Educación Flexible y Transformación Digital An interdisciplinary group of academics and teachers has been at the forefront of developing CLIL at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico since 2015 before generative AI became a significant presence in mainstream education. Working across university and high-school contexts, these educators have explored how CLIL can support pedagogical transformation, enabling…
The forthcoming National Symposium on Japanese Language Education will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 30–31 October under the theme Empowering Educators, Enriching Education. Keynotes are by Dr David Marsh FRSA, and Dr Julie Choi of the University of Melbourne. At a time of rapid educational, technological and social change, the theme emphasises…
Shaping the Future: Realizing Higher Education Plurilingual Policies and Actions examines how higher education can respond to major geopolitical, technological and pedagogical shifts through plurilingual policy and action. It argues that using English as an additional language in teaching, learning and research should not be treated as a minor operational adjustment. Instead, it can become…
IBEQuA is an Erasmus+ KA2 Cooperation partnership focused on developing an inclusive quality assurance framework for bilingual education, with the aim of ensuring quality CLIL for all. Running from 2025-2028, IBEQuA’s main aim is to design and empirically validate the first European quality assurance framework for inclusive bilingual education (CLIL). Learn more here: https://ibequa.com
An exciting event coming up exploring the future of education, leadership, AI, bilingual learning, wellbeing and talent – 3 October 2026. Register here: The Prague Summit on Future Education — 3 October 2026, Prague
This framework for the professional development of CLIL teachers was originally produced in 2010. Compiled by David Marsh, Peeter Mehisto, Dieter Wolff and María Jesús Frigols Martín it is available here in response to frequent requests for access. The framework was developed through the project strand Empowering Language Professionals at the European Centre for Modern…
This AI-generated podcast (16 mins) summarizes a presentation, CLIL, Zeitgeist, and Learning Spaces given at the II Conference on Bilingual Education at the Catholic University of Murcia, Spain (May 2025). When Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) was first conceptualized in the early 1990s, it aligned closely with the global movement toward fostering key competencies…
New Insights from Finland The OECD’s latest international survey of adult skills (age range 16-65 years) has been published. PIAAC draws on data from 31 countries and economies. Finland ranks first for literacy and numeracy, and shares the top spot for adaptive problem-solving with Japan. Finnish literacy and numeracy rates have improved significantly since the…
This short AI-generated podcast summarizes a booklet ‘An Introduction to CLIL for Parents and Young People’ produced in 2000 with Gisella Langé for a landmark Italian EU development project called TIE-CLIL. The booklet outlines the rationale for incorporating language learning into the study of other subjects, arguing that this approach can foster a “can do”…
A new AI-generated podcast summarizing: The Bilingual Advantage The Impact of Language Learning on Mind & Brain Marsh D., Díaz-Pérez, W., Frigols Martín, M.J., Langé, G., Pavón Vázquez, V., Trindade, C. (2020) Jyväskylä: EduCluster Finland, University of Jyväskylä Group. The 2020 update review of a landmark 2009 meta-study on neuroscientific insights into languages and creativity…
Factors Facilitating and Hindering the Integration of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Interdisciplinarity is recognized by some academics as a key driver for building the future of higher education. It is seen as enabling purposeful fusion between teaching, research and working life, alongside enabling cognitive advancement through knowledge and skills-building in ways not…
These ten introductory video vignettes introduce features of active teaching and learning in universities. Each is used to introduce one phase of a professional development workshop series. Produced in conjunction with CID, CUCEA, Guadalajara, Mexico, for use with Latin American higher education teaching staff. 1. Active learning as a pathways for developing metacognition as an…
There is increasing uptake of the term ‘bilingual school’ globally, particularly in private education. Bilingual schools can be beacons of excellence but sometimes the term ‘bilingual school’ is used for commercial or political purposes that transcend provision of quality education. Increasingly the questions arise: when is a bilingual school a bilingual school? how can genuine…
