This project set out to design and trial an evaluation rubric for primary-aged children’s plurilingual and intercultural competence. What made it unique was the way it was created — not just by researchers, but together with teachers, children and parents/carers.
At the heart of the project was a simple idea: everyone involved should share a clear, child-friendly understanding of what plurilingual and intercultural competence means. That understanding should also connect directly to children’s everyday experiences at school, at home and in their communities.
To do this, the project drew on CEFR descriptors for children’s plurilingual and intercultural competence, but worked with stakeholders to make these ideas meaningful in real-life, 'superdiverse' (Vertovec, 2007) settings. The goal was to bridge the gap between broad policy frameworks and the lived language practices of children.
The rubric was designed with children, teachers and parents with practical criteria in mind:
- User-friendly and jargon-free.
- Engaging and understandable for children, parents, and teachers.
- Aligned with everyday classroom activities.
- Sustainable and digitally accessible.
- Adaptable across different age groups in primary school.
- Visually supported, so families who do not share the school’s main language could also use it.
From this, the following research question was created: How can teachers, parents/carers, children and teacher trainers/researchers co-create a rubric that (1) incorporates both European competence/curriculum descriptors, (2) is relevant and context sensitive to children’s plurilingual and pluri/intercultural practices in school, home and community scenarios, and (3) considers design and usability issues?
Why this matters
- The study adds to the under-researched area of rubric co-creation and shows what happens when all stakeholders are actively involved in assessment.
- It offers a model of inclusive practice that values children’s full linguistic and cultural repertoires — not only the official languages of schooling.
- The approach is innovative and holistic, helping schools assess children’s skills, knowledge and abilities across different areas of life, in ways that are both fair and representative.
Listen to the researchers discuss their work in the recording below.
They have also published an open access article: Knight, J., & Segura, M. (2025). Reflections on addressing educational inequalities through the co-creation of a rubric for assessing children’s plurilingual and intercultural competence. Education Sciences, 15(6), 762. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060762
Research materials are freely available here.
Citation
Knight, J. & Segura Mollà, M. (2025). Creating a school-child-family evaluation rubric for evaluating children’s plurilingual and intercultural competence in a Catalan Primary school. British Council. https://doi.org/10.57884/D739-SX50