SOCRATES/LINGUA - Joint Educational Projects Handbook
The European Commission, DG XXII, has produced a "Joint Educational Projects Handbook" aimed at assisting educational establishments in setting up exchanges within the framework of Joint Educational Projects supported under the LINGUA section of the Community's SOCRATES programme. The LINGUA action programme to promote foreign language competence in the European Community, adopted in 1989, has been very successful at promoting language learning, with a special focus on the least widely used and taught languages. Since 1995, the actions initiated under LINGUA have continued as part of the SOCRATES programme. Joint Educational Projects (JEPs) for language learning aim to increase young people's motivation, as well as capacity, to communicate in foreign languages. By the end of this century, it is expected that at least 250,000 young people and their teachers from all over Europe will have participated in a JEP. In addition, the share of projects involving the least widely used and least taught languages has grown constantly and, with the support of all actors involved, this trend is expected to continue. The Handbook provides valuable advice on how to organize and carry out a project of this kind. It sets out the basic principles and criteria and attempts to anticipate some of the problems which may be encountered. Advice is also given on how to set up the budget. Examples of projects already carried out are included.