Council Resolution of 16 December 1997 on the early teaching of European Union languages
Date: 1997-12-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: language teaching, multilingualism, new educational methods, pluralism in the media, teaching materials

C  1/2

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

3.  1.  98

COUNCIL  RESOLUTION

of  16  December  1997

on  the  early  teaching  of  European  Union  languages

(98/C  1/02)

THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION,

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  establishing  the  European
Community,  and  in  particular  Article  126  (2)  first  indent,

(1)(cid:217)Whereas  the  European  Union  is  distinguished  first
and  foremost  by  its  cultural  diversity;  whereas  its
construction  has  always  been  founded  on  respect
for  such  diversity,  which  finds  expression  in,  among
other  things,  its  great  linguistic  wealth;

(2)(cid:217)Whereas  the  promotion  of  linguistic  diversity  thus

becomes  one  of  the  objectives  of  education;

(3)(cid:217)Whereas  various  European  measures  undertaken
since  1976  reveal  a  desire  to  make  the  protection  of
linguistic  and  cultural  heritage  one  of  the  corner(cid:220)
stones  of  European  construction;

(4)(cid:217)Whereas  several  Member  States  have  carried  out
pilot  schemes  at  national  level  which  need  to  be
assessed  in  order  to  derive  maximum  benefit  from
early  language  teaching;

(5)(cid:217)Whereas  other  Member  States  begin  teaching  a
foreign  language  at  the  end  of  primary  schooling
and  whereas  this  has  also  proved  to  be  satisfactory
in  terms  of  results;

integrated  and  reinforced 

(6)(cid:217)Whereas  the  Lingua  programme  was  adopted  in
1989  and  partially 
in
1995  in  the  context  of  the  horizontal  measures
contained  in  the  Socrates  programme;  whereas  the
aim  of  the  Lingua  programme  is  to  promote  a
quantitative 
in
qualitative 
knowledge  of  the  languages  of  the  Union,  with
particular  emphasis  on  the  less  widely  spoken  and
taught  languages,  and  whereas  this  has  contributed
to  greater  understanding  and  solidarity  between  the
peoples  of  the  Union;

improvement 

and 

the  Ministers 

(7)(cid:217)Whereas  the  Member  States,  in  the  conclusions  of
for  Education,
the  Council  and 
meeting  within  the  Council  on  4  June  1984,  agreed
to  promote  all  appropriate  measures  to  enable  the
maximum  number  of  pupils  to  acquire,  before  the
end  of  compulsory  schooling,  a  working  knowlege
of  two  languages  in  addition  to  the  mother  tongue;

(8)(cid:217)Whereas  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Council  on
31  March  1995  emphasized  the  need  to  develop
and  improve  the  language  skills  of  the  Union’s
citizens  by  stating  that  school  pupils  should,  as  a
rule,  have  the  opportunity  to  learn  two  languages
of  the  Union  in  addition  to  their  mother  tongue(s);
whereas  the  Council  states  in  this  resolution  that  it
would  be  desirable  to  establish  or  develop  the  early
teaching  of  modern  languages  in  primary  schools;

(9)(cid:217)Whereas  the  White  Paper  "Teaching  and  learning:
towards  the 
learning  society’  presented  by  the
Commission  in  1995  starts  from  the  premise  that
"proficiency  in  several  Community  languages  has
become  a  precondition  if  citizens  of  the  European
Union  are  to  benefit  from  the  occupational  and
personal  opportunities  open 
the
border(cid:220)free  Single  Market’  and  advocates  profi(cid:220)
ciency  in  three  Union  languages;

them 

to 

in 

(10)(cid:217)Whereas  an 

improvement 

language  and
cross(cid:220)cultural  skills  of  the  citizens  is  a  necessary
condition  for  the  development  of  European  citi(cid:220)
zenship.

