Evolving Paradigms in Interpreter Education:

Commentary: Changing Our Attitude and Position

28 Commentary Changing Our Attitude and Position Beppie van den Bogaerde Figure 1. Wordle of Monikowski chapter (this volume). Christine Monikowski’s chapter on the challenges faced by interpreter educators when planning their career in the United States fits with the developments that have been going on in Europe since the 1990s. I briefly discuss these and review her chapter in relationship to these developments. Developments in Europe The Bologna Declaration is a pledge by 29 European countries to reform the structures of their higher education systems, which was intended to be fully implemented by 2010 (CEURC / CRE 2000).A 2012 report mentions that easily readable and comparable degrees and a two-cycle system are now being implemented in the 47 countries constituting the European Higher Commentary/Changing Our Attitude 29 Education Area (European Commission 2012, 4).9 Among other things, this meant that all institutes of higher education (IHEs) in the member countries would adhere to the bachelor/master/doctorate system. The many varieties of higher vocational schooling were also to be adapted to this system in the form of universities of applied sciences (De Weert and Soo 2009). In Europe there are currently more than 65 training programs for sign language interpreting (SLI), as described by the respondents10 of a recent survey by de Wit (2012). She lists 14 baccalaureate programs, 24 master’s programs, 66 vocational training programs (4 of which are on a certificate/course level), 10 differently specified programs, and 1 temporary program (2012, fig. 2.3). Teachers affiliated with the baccalaureate and master’s programs in universities of applied sciences are often working interpreters in their local spoken and signed languages, Deaf native signers, and other professionals who come from the practical domain of Deaf studies, for example, teachers of the deaf, educationalists, or speech therapists. Many of these hold vocational degrees from before the time of the Bologna agreement, and although qualified, they do not always have experience with research. Many programs do not have any or have only a few staff members who have a doctorate in linguistics, communication , or other related fields. Faculty members in traditional universities hold doctoral degrees. Because educators working in SLI programs need to be working within the triangle mentioned by Monikowski (this volume, 2), all factors she listed also apply to the IHE SLI education programs in the European union, specifically in universities of applied sciences; in the traditional universities the focus on interpreting techniques and skills on the job might prove challenging to implement in the curriculum. However, no research has been done on this aspect, to my knowledge. 9. http://www.ehea.info/article-details.aspx?ArticleId=65. 10. Respondents were from 40 countries and regions of EU, which currently consists of 47 countries: Albania,Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (Wallonia), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, United Kingdom (and Wales and Northern Ireland ), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy (ANIMU and ANIOS), Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia (ATSZJ and UTLOSS), Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (French, German, and Italian regions), and Ukraine. 30 Beppie van den Bogaerde Challenges Monikowski’s description of the challenges facing academia in the United States can be applied seamlessly to the situation in Europe, even though the tenure track system varies significantly in the different countries (Batterbury 2008).What struck me most of Monikowski’s argumentation was not that we need practical research to support our pedagogical approaches or our curricula development (this volume, 9).This has been discussed by Pöchhacker (2010), Nicodemus and Swabey (2011), and many others. No, it is that “we need faculty who can represent [this new] discipline in the academy and address the slow ‘academization’ ... in our field” (this volume, 6). Being of the same mind, the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters (EFSLI) organized three seminars for trainers on curriculum development for SLI education in IHEs, with reference to the European Qualification Framework (2008), which in turn is closely related to the qualifications framework for the European Higher Education Area (2005/2007). During the international seminars, where usually more than 20 countries were represented, it became very evident that we needed more research and researchers to justify the choices we are making in the professionalization of our teachers and in our didactical choices regarding language education and interpreting skills of our students. Most important, we agreed that our students...