What’s CATAPULT ?

CATAPULT  is a three-year project co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union. It aims to offer training and tools to language teachers teaching Languages for Specific Purposes (LSPs) in adult and higher education, and to therefore make sure they are equipped with the necessary professional skills to train LSP learners in the digital era. This objective will be reached through a collaborative European project undertaken by Higher Education Institutions, an international language association involved in the promotion of quality assurance in language learning and teaching, and independent partners in 6 different countries, which strive to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the teaching and learning of Languages for Specific Purposes in Europe. The consortium’s collaborative work will lead to the provision of specific training and tools for the professional development of LSP teachers with particular focus on improved in-service training through and in the use of technology-enhanced environments.The CATAPULT consortium will develop a Common Competence Framework, a training programme for European language teachers delivered through a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), an accreditation procedure and a Community of Practice (CoP) Platform, aiming to provide LSP teachers (and language teacher educators) with a tool-kit enabling them to be more adequately skilled LSP teachers and more competitive on the adult and higher education job markets, thus increasing their employability and career options.

Thanks to rigorous quality assessment as part of a thorough accreditation procedure, the training modules delivered through the MOOC will also offer optional certification to those completing the programme. This programme, with a dual focus on LSP didactics and technology integration, will be made available to a wider audience thanks to an Open Education Resources (OER) policy. Trained and certified LSP teachers will then have access to a tool-kit comprising a CoP Platform where they will be able to advertise their specific skills and directly contract with adult learners seeking training in the specific LSP they have been certified to teach (matching service for offer and demand).


Policy Recommendations