Did you know? As a Council of Europe member, the UK approved the CoE's new Recommendation on the importance of plurilingual and intercultural education for a culture of democracy.

➡️Find out more at this webinar on 22 Feb, 3pm UK time: ecml.at/Resources/Webi…

Welcome new Global Call to Action for heritage/home language education will be launched on 21 February - details below.

21st February is International Mother Language Day! Celebrate with Express Yourself North East Festival of Languages activities now up to the end of March and join the Global Call to Action
internationalnewcastle.org.uk/mother-language InformationNOW Teakisi

🎉 Schools! Starts today: Celebrate Speaking! our festival of languages.

To join in, have your students film a short piece in their favourite language and you upload to X. Remember to tag #CelebrateSpeaking so we can find your film!

More info here: bit.ly/3GM0KDQ

The multilingualism of our cities is an underappreciated asset. This event tomorrow at University of Westminster discuss a new book on the role of migration and diversity in London.

Thanks to APPG Modern Languages for inviting us to discuss The Languages Gateway and evolving national #languagestrategy with policymakers alongside Sarah Cowan and Charles Forsdick . Good to see so many colleagues and thanks for +ve feedback Louise Glen Ian Collen 🇪🇺 Liz Wren-Owens.

New British Sign Language GCSE heading for classrooms in Sep 2025 as Department for Education publishes the subject content today:
gov.uk/government/new…
#LanguagePolicyUK

CIOL Vice President Baroness Coussins spoke on Public Service Interpreting in the House of Lords this week, in the context of the Victims and Prisoners Bill. She said:

'If the Bill and the current review of courts and tribunals are to have the desired effect and lead to more…

Watch the speech! It clearly summarises the current professional landscape for public service interpreters currently working in the UK. Congratulations to Baroness Coussin for her continuous support!

Mainstream schools can do so much to support their bilingual students and the supplementary schools they attend. This excellent ASCL guide sheet explains the benefits, and some practical actions mainstream schools can easily do: ascl.org.uk/ASCL/media/ASC…

This week's #BBCYoungReporter piece is by Julia who is bilingual in English and Polish and reports on why supplementary (Saturday) schools are so important and should be supported. Watch:⬇️

Fantastic initiative ⬇️from BBC World Service to train aspiring young journalists who speak/connect to a second language (list of 40 from Arabic to French for Africa to Punjabi to Yoruba...) Apply by 7 Jan, scheme runs for 6 weeks starting Feb or May. Details below, pls share!

We have previously recommended that the Government should take steps to reduce barriers to school visits from the EU to the UK.

We therefore welcome this announcement and urge the Government to extend the new arrangements to all EU Member States.

parliament.uk/business/lords…

(2/2)

The Home Secretary has announced changes to travel document requirements that will enable school groups from France to visit the UK without the usual passport or visa requirements.

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statem…

(1/2)

It adds: 'Proficiency in modern languages is an important asset, both in individual relationships and for career pathways. The low take-up of GCSEs in modern foreign languages, despite the inclusion of languages within the EBacc subject combination, is therefore concerning.'

Important new report out today from the Lords Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee ⬇️, says 'the Government should explore innovative ways to encourage schools to promote language learning'. #LanguagePolicyUK

committees.parliament.uk/committee/647/…