Blog: Develop and transform your languages teaching with Language Educators Online: The professional learning platform working with teachers for teachers
As languages teachers, we are constantly seeking ways to inspire and motivate our pupils, enhance our practice, and stay ahead of the latest pedagogical developments. The challenges we face are many: engaging every learner, integrating educational technology and AI, ensuring all pupils reach their full potential in languages learning, and making the case for our subject in a crowded curriculum. Here, Maud Waret talks us through the new LEO platform and why colleagues should sign up.
Written by Maud Waret
LEO: Empowering professional learning
Language Educators Online (LEO) is the new, free professional learning platform created for languages teachers, working with languages teachers, senior leaders, and subject experts. Funded by the DfE, LEO has been developed by the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE)– led by UCL Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council and the Goethe-Institut (Germany’s national cultural institute).
LEO focuses on the specific needs of language teachers now. The content and design of the platform are suitable for individual and collaborative learning, addressing system and subject leadership for languages, and offering practical guidance for the languages classroom. LEO is more than a static platform, it is an online meeting place for knowledge exchange and advanced professional learning, connecting you with a national community of practice committed to inspiring future linguists.
Stimulating, flexible, on-demand content leveraging the most up-to-date and reliable sources
LEO comprises a comprehensive series of online modules which build your knowledge and understanding of effective teaching and learning systematically in the order you choose. Each module offers insights you can adapt to your unique context, supporting you in your teaching practice, sequencing and enhancing your curriculum, and developing you as a language leader through modular, accessible, flexible and user-focussed resources that are easily adaptable to your specific circumstances.
In addition to the core modules, LEO offers three curated pathways:
- The Expert View – stimulating think pieces and guided learning featuring leading experts and practitioners
- AI & EdTech with Joe Dale – a 10-unit course including video tutorials supporting teachers with the latest technology for the languages classroom
- Introductory Pathway from the Goethe-Institut – focusing on foundational principles in teaching, learning, and assessment
LEO will be showcasing key learning from NCLE’s schools-led National Priority Projects, led by NCLE’s Language Networks across the country.
LEO also includes a resource bank, La Médiathèque, including written and video resourcesto support you.
Research-informed insights from real classrooms
A unique feature of LEO is its foundation in research-informed, evidence-based practice from contemporary classrooms. Developed through collaboration between NCLE Consortium partners UCL Institute of Education, the Goethe-Institut, and the British Council in consultation with schools and national and international experts, LEO brings together expert and practitioner-led core content. LEO brings language provision to life, bridging the gap between theory and practice, highlighting recent footage of classroom practice from leading schools across the NCLE Network and drawing on insights from interviews with senior leaders, practising teachers and pupils from across the NCLE Network.
Content is regularly refreshed with outputs from NCLE’s National Priority Projects – school-led projects driving change and addressing regional and local needs through research-informed action – ensuring you always have access to current research and innovative approaches being developed and tested by NCLE partner schools. From traditional pedagogical foundations to cutting-edge developments in AI for the languages classroom, LEO will support you to make decisions that are right for you in your context.
Breaking down barriers to your professional development
LEO revolutionises the professional development offer for languages teachers in England by providing significant CPD opportunities completely free of charge. It removes barriers to accessing professional development that often limit teachers’ opportunities for professional development, such as cost, location, timing, and rigid timetables. It is designed to be as accessible and flexible as possible to fit in with your schedule and specific areas of interest. Whether you have five minutes between lessons or a quiet evening at home, LEO’s content is accessible on any device – laptop, tablet, or mobile phone – any place, at any time.
Most importantly, LEO is suitable for teachers at any stage of their career. Whether you’re an ECT finding your feet, an experienced teacher refreshing your practice, or a head of department supporting your colleagues’ practice and professional development, LEO provides relevant, challenging content that will fit your current focus. LEO also intends to strengthen languages leadership by providing information and guidance to senior leaders, improving languages leadership within schools and in turn developing system-wide developments.
Developing your professional agency with reflexive practice
What truly sets LEO apart is its commitment to developing teacher agency through reflexive practice. LEO provides stimulating content and examples of different approaches adapted to different learners’ needs. You will give shape to your learning by completing a range of tasks and developing your thinking in your personal reflexive space. LEO can also support co-learning and collaboration, helping you as teachers and leaders to decide upon the solutions that will work for your specific pupils and context. LEO does not follow rigid formulas. LEO encourages all of us to develop our professional judgment and confidence to make informed decisions about the way we teach, the way we assess, and the way we lead languages. With LEO, you’ll engage with research-informed approaches while developing your critical thinking skills to adapt these insights to your unique classroom environment and school setting.
In addition, for those pursuing formal recognition, LEO offers excellent preparation for the Expertise in Teaching Certificate and Certificate in Strategic CPD Leadership from the Chartered College of Teaching.
Join us in re-energising languages education
We are really excited to be launching LEO and warmly invite all colleagues to join us, try out the platform and be part of its future development. There has never been a better time to re-energise languages education. We hope you will be part of it!
Easy next steps to explore further:
- Watch this introductory video to the CPD platform
- Sign up to LEO today: Registration is free and takes just a couple of minutes