Language Learning: debate in the House of Lords

I've mentioned before that I have Google Alerts set up on my account, and they bring a number of language-related stories to my inbox each day.  Last week, on 4th January, I was alerted to a debate about language learning in schools and universities that was going to be taking place in the House of Lords on 8th January (last Thursday).  I posted the news on Bluesky, where the news received 3 likes and nothing more.  I also posted it on LinkedIn, where it got more attention that anything else I have ever posted on that platform:

The debate was moved by Baroness Coussins, a long-time supporter of languages and language teaching and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Modern Languages.  It took place to discuss primarily "measures, such as visa waivers, to improve the supply chain of qualified modern foreign language teachers and the sustainability of language learning in schools and universities".

The main themes of the debate were:

• the importance of language learning to the economy
• the importance of the language learning continuum and lifelong learning, including effective transition between phases
• improving the teacher pipeline, including teachers from overseas and the "homegrown pipeline" (but no remarks about how this might improve teaching in primary schools)
• the dangers posed by the recent spate of university language department closures

The text of the debate is available to read on Hansard.  I have compiled here the parts that relate to primary languages teaching, for the benefit of primary languages practitioners.

Baroness Shephard of Northwold, a.k.a. Gillian Shephard, Education Secretary 1994-97, a French and Latin graduate:

Many years ago, in an earlier career, I set up a number of projects to teach French in primary schools, with tight and co-operative links to the appropriate secondary schools. We trained teachers and hired peripatetic staff and French assistants. Our strong in-service training included what became known locally, rather unfortunately, as “French weekends”. In this residential training, French was spoken throughout, French food was served and there were obviously quite a number of wine tastings. The whole scheme brought together primary and secondary teachers with the Alliance Française. It was a true languages pipeline, with stellar O-level and A-level results in languages as a consequence. This was one way of achieving that improvement.

Baroness Garden of Frognal, also a languages graduate:

We need a strategy to boost language learning. Ideally, as the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, set out, this should start at primary school when young minds are open and young mouths can develop to make the different sounds needed by different languages. If you do not start languages until secondary school, young people are already getting anxious about making new noises and talking with new words. Can the Minister say what is being done to encourage languages in primary schools? Some years back the British Academy ran competitions to find imaginative language learning in primary schools, with some schools focusing on food and some on drama, music or clothing to stimulate ideas, often with great success. What happened to those imaginative programmes?

Baroness Prashar:

The economic security and other personal benefits of learning and speaking a second language have already been articulated in this debate, so I will not repeat them. It is clear, however, that we need urgent, concerted and co-ordinated action—from primary schools through to universities and beyond—to address the inadequate, long-standing and worsening supply of language learning and teaching skills needed to meet our future needs. It is also clear is that we need a joined-up and holistic approach that is coherent across education and skills systems. While the Government have ambitious reforms to address teacher shortages, their immigration policies risk undermining them, particularly in regard to MFL and, as we have heard, in maths and physics.

Baroness Smith of Newnham:

As the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, pointed out, we should be thinking about modern languages as not just things that people study at school but as part of lifelong learning. What thought has the Minister given to people having the opportunity to learn languages at various stages? Yes, primary schools are important, as the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, said. It is much better to learn a language at nursery or primary school than in your 50s—as I tried to do recently—but the opportunity to learn those languages is important.

Lord Chartres:

In the Government’s response to the conclusions of the report [the Curriculum and Assessment Review], which was very constructive, there is support for a much clearer focus on the provision of languages in primary schools.

My fundamental question, which echoes comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, is how precisely are the Government going to substantiate that aspiration for a clearer focus on the provision of languages in primary schools? That is not only European languages, because I take the point made around the House about the vital importance of the very large numbers of non-European languages spoken in our schools, which give us an enhanced view of the world.

I am thinking particularly of a remarkable school in Harrow, Saint Jérôme Church of England Bilingual School. It was quite deliberately named after a translator, because that primary school not only teaches modern languages as a subject; it delivers a large part of the curriculum in French. It is a bilingual school. When the Government are looking at how to create a much clearer focus on the provision of languages in primary schools, I hope that it will be possible to look at that school’s experience of over 10 years.

