March 2006

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CONFERENCE ON REGIONAL AND MINORITY LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION SYSTEMS

March 2006 – The European Commission is organising a conference to encourage co-operation and networking on issues affecting regional and minority languages in education and training systems. The conference, which will take place in Brussels at the Centre Broschette on April 27-28, is programmed in the context of the Commission’s communication “Promoting language learning and language diversity – An Action Plan 2004-2006”.

According to the Commission language policies, regional and minority languages are an important element of the European cultural heritage, so it is essential to keep them alive to ensure that their transmission through the education and training systems adopts the best practices available in Europe. The focus of the conference will therefore be on practical recommendations in terms of illustrations of good practice covering, for example, issues referring to bilingual and multilingual education, teacher training and transmission within families, so it will not address whatsoever policy issues with reference to the status of these languages.

Ten thematic workshops will discuss global issues on the basis of examples of good practice from specific regional or minority languages: transmission within families, integration through education, through bilingualism to multilingualism, the effectiveness of bilingual education, teacher-training for regional and minority languages, language awareness and linguistic diversity, ICT in multilingual education, interaction in the classroom, education through the medium of a minority language and lifelong language learning. The more general objective of the conference is to situate regional and minority languages in the context of current Commission policy on multilingualism, which aims at encouraging language learning and promoting linguistic diversity in society, promoting a healthy multilingual economy and addressing citizens in their own languages.