Listen to the podcast by David Marsh MED ‘Metrics that Matter – Thoughts on the Finnish PISA 2022 Outcomes (10 mins) https://youtu.be/B04WvfzL4Kk?si=dwcj5sWrORPyerol Transcript The PISA 2022 results were published a couple of days after an event at the Guadalajara Book Fair on if and how Finnish educational practices could be realized in Mexican schools. These…
A presentation in 7 clips (1-3 min each) What can we learn from the Finnish education system? on practices that can help improve education in other countries. This presentation was filmed for the Institute for Educational Research (Instituto de Investigación Educativa) by the Centre for Teaching Innovation (Centro de Innovación Docente) during the 2023 Guadalajara…
Tanzania has a long relationship of technical assistance cooperation with Finland on areas of key importance including education. Currently, 58% of students complete primary school and 34% Secondary education. The current population of about 64 million is expected to rise to about 90 million by 2035. Tanzania is bordered by eight countries, Burundi, Democratic Republic…
The FIL Guadalajara Book Fair is the second biggest globally after Frankfurt. This year the ‘guest of honour’ is the European Union. A session on examining what can be transferred from the Finnish educational experience into Mexico will be held with Eduardo Andere. If you are in the vicinity, welcome! Some of the focus of…
This is the first of a podcast series dedicated to global perspectives on educational innovation launched by the Centro de Innovación and I₂ + E Clinic at CUCEA, University of Guadalajara, Mexico, in conjunction with MED, Finland. It argues that any decisions we make on generative AI in education need to include a holistic understanding…
This is a pre-recorded presentation (21 minutes) given for the CertiLingua Plurilingualism in a European Dimension Network meeting in Milan (14 September) on educational scenarios generated by AI chatbots. Since the term was launched in 1956, Artificial Intelligence has made steady inroads into our lives, and is now the focus of discussion on education. This…
One outcome from the July Australasian foresight conversations on education is to focus on introducing catalysts for change which are founded on enabling deep and meaningful learner agency. It is evident that top-down initiatives can be set to fail because of systemic resistance, interference by actors driven by commercial gain or political kudos, alongside the…
MED embarks on a partnership with the Internationalization and Innovation I+e Clinic at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico looking into foresight processes that could help guide development of practices and processes that enhance future higher education. Engaging now with partners in a range of countries, we work with academics and others to examine how different…
Enabling strategic foresight to guide education through the future requires inter-disciplinary thinking within and beyond the traditional boundaries of schools and higher education. Now any discussion on future readiness and orientation needs to recognize the potential impact of AI. Discussion across multiple continents and sectors is no longer about how AI might transform humanity, but…
Interview clip, March 2023, Mexico
How do we respond in education? Ignore? Ban? Embrace?
https://vimeo.com/780710630 Password: CEPMARSH Interview with David Marsh and Javier Barbero Andrés, Director del Centro del Profesorado de Torrelavega, Spain. Talking CLIL – Present and Future Talking Competencies Talking Cantabria
Future-ready schools are now developing globally. Charting the future means having a clear vision and strategy on how to get there. This involves recognizing existing strengths and past successes, and adapting these so that schools enable students to have knowledge, competences and skills for the world of tomorrow. Leaders of future-ready schools know that children…
Interview by Crystal Green with David Marsh for the Nexus Global Conversation on the origins of CLIL in Europe (9 mins) originally recorded in 2015. Click the below link to listen.
In the 1970s interdisciplinary learning emerged and quickly became controversial. Now, 50 years later, especially after the expansion of hybrid teaching during the pandemic, it is rapidly becoming a signature educational driver in leading edge schools and colleges. Interdisciplinarity is central to academic innovation because many subjects in schools and discipline-based degrees do little to…
Event opening speech for NIS centre of Excellence, Kazakhstan in seminar on teaching, artificial intelligence and the future.
Event opening speech at University of Guadalajara, Mexico on how experience of the pandemic provides opportunities for change management processes in higher education. July 2021, Spanish sub-titles, 17 mins
Excessive noise reduces the capacity to think, learn, and particularly to remember. Controlling noise is one of the most urgent and meaningful actions we can do to improve learning outcomes in our schools. Read more on the blog at Realvi.
