member states, with 16 of these being RELANG workshops
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4. Supporting Multilingual Classrooms
Help ensure quality education for migrant learners by preparing teachers, teacher educators, administrators and school leaders to develop the children’s plurilingual repertoires for successful schooling
Supporting Multilingual Classrooms
Modules:
Supporting all language teachers in multilingual classrooms
Supporting all teachers with language development across the curriculum
Developing a whole-school approach to valuing and supporting linguistic
and cultural diversity
In this third round of activities, RELANG continues on (from strength to strength!) and a new inititiative joins this action – Supporting Multilingual Classrooms
The core objective of this new initiative is to ensure access to quality education for migrant learners in order to help bridge the attainment gap between these learners and non-migrant pupils
by drawing on a wide range of successful ECML projects and resources which focus on the linguistic integration of such learners. 
Countries have a choice of modules to choose from, which ever best suits their particular needs, be it:
(Modules):
Supporting all language teachers in multilingual classrooms
Supporting all teachers with language development across the curriculum
Developing a whole-school approach to valuing and supporting linguistic and cultural diversity
The importance of what this team are offering can be seen and valued by the fact that 14 Member States applied for a training workshop with this new initiative, when only seven spaces were available.
Demand for RELANG workshops this year also far exceeded spaces available.
The RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms workshops take place as part of the training and consultancy offered by the ECML, where expert teams travel to member states, to deliver training events tailored and designed specifically to the needs of the country.  But perhaps I can talk to you a little more about that by turning your attention now to the ECML, the European Centre for Modern Languages.
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5.
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6. European Centre for Modern Languages
An Enlarged Partial Agreement
of the Council of Europe with 33 member states; founded in Graz, Austria in 1994
Mission
innovation in language learning and teaching; implementation of effective language education policies
Key target audience
decision-makers, teacher-trainers, language teachers
4 year programmes
of international projects and bilateral Training and Consultancy
The ECML was founded in Graz in 1994 and is a Council of Europe institution which promotes quality language education in Europe.
It exists under an Enlarged Partial Agreement with the Council of Europe, which means that countries which aren’t member states of the Council of Europe can still become a member state of the ECML and avail of its activities and expertise. Currently the ECML has 33 member states
Its key target groups are decision makers, teacher trainers and language teachers, and together with the Council of Europe’s Language Policy Unit, the Centre functions as a catalyst for reform in the teaching and learning of languages in its member states
But how does this reform take place, and how does the ECML in fact really help each of its member states in providing quality education where and when it is needed?
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7. ECML Programme 2016-2019 (The answer lies in) THE ECML Programme:
The ECML operates a 4 year programme consisting of international projects and bilateral training and consultancy. While this programme is ultimately put together by the ECML, the makeup of the programme itself is in fact determined by the ECML’s member states.
Through consultations involving stakeholders at many different levels (Ministries, national language centres, universities, researchers, experts etc), member states express their most pressing language concerns, at the time, to the ECML, allowing the ECML to develop a programme theme which reflects the national priorities of its member states.
This slide in fact shows the results of the consultation which paved the way for the new 4 year programme which started this year and has as it‘s theme ‚Languages at the heart of learning‘.
So how does the programme work?
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8. Learning Through Languages 2012-2015
Migrant education e.g. “Diversity in majority language learning ”
Signed languages e.g. “Signed languages for professional purposes”
Parents e.g. “Involving parents in plurilingual and intercultural education”
New Media e.g. “Using open resources to develop online teaching skills (more DOTS)”
Employment and languages
e.g. “Developing migrants’ language competences at work”
Regarding the International Projects: Through a call process, projects are chosen, and run for the length of the programme. These projects are developed and led by international teams who offer training workshops and professional development opportunities, to education professionals and stakeholders. These participants are all in effect seen as multipliers - who on leaving the workshop will be equipped to train others within their own countries, institutions and networks.
These project workshops take place at the ECML in Graz, and are held at international level, where anyone from an ECML member state can apply to be considered for participation in a relevant workshop.
As you can see, this slide shows some of the topics which arose as important for the last programme, and what projects came about as a result.
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9. ECML training and consultancy
Support service to member states addressing key national concerns
Flexible format adaptable to specific needs or context within a country
Bilateral collaboration
Builds on existing products, established teams and successful networks
Efficient way of reinforcing value to member states and enhancing dissemination
But while these international projects and training workshops are multiliateral in design, as mentioned earlier, the ECML also offers bilateral support to member states through its Training and Consultancy offer.
Through this particular offer, training events are tailor made for the specific national context of a country or sometimes more specifically for the intended target group of the workshop.
These training and consultancy offers in fact emerge as a result of successful projects from the ECML programme, and this is how RELANG came about.
However although RELANG and Supporting Multilingual Classrooms fall under the Training and Consultancy offer, they are particular in that they have been adopted into a cooperation agreement with the European Commission, which means that in this case only, EU Member States may also avail of training from these two particular projects.
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10. Publications and Resources
Of course if there are past projects which you are interested in, which are no longer holding workshops, publications, toolkits and examples of good practice are always produced by the project teams at the end of the 4 year programme, and these are all available to order from the ECML or alternatively are freely downloadable from the ECML website – under RESOURCES. POINT OUT RESOURCES TAB
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11. ECML: a unique centre for language education
Our services
Future-proofing: innovative projects
Building networks and partnerships: international, European and national
Providing practical tools and resources: past projects
Addressing national needs: Training and Consultancy
Celebrating languages:
European Day of Languages
Informing: Newsletter; website, social media
Disseminating: mediation activities, conferences and national support events
While the impact of the ECML can be spread through its experts and multipliers, the ECML also has national contact points in each of its member states who are responsible for disseminating information and documentation on the Centre‘s work and services, at a national level.
[ Here the Local Coordinator can refer to the Governing Board Member of his or her country ( who also might be present at the workshop): ]
To compliment this last slide and to summarise this presentation, I’d like to round things up with a small video clip from the ECML website.