Currently, the availability and quality of sign language interpreting training programmes throughout Europe is inconsistent. In many of the member countries formal training programmes have yet to be established and the existing programmes vary greatly in terms of length, educational level and learning outcomes. This hinders Deaf people’s right to access because the quality of the interpreting services cannot be guaranteed. In 2011 the European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters (efsli) launched a consultation process involving more than one hundred sign language interpreters and trainers from across Europe with the aim of agreeing and defining the minimum skills expected of a graduate interpreter. The result of this two-year process is the publication of Learning Outcomes for Graduates of a Three Year Sign Language Interpreting Training Programme, which will be launched in December 2013 at an event at the European Parliament hosted by MEPs Adam Kosa and Werner Kuhn in December 2013. The Learning Outcomes are intended to be relevant to all signed language interpreters, regardless of hearing status. The Learning Outcomes are divided into eight domains of knowledge; (1) Signed Language/s and Sign Linguistics, (2)Spoken and/or Written Languages, (3) Interpreting, (4) Deaf Communities and Deaf Culture, (5) Ethics and Decision Making, (6)Interpreting for Specific Populations, (7) Interpreting in Specific Settings and (8) Professional Knowledge. All of the learning outcomes are designed as descriptors of the minimal level of competence for entry to the profession and are predicated on the following notional conditions: that students are following a course of study that is of three years duration and that the majority of students have no or little signed language competence at entry. It is important to note that this is intended merely as a reference framework which represents the minimal threshold competencies that interpreter trainers and practitioners from across Europe believe are required for practice. This publication marks a milestone in the construction of a united Europe while recognising and preserving language and cultural diversity, as well as social and educational traditions. It also supports the principle of the free movement of people by laying the foundations of training standards for sign language interpreters and quality services for Deaf citizens across the entire Union. It is of crucial importance that Deaf EU citizens are able to move through Europe by accessing quality interpreting services. This document is, then, an historic breakthrough. The book is accompanied by the Assessment Guidelines for Sign Language Interpreting Training Programmes, which outlines and advises on how to assess the achievement of the learning outcomes contained in the main document, and will be available via Amazon very soon.
