Erasmus+ project on behalf of SIG Wider Engagement Network
In 2018 SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages, submitted a successful bid on behalf of the Wider Engagement Network to facilitate the key languages foci of employer and industry engagement, and attitudinal change in wider society to secure Erasmus+ funding for a three year international project. The project partners are the respective national centres for languages in Denmark and Norway.
Generation Global: Multilingualism and intercultural skills for a dual-competency workforce of the future project addresses, amongst others, the skills gap and language deficit that currently exists. A cornerstone of the project is that in the 21st century, although English has become the 'lingua franca' for global trade it is not enough for young people in Scotland who have English as their native language nor for those in Denmark and Norway who typically have an excellent command of English as a second language. Young people will need a wider range of language skills and to improve intercultural understanding to become effective participants in a future global workforce. Furthermore, the wealth and diversity of languages that migrants, refugees, asylum seekers bring, along with minority and heritage languages such as Gaelic, Sami and Faroese must be celebrated and capitalised upon for the benefit of individual young people but also for the greater economic development and international trade of our countries.
The project has three primary audiences:
- The first audience is business - the dialogue between education and business is vital if the supply of language skills from education systems is to be better matched to the needs of the labour market.
- The second target group are career staff/consultants, policy makers, school leaders, university staff, and curricula writers. Associated partners from this group will help to provide and find a practical solution regarding the dual competence based on the demand from business.
- The third target group of the project are young people – both European citizens, and migrants and refugees. Parents/carers will also be included in the third and the last phase of the project. These young people are Generation Global, our dual-competency workforce of the future.
The project aims:
- To change attitude toward language learning, more specifically to increase the awareness of value of multilingualism (foreign languages and mother tongue languages) as well as Intercultural Communicative Competences (ICC) as dual competences.
- To increase awareness in careers/skills organisations and staff to be more knowledgeable about dual competences and languages/ICC skills relevance.
- To elicit employers and businesses to recognise and demand Languages and ICC skills.
- To equip the users better for the labour market through an increased level of languages and cultural knowledge and thus combat skills deficit that currently exits.
- To develop, test and implement innovative approaches to motivate young people to choose more languages and be aware of intercultural similarities and differences.
Visit the Generation Global webpages for further information and project outputs.