Language Assistants: Cultural Bridges in Alicante's Educational Centres

The Department of Education, Culture, Universities, and Employment has published two resolutions in the DOGV (English and other languages) calling for non-university educational centres to apply for foreign language assistants in English, German, French, and Italian for the 2025-26 academic year.

The language assistants programme aims to support teachers and develop students' oral communication skills in foreign languages. Its main function is to enhance students' oral skills and promote positive attitudes towards interculturality.

For English language assistants, funded by the Department of Education, public-funded centres offering Primary Education, ESO, Baccalaureate, and Adult Education Centres owned by the Generalitat can participate in this programme. The call is open for the first time to charter schools, and Official Language Schools can also access this resource for the first time.

For German, French, and Italian assistants, managed by the Ministry, the call is directed at public centres offering Primary Education, ESO, Baccalaureate, and Adult Education Centres owned by the Generalitat, which offer at least one foreign language area that matches the language of the requested assistant.

The language assistant's stay is from October 1, 2025 (except in exceptional cases where it may be later) to May 31, 2026. They must attend the centre according to the academic calendar for 14 hours per week (French, German, and Italian) or 16 hours per week (English). The centre will distribute the weekly hours over 4 or 5 consecutive days, except in justified cases and always according to its needs.

The language assistant is assigned a tutor, preferably among teachers who deliver content in a foreign language. This role is not considered teaching staff, so they must share teaching hours with the assigned teacher and will never be alone with students or assume responsibilities that belong to the teaching staff.

The goal of language assistants is to reinforce students' oral interaction in the foreign language for which they have been selected, and they will never assign interventions in another foreign language for which they have not been assigned.

Their functions include collaborating with teachers to help students acquire specific competencies in understanding, expressing, and interacting orally in a foreign language; developing communicative activities with teaching staff using exclusively the corresponding foreign language; and acting as a reference model for linguistic correctness.

They will also coordinate with teachers to develop oral linguistic competence in both language classes and non-linguistic areas, subjects, and modules, and will develop activities that foster students' motivation and interest in the language and culture of their country of origin through current topics and playful and communicative activities.

Additionally, their functions include fostering a multilingual and intercultural environment in the centre, contributing to teacher training, and collaborating with them in the development of teaching materials.

Centres interested in participating in the English language assistants programme can submit their application until April 10 through the specific OVICE procedure. For the German, French, and Italian programme, they must complete the application available on the Plurilingual Education Service website and submit it through a specific procedure until April 11.