NESET reports & webinars

 

Welcome to the latest edition of the NESET newsletter – a quarterly bulletin of Network-related news, and a set of useful resources for experts, policymakers and educational practitioners working on the social dimension of education and training. We hope you will enjoy this quarter's newsletter. In this edition, you will find a feedback form meant to evaluate our progress and to find out how we can improve. When you are done with reading the newsletter, please take a couple of minutes to fill out the feedback form. Thank you! Share your feedback New NESET deliverables     Community engagement in higher education: trends, practices and policies   NESET Analytical Report, 2020 Prepared by Thomas Farnell The report argues (based on a comprehensive literature review) that universities play a crucial role in responding to societal needs and can further enhance their societal impact at the local, national or international level through community engagement. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report argues that the effects of the current crisis will arguably further reinforce the priority of community engagement. The question of how universities can contribute to social and economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 period is likely to be at the top of policymakers’ agendas in the years to come.   The future of language education in Europe: case studies of innovative practices   NESET Analytical Report, 2020 Prepared by Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman, Hanna Siarova, Eszter Szőnyi The main purpose of this report is to explore emerging innovative approaches and strategies of language teaching in Europe supporting learners’ plurilingualism, inspire educators and policy makers to innovate and implement forward-looking policies and practices in language education, and contribute to the implementation of the EU Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages (adopted in May 2019).       State of research in foresight studies on education and training    NESET Ad Hoc Report, 2020 Prepared by Slavi Stoyanov   The report presents the results of a systematic literature review of foresight studies on education and training. The analysis identified a number of prototypical examples referring to future of education and training either explicitly, or implicitly through the analysis of trends. Some of the cross-cutting themes are: creativity and critical thinking, digital competence, personalisation, alterative paths for learning, and the close relationships between technology and pedagogy.  NESET webinars on Language education and multilingualism   NESET has recently published an extensive analytical report entitled The future of language education in Europe: case studies of innovative practices, building on its previous work in this area – Multilingual Education in the Light of Diversity: Lessons Learned. This report aims to support the implementation of the Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to the teaching and learning of languages, adopted by the Council of the European Union in 2019. It emphasises the importance of innovative language education in an increasingly interconnected and intercultural world. To present and discuss in more details the most relevant findings of this report, NESET organised a series of 4 webinars on Language education and multilingualism.    Webinar: Helping multilingual children to catch up and succeed through the use of online language learning tools  With the participation of: Emmanuelle Le Pichon Vorstman (University of Toronto and University of Utrecht), Jim Cummins (University of Toronto) and Nathalie Auger (University of Montpellier). In this webinar, we further explored how online language learning tools can be used in multilingual settings and help multilingual children succeed, featuring the instructional tool Studi/Binogi as an example.   Webinar: Innovative language teaching methods, and school networks and labels as ways to promote multilingualism and language education With the participation of: Gisella Langé (CertiLingua Network), Ellen-Rose Kambel (Rutu Foundation), Audrey Rousse Malpat (University of Groningen) and Jim Cummins (University of Toronto) In this webinar we explored how cross-border networks and partnerships foster plurilingualism and systematically promote an inclusive, multilingual ethos across systems. We also talked about two inspirational examples of school networks and labels – CertiLingua and Language Friendly School, as well as reflected on innovative language learning methods (such as AIM), which can be promoted through such networks.     Webinar: The role of bilingual education models and language sensitive curricula in multilingual contexts   With the participation of: Marisa Cavalli (European Centre for Modern Languages), Jon Andoni Duñabeitia (University of Nebrija), Jenni Alisaari (University of Turku) and Dragana Avramov (NESET). During the  webinar, we reflected on how traditional bi/multilingual models can evolve to address the needs of plurilingual students, by looking at the cases of the Basque country and Aosta Valley in the Northern Italy. We also learned about the alternative approach of Finland and its language sensitive curricula, to recognise and support multilingualism in every learner.   Webinar: The future of language education in Europe: lessons learnt from case studies     With the participation of: Emmanuelle Le Pichon Vorstman (University of Toronto and University of Utrecht), Hanna Siarova (PPMI), Jim Cummins (University of Toronto), Nathalie Auger (University of Montpellier), and Kristina Cunningham (European Commission). In this final webinar we took stock of the lessons learnt from the various approaches and strategies for language teaching and reflected how these can inspire educators and policy makers to innovate and implement forward-looking policies and practices in language education fostering plurilingualism. Useful resources from the webinars   Please find below some useful resources mentioned during the NESET Webinars on language education and multilingualism.   New publications The European Commission’s new report ‘Education begins with language’: (access)  The OECD’s blog about language teachers: (access)  Innovative language teaching methods  Binogi (access)  Certilingua (access)  Language friendly school (access)  Accelerative Integrated Method (access).  Resources for classroom practices  Let’s compare our languages (access) A “plurilingual milieu” of  Scoil Bhríde Cailíní in Ireland (interview with the school leader Dr Déirdre Kirwan (access)  Resources and tools provided by European Centre for Modern Languages (access)  Tips for using translanguaging practices in the classroom (access). Professional development resources for teachers Linguistically Sensitive Teaching in All Classrooms LISTiAC), co funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (access), Pre-service and in-service teacher education projects in Finland, see e.g. (link 1), (link 2), School Education Gateway (theme languages) and eTwinning, Multilingualism in teacher education (University of Hamburg)  (link 1), (link 2).