I had the privilege of opening that school 10 years ago. The founding headmaster, the Reverend Daniel Norris, is just about to retire after enormous achievement. The experience of and results achieved in a school where 80% of the pupils have a mother tongue other than English that they speak at home are a valuable indication of what can be done to lay the foundations of constructive language learning at a primary level.

Baroness Smith of Malvern, the Minster of State, Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions:

Languages are a vital part of the curriculum. We want to ensure that all pupils have access to a high-quality language education, starting at primary where languages are a compulsory part of the national curriculum at key stages 2 and 3. We are committed to enhancing early language education through to secondary to build that strong foundation for language skills and to increase the languages pipeline.

The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Chartres, referenced the Curriculum and Assessment Review. It recommended that we update the key stage 2 languages programme of study to include clearly defined minimum core content for French, German and Spanish to standardise expectations about what substantial progress in one language looks like. There is an issue about how you ensure the continuity of learning from the last two years* of primary education through the transition into secondary. Sometimes pupils have to move to a different language, or the secondary school does not recognise the learning that has happened in primary schools. [*I'm sure the Baroness means four years!]

Strengthening the national curriculum—taking up some of the good ideas talked about by the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, in terms of work between primary and secondary schools—could make an important difference. It is an area in which we can support further work. I know that all noble Lords—there has been mention of it already—are intrigued by the French weekends of the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, and would be very willing to accept invitations.

We are going much further than the review’s recommendations to tackle a range of issues that impact the languages pipeline. For example, we are exploring the feasibility of developing a flexible new qualification. This would mean that all pupils can have their achievements acknowledged when they are ready rather than at fixed points, enabling a recognition of progress and development in languages. This could also be extended to languages beyond those mainstream modern foreign languages.

We will continue to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education to ensure that all language teachers, regardless of location, have access to high-quality professional development and the skills they need to deliver the curriculum, and are able to develop the sort of networks that noble Lords have talked about.

We are working with the sector to learn from successful approaches to supporting the languages pipeline, including at A-level and degree level, and ways in which we can, for example, support A-level teaching through innovative partnerships with higher education and from approaches such as the one in Hackney, which is improving primary provision and transition.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, raised the issue of education technology; we are also exploring how AI and edtech can support stronger outcomes in language education, including exploring how those tools can help to deliver consistent curriculum content and support more coherent language provision across key stages as well as reduce teacher workload.

[......]

Languages are a vital part of the curriculum, and we want to ensure that all pupils have access to high-quality language education. That is why, starting at primary, we are committed to enhancing early language education, through to secondary, and to building a strong foundation for language skills to ensure a continuation on to A-levels and therefore to provide an appropriate pipeline into higher education. I recognise the concern that many noble Lords have expressed about the reduction in the number of students going into higher education to study modern foreign languages and the threats to some of those modern foreign language courses.

Languages in the KS2 curriculum in September 2021

 

Yesterday saw the publication of the Language Trends 2021 report.  Its headlines have been widely reported in the press, for example in this article in The Guardian.

The report has found that:

• during the first lockdown (March-June 2020) language teaching was discontinued in 53% of primary schools
• during the most recent lockdown (January-March 2021) language teaching was suspended in 1 in 5 primary schools (20%) due to the pandemic, the impact being felt most acutely in more deprived areas.
• the pandemic exacerbated challenges that schools already experience with the delivery of languages

A year ago, last July, the DfE released guidance for schools preparing to welcome all their students back in September 2020.  Languages were included in the list of subjects that students in KS3 should be learning in Key Stage 3 as part of their broad and balanced curriculum, but there was no mention of languages on the list of subjects for Key Stage 2.  Following consternation among members of the primary languages community, Baroness Coussins, chair of the All Party Parlimentary Group on MFL, clarified the situation, stating in the House of Lords that schools were expected to continue with teaching a language in KS2.  It's concerning to see that in some schools languages have still fallen by the wayside.

Last week, on 2nd July, the DfE published Teaching a broad and balanced curriculum for education recovery.  It's heartening to see that this year languages are mentioned, and indeed have a whole section to themselves:

There is also this section, which makes it clear that children need to be present for all stages of the learning, as gaps in their knowledge will make it difficult for them to progress:

Many children are still withdrawn from languages lessons for interventions, often for English or Maths, and therefore miss the vital small steps of learning that will help them to make progress.  This makes it clear, I hope, that withdrawing children from languages is not ideal.  It's likely to have less of an impact on other subjects:

It's also worth noting that this guidance, although non-statutory, is for all maintained schools, academies and free schools.  It also states that schools should continue to teach a broad and balanced curriculum in all subjects.  Hopefully the teaching of primary languages will pick up again in the 2021-22 year.

