From 10 to 14 November 2024, an official delegation of the Republic of Moldova, consisting of representatives of the Government: Ministry of Education and Research, Ministry of Finance, Agency for Interethnic Relations, educational institutions from Chisinau and the Gagauz autonomy, conducted a study visit to South Tyrol (Italy) to have an overview of the progress in the development and implementation of multilingual education.
The study visit is part of the education dialogue process of CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, which supports the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Research to implement the Concept of Multilingual Education in the Republic of Moldova.
The delegation was welcomed by officials from the South Tyrol Government: Daniel Alfreider, Vice-President of the Province of Bolzano – Alto Adige, responsible for Ladin education and culture, and Philipp Achammer, Provincial Councillor, responsible for German education and culture. They emphasised the importance of linguistic diversity and multilingual education, encouraging the exchange of good practices between South Tyrol and the Republic of Moldova.
During the visit, the Moldovan delegation had the opportunity to be familiarised with various innovative educational models and to participate in discussions on topics such as language rights, their integration in the educational process and teacher training strategies. During the meetings organised at Eurac Research, the delegation delved into topics related to multilingual competences, benefiting from the expertise of researchers with extensive experience in the field of multilingual education.
”This visit was an excellent opportunity to learn from South Tyrol’s experience in the field of multilingual education. The successful models we found here are very relevant to the educational process in the Republic of Moldova, and the exchange of good practices will help us to develop better solutions in key areas such as education and language integration of ethnic minorities.”
Ms Valentina Olaru, State Secretary for General Education, Lifelong Learning and Inter-Ethnic Relations at the Ministry of Education and Research, said.
Another purpose of the visit was to study the parity teaching model in the Ladin Valley, which promotes integrated language teaching and respect for the cultural identity of the Ladin community. The delegation visited schools and kindergartens in the region to analyse how innovative educational methods are being introduced and how minority languages are protected and promoted. The visit also included meetings at the Faculty of Education of the University of Bolzano/Bozen (Ladin Department), where a concrete example of the implementation of multilingual education – from teacher training to the development of teaching materials – was presented.
The members of the delegation noted that during the study visit they had the opportunity to analyse the South Tyrol model in the field of multilingual education and to study the best European practices. They stated that valuable information was acquired, which will help participants to develop and implement their own model of multilingual education, reflecting the realities and specificities of the Republic of Moldova.
The study visit was organised by CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation within the project ‘Supporting Institutionalised and Sustainable Dialogue on the Autonomy of Gagauzia’ with the support of Sweden. CMI is a Finnish organisation that works in the field of conflict prevention and resolution through dialogue and mediation. CMI was founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari in 2000. In the Republic of Moldova, CMI facilitates an informal dialogue process between the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia on the platform of the Parliamentary Working Group on Gagauzia.
