The ChallengeIncreased mobility and migration in Europe

• Prioritisation of social inclusion and intercultural dialogue in some countries, but measures not always supported by language policies and practices which promote linguistic diversity and language learning.

• European multilingualism policy has provided guidance but: - take up uneven - policy cooperation challenging - knowledge sharing initiatives limited

Conduct a comparative analysis of countries’ performance against European standards and recommendations on multilingualism policy and practices

The Language Rich Europe Index- A European Index of

Multilingual Policies and Practices

How will LRE address this challenge?

How will LRE address these challenges?

Creation of a sustainable interdisciplinary network of over 1200 decision makers - analyse index results and share good practice in language education and

multilingual services - cooperate on improving language policies and practices - develop country action plans60 decision makers per country/region:• Education (20 representatives) • Public services and spaces (20 reps) • Business (10 reps) • Media (10 reps)

Project objectives

• Raising awareness in Europe of EU and CoE recommendations on policies and practices for promoting language learning and diversity

• Facilitating exchange of good practice in promoting intercultural dialogue and social inclusion through language teaching and learning

• Promoting European co-operation in developing language policies and practices across several education sectors and broader society

European Index of Multilingual Policies and Practices

Strands• National documents and databases on language diversity• Languages in (pre-)primary education• Languages in lower and upper secondary education • Languages in adult vocational and university education • Languages in business • Languages in the media • Languages in public services and public spaces

Spectrum of languages to be covered

• National languages• Foreign languages• Regional languages• Immigrant languages

Spider graph of country X

Spider graph of country Y

Improved profiles after sharing good practice

Country / regional profile

3 elements

• The spider graph highlighting the level of adherence to European standards in the 7 given strands

• An explanatory text offering background information on the results in the spider graph

• A complementary essay highlighting un-ratable data and specific socio-cultural aspects (written by research partners)

Countries and regions included in the first version of the Index

Countries- Austria - Portugal- Bosnia & Herzeg. (tbc)* - Romania - Bulgaria - Spain- Belgium - Switzerland- Denmark - Ukraine - Estonia - United Kingdom - France- Germany Regions- Greece - Catalonia- Hungary - Friesland- Lithuania - Wales- Netherlands - Poland

Project impact• Better understanding of good policies and practices in

language teaching and learning for social inclusion, intercultural dialogue and economic success

• Enhanced cooperation and commitment to improving language policies and practices

• Increased awareness of EU and CoE recommendations and how countries perform against them

• A sustainable European benchmarking tool to evaluate policies and practices

Steering Group

Full partner consortium

EC Civil Society Platform to Promote Multilingualism

• EUNIC Brussels• Goethe-Institut• ALTE• European Association for the Education of Adults• European Theatre Convention• British Council• Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism• Danish Cultural Institute

• Fundación Academia Europea de Yuste

Key areas of focus

Research and recommendations in:• lifelong learning• pre-school• social/community services for social inclusion

Main outputOn-line multilingualism observatory presenting: • Information on the key motivators and inhibitors of ML • Catalogue of ML best practice in local and regional

contexts• Catalogue of ML tools evaluated and assessed for

suitability according to context

Impact

• Among local and regional authorities, a trend towards better implementation of ML policy.

• Among organisations in the sectors studied, a trend towards systematic consideration and appropriate implementation of ML in daily work.

• Among the general public, greater awareness of the importance of ML.

Dissemination• Communication through partner network with local and

regional authorities throughout Europe, in order to engage the support of policy-makers for multilingualism

• Advise and assist policy-makers in the development and implementation of their ML policies

• Propagate the lessons learned and best practices developed through existing national and pan-European networks of local and regional authorities.