The importance of looking outwards and forwards

My name is Clare.  I am a teacher.  I have been a teacher for 21 years.  I have been a teacher for 21 years in the City of Sunderland.  I have lived in the City of Sunderland for 22 years.  My husband and my two daughters were born in Sunderland.  I was not.  I was born in South London, and then grew up and went to school in Surrey.  I chose to live in Sunderland.  I guess that makes me an immigrant.  I have always done a job that could have been done by a local.  And the vast majority of teaching jobs in Sunderland, especially in primary schools, are done by locals.  It is unusual to hear an accent that is not Geordie or Mackem.  It is a little more common in secondary schools.  But it has never bothered the children I teach.  I think that is because they assume that I am French and/or Spanish, and that is why I talk differently to them.  My daughters get me to copy them saying things like "The giraffe laughed in the bath", but then they admit that I sound weird.

I think it's good for children to hear at school accents that are different to theirs.  It makes them realise that there is life and therefore possibility and opportunity outside of Wearside.  Because it is a very insular place, with comparatively little social or actual mobility.  It is this fact that has motivated me throughout my career as a teacher of languages.

In 1997 I volunteered to attend a meeting on behalf of my department at the secondary school where I worked at the time.  It was a meeting held by the local authority about something called Comenius European Education Projects, about which none of us knew anything, but which the blurb on the leaflet made look quite interesting.  This meeting was to change the course of my career.  Comenius projects have had various names since then, most recently coming under the Erasmus+ aegis, but they remain essentially the same: a group of European schools sets up a partnership together and receive funding from the European Union to enable them to do a collaborative project.  From the beginning in 1998 of the first project that I co-ordinated until the last project that I was part of in 2009, I worked with colleagues in France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania.   I personally learned a great deal from all of them and was able to travel to places that I know I would never have seen otherwise.  The students also learned a huge amount from their European counterparts.  They found that there were some differences in their cultures and ways of life, but there were also many similarities.  These differences gave them cause to reflect upon their own culture and their own way of life.

I hope that this was enough to arouse sufficient curiosity in some of them to want to explore the "world outside", that it gave them the courage to look outwards and try something new.  Because on Thursday 23rd June, 61.3% of the 134,324 Sunderlanders who turned out to vote in the referendum (out of a possible 207,207 voters) ticked the box that said "Leave the European Union".  They chose to turn their backs on the millions of Euros that the EU has invested in the City over the years to help to regenerate the area after the closure of the mines.  They turned their backs on the efforts made by the City Council to forge links with and to open doors to communities in other countries.  They turned their backs on the efforts made by many of the City's schools to show children the wider world.  They turned their backs and decided that it is better to look inwards and backwards.

I wrote this rationale in 2001, but its words still ring just as true today:

"We are living in a rapidly changing, “shrinking” world.  Technological advances and economic and political changes have produced an increasingly global society of which we cannot fail to be aware.  Pupils of XXXXXXX  XXXXXXX are conscious that changes are taking place, but perhaps not of what these changes could mean for themselves and their lives, chiefly in their position as global citizens.  They remain traditionally insular in their attitudes, and have little access to, understanding of, or means of communication with the “world outside”.  Our pupils are, after all, the adults of the future, and should complete their education and enter the world of work fully cognisant of the opportunities that are open to them globally and equipped with the skills and attitudes that will enable them to live successfully alongside their international neighbours."

Our political landscape is currently changing by the hour, and uncertainty about the way forward following the Leave vote continues to increase.  I intend to go into my schools this week and continue to fight the good fight of the language teacher, to show the children that there is a world outside their window and that it is a colourful, interesting, friendly, welcoming and wonderful place.  We do not yet know if they will have access to the freedoms of movement and labour that we have enjoyed, or if schools will have the opportunity to access the funding streams that will enable them to participate in eye-opening projects with other schools in Europe.  But I have every confidence that we will find a way.  We have to find a way.

Some notes from Language World

On Friday 22nd March I attended the first day of ALL Language World in Nottingham.  It was my first time at Language World and also my first time presenting there (on mini-books - I blogged about it here).

