The European Profiling Grid (EPG) Project

What is the European Profiling Grid?

It is a tool for mapping and assessing language teacher competences internationally. It contains sets of descriptors organised over six phases of professional experience as a language teacher (novice to very experienced) and summarises the main competences of language teachers and the background in training and experience that would be expected at each phase..

What could it be used for?

The main purpose is to assess language teachers working in an institution, and to enable them to assess themselves. This is especially useful when planning how to deploy teachers and when designing in-service training and professional development.

Who can use it?

Three main groups of people:

  • Teachers themselves when they are reflecting on their own level of competence in different areas in order to improve in areas where they don’t feel confident or have little experience.
  • Managers of teachers who need to supervise their performance and maintain quality in the institution and who are also responsible for supporting collective and individual professional development.
  • Teacher trainers when planning in-service training and assessing how their trainees are progressing.

Exactly what does it cover?

  • Language and culture, including proficiency of teachers in the target language, their language awareness and their intercultural competence
  • Qualifications and experience, including assessed teaching, and the quality and length of experience
  • Core language teaching competencies:
    1. methodology – knowledge & skills,
    2. lesson and course planning,
    3. interaction with and monitoring of learners,
    4. assessment,
    5. using digital media
  • Professional conduct, including professional development, teamwork, and the approach to administrative duties.

The European Profiling Grid (EPG) Project

The EPG project, co-funded by the EU Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme, was carried out between 2011 and 2013 by a consortium of 11 European partners led by Centre Internationale d’Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP), France.

Objective

The aim of the EPG project was to help improve the quality and effectiveness of language teaching through the use of an innovative instrument: the European Profiling Grid. Designed for teachers working in Europe in language centres and schools in Europe, this tool can be used to :

  • help better identify training and professional development needs
  • provide a reliable aid to self-assessment and assessment of professional skills
  • support the recruitment of language teachers and the management of their performance
  • foster mobility by describing the professional skills and qualifications of language teachers from whichever country.

Thus, the EPG is not just a tool developed for the use of the language teachers but also for their trainers and employers.

The outcomes of the project

The European Profiling Grid for Languages Teachers was made available free of charge at the end of the project, and can be adapted to its end users’ needs, and to the context in which it is used. A user-friendly, interactive online version, the e-Grid, has also been created to ensure ease of use, and there is a User Guide that provides clear guidance on how to use the EPG for various different purposes.

The project was awarded a European Language Label in recognition of the usefulness of its outcomes.

Project Partners

Centre international d’études pédagogiques (CIEP), France

Evaluation & Accreditation of Quality in Language Services (EAQUALS), UK

British Council, UK

Instituto Cervantes, Spain

Bulgarian Association for Quality Language Services (BAQLS OPTIMA), Bulgaria

Goethe-Institut e.V., Germany

Center für berufsbezogene Sprachen (CEBS), Austria

ELS-Bell Education Ltd (ELS Bell), Poland

Università oer Stranieri di Siena (UNISTRASI), Italy

Hogeschool van Amsterdam DOO (HvA), Netherlands

Sabanci Üniversitesi (SU), Turkey