O2: The Vocationally Oriented Career Path for FL Teachers and Trainers

After a very exciting meeting in Italy in June and throughout the intensive summer school teaching period in Malta and the UK, we have not lost sight of the development of the vocationally–
oriented career path for FL teachers and trainers.

Group discussions in Italy helped to forge our ideas for the career path and we also decided together on the criteria for the selection of teachers and trainers. We also examined a variety of drafts for the Prolant Cap Teacher Development Grid which is being designed to map and develop Prolant Cap trainers’ skills and knowledge.

We have found the following to be of immense value in guiding us…….. Firstly, the EAQUALS egrid tool for assessing teacher and trainer competences and for helping to articulate the growing knowledge and skills needed by trainers and teacher trainers throughout their careers. This tool can be seen at http://egrid.epg-project.eu/en/egrid together with a user guide. It is possible for teachers, trainers and managers to assess their own competence level and also use the self-assessment grid as a personal or managerial diagnostic tool to facilitate further training. Basing our new Prolant-Cap Trainer Development Grid on the above, we have been able to plot the necessary knowledge and skills required over 3 developmental phases:
1: competent replicators;
2: aware practitioners and
3: expert facilitators.
The excellent “CLIL Teachers’ Competences  Grid” (http://lendtrento.eu/convegno/files/ mehisto.pdf) has added further input in terms of specific CLIL competences. As mentioned previously, a Prolant-Cap trainer will train primarily according to the subject content (e.g. : tourism; the automotive industry) and the language will be a vehicle for the content, in line with CLIL methodology.

Another factor to mention is that of intercultural competence, one of the ―4 Cs‖ as this is a key area for CLIL methodology. In CLIL there is always a lesson focus on the 4 Cs (Content, Communication, Cognition and Culture).
Content : Subject content including authentic material, websites, videos etc.
Communication : The language necessary to communicate your message
Cognition : Activating higher and lower order thinking skills to facilitate learning
Culture : Connections between content and culture and the promotion of transnational links and understanding.

A further emphasis in the career path will be placed on the theme of ―Partnerships in Supporting Learning―. This is because the Prolant-Cap trainer will need to liaise closely with all stakeholders
and also with fellow trainers in their subject areas plus other language trainers and these partnerships are fundamental to successful Prolant-Cap training. The grid is currently nearing completion but will be further refined alongside the development of the handbook and lesson plans. It is believed that the Prolant-Cap career path will help to empower teachers and trainers and enhance their professional opportunities well into the future.