BOOST Your Language Teaching Skills
CercleS (European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education) – Training and professional development programme for university language teachers
cercles.org
The BOOST programme is an international training initiative created by CercleS to support language teachers in higher education in enhancing their professional practice. Following a successful first edition in 2025, the refined 2026–2027 programme offers an even more practice oriented approach, built on participant and trainer feedback. It provides a structured, collaborative, and hands on learning experience that strengthens pedagogical skills, encourages innovation, and fosters a European network of engaged language educators.
Objectives
Core aims of the BOOST programme include:
- Enhancing teaching practice through experiential learning, enabling participants to step into the learner’s role and gain deeper insight into the student experience.
- Strengthening constructive alignment between learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessment, ensuring coherent and effective course design.
- Redesigning or fine-tuning courses using task based and action oriented principles grounded in current language teaching research.
- Developing coaching competences that support student autonomy, engagement, and learning success.
- Promoting reflective teaching, supported by tools such as portfolios and learning journals to sustain long-term professional growth.
- Building a vibrant professional network by enabling exchanges among colleagues across European universities, teaching contexts, and disciplines.
Programme Trainers
- Sabina SCHAFFNER (Coordinator) – Teacher and leadership trainer; former Director of the Language Centre at UZH and ETH Zurich, Switzerland,
- Marta DEMCHYSHYN – Deputy Director and Senior Teacher of English, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine,
- Tetiana KIBALNIKOVA – English Lecturer, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic,
- Barbara SAWICKA – Associate Professor, Centre of Languages & Communication, Poznań University of Technology, Poland,
- Julia ZABALA DELGADO – Deputy Director, Language Centre, Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain