Dr Dieuwerke Rutgers, a leading researcher from Sheffield Hallam University's Institute of Education shares her reflections on our international workshop which looked at maximising learning outcomes linked to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in primary and secondary education.
On 26 –27 November 2025, educators, trainers, researchers and policymakers gathered in Sèvres, on the outskirts of Paris, with a shared sense of purpose. Over two days, at an international workshop jointly organised by the British Council and France Éducation international, they discussed, reflected on, and exchanged ideas on how to maximise learning outcomes in primary and secondary education through Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), known in France as l’Enseignement d’une Matière Intégrée à une Langue Étrangère (EMILE).
Around 120 participants from 14 countries took part, representing organisations such as the French Ministry of Education, the OECD, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, and working across classrooms, training and inspection roles. Over the two days, the programme moved deliberately between big-picture perspectives and close-to-classroom practice. Keynotes and panel discussions offered space to reflect on policy, research and international trends, while workshops and poster sessions invited participants to slow down, talk with colleagues and dig into practical questions.
This mix created a rare opportunity to step back from everyday practice and reflect together on how CLIL/EMILE is evolving in France and beyond. What stood out was not only the diversity of perspectives in the room, but the strong sense of shared purpose – and the reminder that CLIL/EMILE does not prescribe a single model but offers a shared language through which practice can be explored, compared and strengthened.
Rather than offering ready-made one-size-fits-all solutions, the international workshop highlighted a number of shared insights about what supports CLIL/EMILE in practice:
CLIL is motivating because it is meaningful
Across sessions, CLIL was described as motivating for both learners and teachers because it is rooted in meaning-making: using language for real purposes, engaging with ideas, and drawing on strong pedagogy. Related to this, Professor Ana Llinares highlighted growing evidence that CLIL learners become “braver” – more willing to take risks and engage – supporting both academic achievement and lifelong learning. Sarah Breslin, Executive Director of the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), shared insights from the ECML’s motivation manifesto and introduced the idea of an ecology of languages. This way of thinking helped foreground the role of languages in meaning, identity and belonging, and why these dimensions matter for sustaining motivation in language learning and maintenance. CLIL has every opportunity to make a rich contribution to this ecology of languages and multilingual identities.
Teacher agency sits at the heart of effective CLIL
Many discussions returned to the importance of teachers’ professional judgement and adaptability. Teachers described shaping CLIL in ways that made sense for their learners, subjects and institutional contexts, while still working within shared principles around language development and content learning. Professor Do Coyle highlighted the importance of creating space for teachers to work together, and small-group workshops repeatedly pointed to professional development as a key lever for improvement, not in the least because of the empowerment it gives teachers to interpret and adapt CLIL/EMILE to maximise learning in their local classrooms and settings.
Multilingualism needs to remain central
Several sessions explored CLIL through a multilingual lens. Building on the idea of a language ecology, Ann Veitch (British Council), Dr Nayr Ibrahim (Nord University Norway) and Dr Margarida Morgado (Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco Portugal) all emphasised the importance of recognising the full linguistic repertoires that learners – and teachers! – bring to the classroom. Ann Veitch, in particular, highlighted the need for inclusive approaches that work across diverse and sometimes more disadvantaged contexts, so that CLIL does not become a fashionable label for a few, but a meaningful pedagogical approach for many. Workshops dedicated to multilingual teaching practices reinforced the close links between CLIL and broader multilingualism and multilingual education.