in  the 

I. GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS

While  reaffirming  the  principle  of  equal  status  for
each  of  the  languages  of  the  Union,  thought  should
therefore  be  given  to  the  tools  required  to  fulfil  the
dual  aim  of  maintaining  cultural  and 
linguistic
diversity  and  promoting  European  multilingualism.
Learning  at  an  early  age  may  be  a  significant  factor
in 
thus  contribute
towards  achieving  these  objectives.  It  may,  in  the
medium  term,  enable  each  citizen  to  have  access  to
the  cultural  wealth  rooted  in  the  linguistic  diversity
of  the  Union.

learning  and  may 

language 

3.  1.  98

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Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

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languages,  particularly 

The  early  learning  of  one  or  more  languages  in
addition  to  one’s  mother  tongue(s)  and  increasing
awareness  of 
through  a
recreational  approach,  at 
the  most  flexible  and
receptive  stage  of  intellectual  development  may  pave
the  way  for  learning  foreign  languages  in  later  life
and  may  thus  contribute  to  achieving  the  objective
of  learning  two  Union  languages  in  addition  to  one’s
mother  tongue(s).  Integrating  learning  and  increased
awareness  of  this  kind  into  compulsory  schooling
would  also  enable  all  pupils  to  have  access  to  it.
Furthermore,  learning  languages  at  an  early  age  may
foster  greater  understanding,  mutual  respect  among
young  people  through  the  knowledge  which  they
could  gain  of  one  another  and  openness  to  Europe’s
cultural  wealth.

II. CALLS  UPON  THE  MEMBER  STATES:

within  the  framework  and  limits  of  their  respective
political,  legal,  budgetary,  educational  and  training
systems,  to:

-(cid:217)encourage,  wherever  possible,  the  early  teaching
of  languages  and  diversification  in  the  languages
taught  at  an  early  age,  while  taking  into  account
the  availability  of  resources  and  building  on
existing  schemes,

-(cid:217)encourage  European 

cooperation 

between
schools  which  provide  early  teaching  of  at  least
one  Union  language  in  addition  in  the  mother
tongue(s),  and  foster  pupils’  virtual  mobility  and,
if  possible,  their  physical  mobility,

-(cid:217)promote  the  continuous  provision  of  teaching  in

several  languages,

-(cid:217)increase  awareness  among  all  those 

involved,
particularly  parents,  of  the  benefits  of  teaching
languages  at  an  early  age,

-(cid:217)encourage  measures  to  develop  and  distribute  the
most  suitable  teaching  materials  and  multimedia
resources  for  teaching  Union  languages  at  an
early  age,

-(cid:217)encourage  measures  to  prepare  teachers  working
in  the  field  of  early  language  learning  to  meet
new  needs;

III.

INVITES  THE  COMMISSION  TO:

support  measures  taken  by  Member  States  to  achieve
the  objectives  referred  to  in  point  II,  and  encourage,
within 
framework  of  existing  Community
programmes,  the  early  learning  of  Union  languages
by:

the 

-(cid:217)providing 

support 

for  measures  aimed  at
strengthening  European  cooperation  and  sharing
or  exchanging  experience  and  examples  of  good
practice  in  this  field,

-(cid:217)endorsing  transnational  cooperation  in  the  devel(cid:220)
opment  of 
teaching  methods  and  materials
(including  multimedia  products)  and  means  of
evaluation  in  the  field  of  early  language  learning,

-(cid:217)supporting 
quality 
networks,

the  distribution  of  suitable,  high(cid:220)
via  European

teaching  materials 

-(cid:217)supporting  measures  aimed,  on  the  one  hand,  at
increasing  teacher  mobility  and,  on  the  other
the  skills
hand,  at  updating  and 
required  to  teach  languages  at  an  early  age,

improving 

-(cid:217)fostering  cooperation  between  teacher  training
the
institutions,  for  example  by  encouraging 
creation  of  European  credit  transfer  systems,

-(cid:217)encouraging  contacts  between  pupils,  particularly

by  means  of  virtual  mobility,

-(cid:217)bearing  in  mind  early  language  teaching  when
considering  future  cooperation  in  the  field  of
education.