The national languages strategy, Languages Connect, published in December
2017 by the Department of Education and Skills, aims to increase the number
of students learning a foreign language in higher education (HE) from
approximately 4% to 20% by 2026, and to diversify the languages offered. This
dramatic increase in student numbers will put a further strain on the already
under-resourced language provision at HE institutions. As there is no
universally recognised language teaching qualification for HE language
teachers, recruited staff have a range of profiles and there is no national
approach to accrediting their continuing professional development.
The HELECs project, funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, aims to support the necessary
increase in teaching capacity by investigating the range of competences that a
language teacher needs in the HE context and developing an empirically
informed professional development framework for language educators. This
paper outlines the project aims and approaches, refers to the currently available
frameworks for language teacher competences and argues for the necessity of
a HE-specific profile. We will present our preliminary findings on the complexity
of the language teaching landscape in HE in Ireland to highlight the need for a
cohesive national approach whereby teachers’ competences can be
catalogued, recognised and transferred between institutions.