The schools indicated a great need for expertise around 1) language and reading skills, 2) dealing with diversity and multilingualism, and 3) realising a reading policy at school. Within their network and within Flanders, they found no answers to this. That is why they wanted to look abroad for the expertise they so desperately needed. Also because they wanted to shape internationalisation as a means of professionalisation and their international operations more concretely. These needs resulted in four concrete objectives: (1) Promoting language and literacy skills to achieve e.g. a stronger reading level. (2) Better learning to deal with diversity and multilingualism to e.g. achieve stronger inclusion. (3) Develop a school-wide policy around language and reading. (4) Realise a policy-based approach to internationalisation. The touchstone for measuring whether the objectives were achieved and whether this consortium was successful was 'an optimised pedagogical, didactic or organisational approach to language and reading teaching at school that results in better learning outcomes and stronger pupil and teacher well-being'.
This consortium came about at the request of a learning network of 26 primary schools that shared good practices around language and reading: reading, reading motivation, reading pleasure, reading comprehension and the connection with listening, speaking, and writing skills. Several external factors challenged schools to strengthen their language and reading policies. These included the growing diversity in classes (different home languages), PISA results calling for stronger reading didactics, and also the results of the KOALA tests prompting more attention to a strong language and reading policy at school. Internal factors also played a role: a number of schools wanted to respond to weak points in their screening report or internal evaluations showed that the schools experienced a lack of concrete practice and tools around language and reading skills, of didactic and pedagogical insights such as a vision on multilingualism and diversity, and of policy approaches to reading policy. Within their network and in Flanders, these schools did not find the expertise they were looking for, or they experienced the existing recipes as little impact. That is why they asked for and received the support of EA to shape their prof plans abroad.