In a world full of myths about learning languages, there are some fundamental truths. There are two ways to learn a language we can learn in a language, or we can learn about a language In is the natural way – just like we learnt our first language About is the unnatural way – what…
One positive experience of 2020 has been to recognise how inter-connectedness underpins not only our health and security, but also how we teach and learn. Education in 2020 became a profound stress-test where inadequate teaching approaches failed to migrate into rapidly introduced hybrid contexts. It revealed the success of integrated approaches such as CLIL which…
The 2020 experience of the rapid transition to remote teaching has been demanding for both educators and students. Studies in different countries indicate certain needs that now need to be either introduced or enhanced in teaching. These apply to physical-presence class teaching as well as HyFlex contexts where teaching and learning is applied through synchronous…
Why language education often fails and how language learning brings us profound advantages En español Em português Tiếng Việt Advances in technology continue to reveal scientific understanding of the advantages on mind and brain for those who know more than one language. A 2020 update review of the landmark 2009 meta-study on neuroscientific insights into…
Wherever we are located in the world, COVID-19 continues to have a profound impact on our societies and lives. Lockdown is one experience widely shared globally. This has resulted in sudden closure of schools, and educators striving to find ways to support students online, through TV or radio, and sometimes through delivery of food and…
NEXUS 2020-2025 is a new generation expert team exploring pedagogical methods that enable successful development of global competences through a fusion of subject and language learning. Involving people of all ages NEXUS aims to show how specific teaching activities can support learning outcomes according to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 Global Competence…
Today, disruptive learning calls for disruptive technologies. Combining augmented and virtual reality to produce powerful and safe CLIL learning environments has been a dream for bilingual education teachers for over a decade. Now it is increasingly within reach with iCLIL where knowledge and competence-building go hand-in-hand with dynamic immersive learning experiences.
Global Positioning Generation Z (GPZ) is a CLIL-based learning resource for developing global competences. It enables young people (16-18 yrs) to look at how to make the environment a better place. Essentially asking ‘what is your position as a Generation Z global citizen (born 1995-2015) towards climate change?’ the resources focus on knowledge, attitudes, values…
Published in 2019, IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONALIZATION OF ACADEMIA: Teaching Learning Research through English is now available. It is intended for academics and higher education personnel engaged in processes involving adoption of teaching and learning in English as an additional language. Access the full report here: https://riudg.udg.mx/handle/20.500.12104/79771
Ten years ago, a European Commission study ‘Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity’ (Marsh, 2009) examined the potential for links between knowledge of languages and enhanced cognitive ability. The scientific meta-study reported that knowing more than one language generates a higher number of neuronal connections and stimulates multiple neuronal webs, both intra- and inter-hemispheric, which can…
After a successful 2-year trial period of Pheno-CLIL with High School students in Mexico, a prototype has been designed for younger learners. Pheno-CLIL is a signature pedagogy for teaching subjects in English. It combines two complementary across-the-curriculum methods: Phenomenon-based Learning (PhBL) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). PhBL develops systems-thinking (seeing patterns in information…
The role of the first language when teaching through English as an additional language. A powerful argument for dual language environments when English is introduced as the medium of instruction. Authored by Hamish Chalmers with input from Eithne Gallagher, David Marsh, Victoria Murphy, Patsy Lightbown, and Nina Spada. Published 2019, Oxford University Press. Get your…
One key takeaway is why educational expertise in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan is re-examining how undue stress undermines the physical and mental health of young people, and why New Generation Schools place human wellbeing at the heart of curricular operations.
The Guadalajara Colloquium on Internationalizing Implementation of Academia was held in Mexico October 2018, with input from expertise in Colombia, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Korea and Spain. Reporting shortly through a Shape Paper on teaching in higher education through an additional language, the colloquium identified two key development issues – Which models? Which…
Shaping the Future: A KDI Framework for Building CLIL Environments in Higher Education is a Key Development Indicator tool which simplifies understanding of how to successfully introduce higher education teaching and learning in an additional language such as English. The KDI framework is formed by first identifying the goal (e.g. quality education through English which…
Starting 2018 in Finland developing resources which combine CLIL with phenomenon-based education to accelerate deep level language learning.
Presentations on how to realize the working life competences of digitally astute young people at schools and colleges are ongoing in Asia and Europe September- January 2018. Developments in Finland are aligned to the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2017.
Dr. Wendy Díaz Pérez of the University of Guadalajara and David Marsh interviewed in Mexico on actions which enable university faculties to internationalize. The story of the successes achieved through a Mexico-Finland partnership is be published in partnership with the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education based in Montreal, Canada during September 2017.
Plans for a TEDx 2018 Finland event are now underway. Following the landmark 2015 TEDx Navigating the Horizon through Flexible Learning Paths, the crew is now being assembled for Inspiration through Integration, TEDx Jyväskylä Education.
