About

Through consultation with stakeholders, this diverse inter-institutional team of Applied Linguists and language teaching experts investigates the range of language educator competences needed in higher education (HE).

The purpose of HELECs is to develop an empirically informed framework of competences.

This framework will be integrated within the National Professional Development Framework for Staff who Teach in Higher Education as well as the criteria for Disciplinary Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment (DELTA) awards.

The framework of competences for language educators in higher education will:

· establish a framework of reference for the professionalisation of the field of language education in higher education;

. enable the diverse population of language educators in HE to identify and articulate their competences; and

· provide relevant examples of resources and initiatives which can support the development of specific competences.

To find out more about HELECs, see the presentations and publications, below.

Presentations

Dynamic Complexity in Ireland’s higher-education language teaching landscape

School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures Research Colloquium, Maynooth University NUI

9/12/2020

Presentation Maynooth University NUI

Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs): A national project for the continuing professional development of language educators in HE

9-14/08/2020

19th AILA World Congress, University of Groningen, Netherlands

The Landscape of Language Teaching and learning in Higher Education in Ireland

9-10/01/2020

The Association of University Language Communities in the UK and Ireland

Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs): Supporting

language teacher professional development in the context of Languages Connect

30/11/2019

IRAAL 2019, Annual Conference at NUI Galway, Ireland

Professional development for
language teachers in Higher
Education:
Why? What? How?

29/11/2019

Presentation UCC

It’s not JUST language teaching: Supporting and professionalising foreign language teaching at higher education in Ireland

15-16/11/2019

German Studies Association of Ireland Annual Conference, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland.

Self-reflexivity and higher education language educator competences: Supporting a community of practice

3-6/10/2019

Association of German Studies in North America Annual Conference, Portland Oregon, USA.

Educating the Educator: Understanding and Supporting language Educator Competences at Higher Education Level in Ireland

19/06/2019

Annual Cross-Sector Conference on New Perspectives on Language Teaching and Learning in schools, Further and Higher Education

Publications

Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs)

Riordan, E., Earls, C., Furlong, Áine, Flynn, C., & Benini, S. (2020).

Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs). TEANGA, the Journal of the Irish Association for Applied Linguistics, 27, 193–203. https://doi.org/10.35903/teanga.v27i.225

ABSTRACT

Higher Education Language Educator Competences (HELECs) is an inter-institutional project which investigates the range of language educator skills needed in higher education (HE). The purpose of the project is to develop an empirically-informed competence framework which is aligned with the National Forum for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education’s National Professional Development Framework for all Staff Who Teach in Higher Education (2016). The framework will provide individual language educators and programme developers with a reference point and practical tools, based on a comprehensive profile of language teaching skills, to ensure that all HE language educators are appropriately supported in their professional development. The project is funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education’s enhancement fund.