VeldwERK : What happens when you step into the CEFR Seminar on Curriculum Convergences Council of Europe, Strasbour

1. VeldwERK: Whathappenswhenyou step into the CEFR Seminar on Curriculum Convergences Council of Europe, Strasbourg 29th November, 2011 Daniela Fasoglio, Hetty Mulder SLO (The Netherlands Institutefor Curriculum Development)

2. The context • 2007: Attainmenttargets foruppersecondaryeducationrelatedto the levels of the CEFR (althoughstillnotcompulsory) • Oneglobal standard foreachability – sameforallforeignlanguages (English, Arabic, French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, from 2013 Chinese); • Differentiation in programs determinedby the CEFR levels tobeattained in eachlanguageandability. • National examinations relatedto the CEFR(thoughnotcertifying) • CEFR Master plan 2008-2010: • Development of a Dutch CEFR web portal: • One portal forEnglish, French, Germanand Spanish • Target: teachers, pupils, principals, parents, employers • Content: information, teaching materials, interactivefunctionalities

3. The context (2) • Schools are given the opportunity toaskfor SLO support (twoyears) in dealingwithspecificimplementationissues regardingall school subjects. • Choice out of a list of issues selectedby SLO: a school canapplyforone of those. • 2009-2010: 9 schools askfor support in the implementation of the CEFR - mainlyfor English, Germanand French, incidentallyforSpanish.

4. Reasonsfor schools toworkwith SLO • Examination results below nationalaverage; • Great discrepancybetweennational examination results (reading skills) and school examination results (listening, speaking, writing skills andliterature); • Improve FL teaching quality (teaching activities, assessment); • Changes in the FL curriculum (amount of hours, amount of languages, new structure); • Alignment of FL curricula for the different languages: among standards, assessment, methodology.

5. Aimsand kind of interventions • Overall aim: implementationof the CEFR = mutual target • Focus on school individualcontext andneeds • Interventionsforall school languagesbasedon the samecurricular model:

6. Concretization • Curriculum alignment: vertical en horizontal • Curricularcoherence • Subject innovation • Assessment criteria • Evaluation • Formativeevaluation of the CEFR portal

7. Organization • Condition: all FL sections of a school toworktogether (bothloweranduppersecondary); • Joint start; • School tailored routes; • Exchange of experiencesand products and joint evaluation • 2009: formativeevaluation of the CEFR portal

8. Formativeevaluationof the CEFR portal • Teachers 'test run' teaching materialsand web pages toseeifthey meet theirneeds in terms of: • relevance • completeness • effectivity • usability • Methods: • Screening • Interviews • Try outs • Materials are notalwayslanguagespecific • Teachers alsogive feedback on materialsforotherlanguages

9. Advantages of formativeevaluation As target users, teachers are a substantial part of the design cycleusedfor the website: ADVANTAGES: • Improvequality; • Tailor contents to the users' needs; • Check if instruments developedreallywork; • Teachers learnfromcolleagues of otherlanguages.

10. Products en results: fine tuningamonglanguage curricula • FL activitiesgearedtooneanother in terms of: • rationale • objectives • criteria for the selection of: • contents • learningmaterials • learningactivities • workforms • tests and assessment tools • Learning pathwaysfrom 1st to 6th form • Use of the same formats todescribe FL curricula

11. Effect on learners Transparancy a general view on one'slanguagecompetencesandlearning targets expressedaccordingto the same standards foralllanguages School culture attitudes andbehaviourstowardsforeignlanguagelearning Self-consciousness enhancement of learner'sautonomy

12. Products andresults: teaching contents andorganization of education CONTENTS: • Improveduse of the target language in the class • Choice or development of languagematerialscalibratedto the CEFR • Use of languagetasks • Experiments with assessment based on CEFR criteria • Organization of feedback tolearners • Learnersaware of theirlanguagelevel ORGANIZATION: • A new language'lounge' • Native speakers als languageassistants

13. Top 7 Hitches • Fine tuning "What steps do we have to take in order forFL'stobetterget in tune withoneanother?" • Time "It takes us a lot of time todevelopandtoperformlanguagetasks." • Self assessment "How can we encourage pupils' self assessment?" • Target language "How can we improve the use of the target language in the lesson?"

14. Top 7 Hitches • Involvement "How can we get all FL-colleaguesequallyinvolved?" • Differentiation "How tocopewith different levels in the class'?" • Assessment "How canyou line up CEFR level assessment withmarks?"

15. Dissemination

16. Follow up • 2011-2012 : 13 schools have askedfor support in the implementation of the CEFR. • Starting level of familiarizationwith CEFR is higher. • Cooperation betweenlanguages is more obvious. • Aims are more preciselyformulatedandrelatetolanguagelearning in general, nottoonespecificlanguage. • Involvement in another design cycle: CITO-SLO handbook on testingand assessment with the CEFR.