The CLIL Cascade Network CCN

Koordinator: Tuula Asikainen, University of Rovaniemi, Finland
Homepage: www.clilconsortium.jyu.fi/
Kontaktperson: Doris Sygmund
Partner: aus 17 Ländern
Erstes Treffen: 7.2/ 8.2. 2008 in Venedig

Summary: The term Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) was launched in 1994 following some 10 years of European dialogue (supported by European Commission and Council of Europe), and national actions, on the benefits for additional language learning of variants of what had been widely termed bilingual education or immersion. CLIL is a dual-focussed educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language.

In 1994, the focus was on transferring good practice found in special contexts (e.g. border regions & privileged schools) into mainstream education at all levels. The period 1994-2006 saw numerous European Commission and national initiatives which led to exponential interest in this educational approach, driven, in part, by the need to achieve MT+2 (mother tongue plus two other languages) in member states. The past two decades have witnessed considerable top-down and grassroots pressure to have CLIL offered to pupils and students at all educational levels from primary to higher education.

Alongside trans-national dissemination, analysis, and political discussion on the potential of CLIL to help address poor levels of language learning in mainstream school populations, there have been various capacity and competence-building initiatives taking place at national and regional levels. This application is to address the development needs which have now surfaced regionally/nationally, and consolidate resources and expertise for the benefit of a pan-European network of stakeholders. This involves primary, secondary, vocational, and higher education. It aims to provide a platform (The CLIL Cascade Network - CCN) by which to transfer good practice from one environment to another, enable expert dialogue on a pan-European level, create the structures identified for informed development of teachers, schools, and educational administration at local, regional/national, and European levels, and launch a self-sufficiency post-funding business plan.

Operating through the platform will be 5 "Thematic Hubs2 which focus on the following development needs: creation of teacher training and professional development programmes; teacher/school capacity-building and networking; coordination of national resources by which to create a European evidence-base for CLIL; articulation of CLIL at policy levels, dissemination and valorisation; adoption of CLIL for the learning of less widely used languages and transfer of information on existing good CLIL practice (successful projects carried out over 1994-2007); and the design and implementation of a long-term self-sufficiency plan to serve partnerships within education, public administration, and through to working life. Each Thematic Hub feeds into the central platform which is an information service and resource base for the individual members in the LLP countries. CLIL networks, of differing sizes, and formed with various degrees of local, national, and European support and recognition, exist in many EU countries. These tend to operate in isolation from each other, which leads to lack of efficiency and limited access to actions which could enhance development. The CCN Network Platform will provide new trans-national synergy by binding these together, supporting their expansion, and strengthening their function at a European level.