By Sahra Mengal, Chair of ESLA

Across Europe, speech and language therapy is facing a period of significant change.

Demand for services is increasing. Health, education and social care systems are under pressure. Digital tools and artificial intelligence are beginning to influence clinical practice, service organisation and professional education. At the same time, many countries are facing workforce shortages, long waiting lists and unequal access to support.

These developments require a serious and balanced response from our profession.

At ESLA, we believe the future of speech and language therapy in Europe must be shaped around three closely connected priorities: innovation, access and equity. But these priorities cannot stand alone. They must be grounded in professional competence, strong education, ethical responsibility and public trust.

Innovation must be clinically led

Innovation offers real opportunities for speech and language therapy. Digital tools, telepractice, artificial intelligence, data systems and new models of service delivery can help us reach more people, improve continuity, support documentation, strengthen research and make better use of professional expertise.

But innovation should not be adopted simply because it is new or impressive. Its value must be judged by its contribution to care.

For speech and language therapy, innovation should help people communicate, participate and make decisions in their daily lives. It should strengthen clinical reasoning, improve access, reduce inequalities, support sustainable services and protect safety and dignity.

This is particularly important in relation to artificial intelligence. AI systems are shaped by the data used to develop them. If these data do not represent different languages, dialects, accents, ages, communication profiles and clinical presentations, there is a risk that tools may be unreliable or biased.

Speech, language and communication data are deeply personal. They are connected to identity, culture, cognition, health and participation. This means that SLTs must be involved in the development, evaluation and implementation of tools that affect our profession and the people we serve.

Technology can support practice, but it cannot replace professional judgement. Responsible innovation in SLT must be evidence-informed, ethically governed and clinically led.

Access is about more than service availability

Access remains one of the major challenges for speech and language therapy across Europe.

However, access is not only about whether a service exists. It is shaped by the whole pathway: how people enter the system, how long they wait, whether support is available in the right setting, and whether there is continuity between services.

Improving access is therefore not simply a question of providing more appointments. It also requires us to think carefully about how SLT expertise is organised and used.

For some people, direct specialist intervention will be essential. For others, access may also be improved through consultation, prevention, coaching, group approaches, community-based work, telepractice or closer collaboration with families, schools, care settings and other professionals.

The aim is timely, appropriate and meaningful support.

Better access means the right support, at the right time, in the right setting.

This also means strengthening pathways for people with communication and swallowing needs across the lifespan, including those requiring specialist or ongoing support.

Equity must guide service development

Access and equity are closely related, but they are not the same.

Access asks whether people can receive support. Equity asks whether that support is fair, inclusive and appropriate for different people and communities.

Across Europe, this includes language equity, disability equity, digital equity, geographic equity and research equity.

Europe is multilingual and culturally diverse. This must be reflected in how we assess, diagnose, intervene, communicate with families and develop resources. Multilingualism should not be treated as a complication. It is a normal part of life for many people in Europe.

People with communication disabilities also need services and systems that are accessible to them. This includes accessible information, time to communicate, supported decision-making, communication partner support and meaningful involvement in decisions.

Digital development must also be approached carefully. Telepractice and digital tools can improve access for some people, but they can exclude others if they assume access to technology, privacy, internet, literacy or digital confidence.

Often, the issue is not that people are hard to reach. It is that services are hard to access.

Equity requires us to ask who is still underserved, who is missing from our evidence base, and who is not yet sufficiently involved in shaping services, research and policy.

Workforce solutions must protect competence

Workforce pressure is one of the most serious issues facing our profession. Many countries need more SLTs, more placement capacity, better retention, stronger supervision and more sustainable working conditions.

These pressures are real and must be addressed.

But short-term solutions must not weaken professional preparation.

Initial education defines what the profession knows, what it is responsible for, and what the public can trust it to do. The future of speech and language therapy in Europe depends not only on how many professionals we prepare, but on what kind of professionals emerge.

We need SLTs with strong scientific foundations, clinical reasoning, ethical judgement, research literacy, supervised clinical experience and readiness for professional responsibility.

Preparation for SLT practice must be broad, integrated, supervised and substantial. Competence is not only about knowledge or routine procedures. It includes clinical reasoning, ethical and legal responsibility, research literacy, safe practice, and the ability to respond to complexity.

As practice becomes more complex, preparation needs to become stronger, not weaker.

The Common Training Framework: creating clarity without uniformity

One of the questions ESLA must consider is how to support a profession that is both European and nationally rooted. Speech and language therapy is organised differently across countries, and these differences are not accidental. They reflect national legislation, education systems, service structures and professional histories.

This diversity is important. It allows the profession to develop within local systems and respond to national needs. At the same time, it can make it difficult to understand how qualifications compare across borders, what level of preparation is expected, and how professional competence is recognised.

Previous European work, including NetQues, has shown that SLT education across Europe already shares many common elements. There is broad agreement on the importance of competence-based education, learning outcomes, supervised clinical practice and preparation for autonomous professional responsibility. However, there are also differences in how programmes are positioned, how clinical education is organised, and how the profession is regulated.

This is the context in which discussion about a Common Training Framework becomes relevant.

For ESLA, the value of such a discussion is not in producing a single European curriculum. Nor should it be about reducing standards to the minimum that everyone can accept. The value lies in making our shared expectations clearer: what future SLTs need to know, what they must be able to do, and what level of responsibility they are prepared to carry.

A carefully developed framework could help create a common reference point for competence and education, while still allowing countries to maintain their own structures. It could also make national systems easier to understand in relation to one another, which is important for professional mobility, recognition and workforce planning.

At this stage, the most important task is not to rush towards a final model. It is to continue the discussion in a way that is thoughtful, evidence-informed and profession-led. The process must involve member associations, educators, regulators and practitioners, and it must keep quality, autonomy and patient safety at the centre.

The Common Training Framework should therefore be seen as part of a wider conversation about the future of the profession in Europe: how we protect competence, support mobility, respect diversity and strengthen public trust.

A shared European responsibility

The future of speech and language therapy in Europe will be shaped by the choices we make now across education, technology, service organisation, workforce planning, professional standards and the involvement of service users and communities.

As ESLA, our role is not to replace national associations. National associations understand their own systems, legislation and professional realities. ESLA’s role is to connect, support and represent: to bring countries together, strengthen shared knowledge, support member associations, promote professional standards and represent the profession in European discussions.

A shared European future for speech and language therapy does not mean one identical model for all countries. It means working together where cooperation adds value: on visibility, education, innovation, access, equity, professional recognition and public trust.

This work will require time, collaboration and professional responsibility. It must be grounded in respect for national diversity, but also in a clear commitment to the quality and credibility of the profession across Europe.

That is the shared European future ESLA is committed to supporting.