The First Balkan Eaquals Conference was held in the beautiful Royal Olympic Hotel, in the heart of Athens, on April 27. The host of the Conference was QLS, the Association of Foreign Language Schools of Greece, and the organising committee included Yals – the Association of Foreign Language Schools of Serbia, Quest – the Association of Foreign Language Schools of Romania, Optima – the Association of Foreign Language Schools of Bulgaria, and Özyeğin University from Turkey, all associate members of the European Association for Evaluation and Accreditation – Eaquals.

The conference, titled “Challenges of Today in the ELT World,” was opened by Lou McLaughlin, the Executive Director of Eaquals, which currently has 155 members from 35 countries around the world. Around 60 participants from the Balkan countries had the opportunity to explore the integration of artificial intelligence, digital acceleration, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking into contemporary education. All topics were very interesting, and the presented activities were practical and useful, and the participants enjoyed trying some of them out. The representatives of Yals were Marija Pejatovic and Jelena Spasic who held a plenary lecture on the topic of critical thinking in language teaching, which is a topic that is gaining relevance again with the increased use of artificial intelligence. “We witness that our students often resort to the use of various tools that are supported by artificial intelligence, often without checking the sources of information they receive, and therefore we must work on the additional development of critical thinking skills in them, because we, among others, educate future citizens of this world”, emphasized our representatives. The conference was also supported by three publishing houses – Pearson, Hamilton and Express Publishing, and the conference participants were able to find out what innovations in the field of digital teaching tools we might expect from them.

It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with colleagues, friends and industry leaders who are committed to raising the standard of language education, as well as to exchange ideas, and experiences and plan new projects and events. It was also agreed that the next Balkan conference will be held in Bulgaria to mark the 25th anniversary of the existence of the Optima Association.