I attended a number of different sessions, many about the new curriculum proposals, and made quite a few notes.  I'll reproduce them here in case they are of interest.


Coming to terms with the new National Curriculum
Ann Swarbrick, Bernadette Holmes and Rachel Hawkes
The draft Programme of Study for Key Stage 2
Therese Comfort

The draft Programme of Study is brief but has rich "springboard" comments.  It has the potential to enliven the curriculum and lead to greater independence and rigour.

Its opening statement about MFL is good and provides a good vision of a language learner.  It is, however, the only mention of intercultural understanding.

Key Stage 2:

The word "Literature" in the draft Programme of Study refers to songs, stories, poems and rhymes.  The term needs to be interpreted and a solution found in the run-up to September 2014.

The phonics, patterns and sounds of the language are given even greater importance.  Children need to be able to recognise patterns and therefore reproduce language.

Children need opportunities to 

• interact with the language (via songs and rhymes, for example)
• explore patterns and sounds
• form a rule
• test their hypothesis
• apply phonic and word knowledge to create new meanings that are motivating

There is also a new emphasis on seeking clarification and help, which should be planned for and not just incidental.

Reading and writing: What does "simple writing" mean?  Does it mean that the ideas should be simple?
The "conjugation of high-frequency verbs" has also been signposted and will unnerve many teachers, although children are likely to enjoy the challenge.

Non-specialists and even some headteachers will be flummoxed by the lack of detail in the subject content.  It needs more focus.
"key features and patterns of the language, how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences" - there is a huge amount in this but it is not helpful for all practitioners.  Support for teachers is going to be crucial to KS2 MFL succeeding.

A bit of jargon: GPCs - Grapheme Phoneme correspondences

"Technical terminology" - Therese recommends that we have a look at the Y3-Y6 information to see what they are expected know about in Literacy.


Key Stage 3:

There is a need for secondary schools to provide modern languages from the KS2 List of Seven (French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Latin or Ancient Greek) plus others.  Although the subject for KS3 is to be known as "Modern Languages" and therefore is not expected to include Latin or Ancient Greek.  Secondary schools should have a language learning environment and culture.

MFL is now a 7-14 curriculum, so there are huge implications for transition.  Teaching in KS3 is expected to build on KS2 not ignore it.

Differences in the draft Programme of Study include translation, transcription and the reading of literary texts, as well as an emphasis on the spontaneity and independence of the learner.

KS3 requires students to listen to a "variety of forms of spoken language" to obtain information and to respond appropriately.

"Literary texts" can be anything non-fiction.  Authentic texts are listed separately.  Some children's and young peoples' books are surprisingly accessible, for example Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which has been translated into different languages, Mafalda and Cuentos de 50 palabras.

Translation is also mentioned, and must be seen as a tool or a method but not as a methodology.  Translation is a cognitive reflex and students will translate in their heads anyway.  We need to harness this and use it constructively.  Translation both ways is recommended, as is using it as a way of exploring the links between language and grammar, or looking for the meaning behind the meaning.


Collaborating with other schools
Debbie Chrysostomou and Katie Belshaw
Tudor Grange Academy, Solihull

Students and staff working with other local secondary schools and primary schools.

"Europa Day" - A foreign street set up in the school hall to promote authentic language.  Visited by students from different cluster schools.

Lead learners - a small group of children from each school who had some input and then shared it with other children in their school.

Collaboration between different age ranges to promote KS2-KS3 transition, and to build positive attitudes towards MFL before Year 7.  Y6 and Y7 can exchange work on a common theme, which makes for appropriate reading texts, particularly for Y6.  Each can provide information that the other needs - language with a purpose.


New Perpsectives on Grammar
David Crystal

David Crystal delivered a fascinating one hour lecture without notes (as far as I could see) and with no visual aids.

He began by acknowledging that his area of expertise is the English language rather than foreign ones, but "We have one thing in common - we all hate Mr Gove equally".  

"Grammar" always meant "analyse" until the beginning of the National Curriculum, and now that is coming back with the new Year 6 SPaG test.
Grammar is not being (and was not in the past) taught alongside semantics and pragmatics.

"Meanings in dictionaries cannot succeed without the grammatical perspective"  for example, the word table needs some context so that we know which definition of table it is.

"Sentences exist to make sense of words" and sentences are the study of grammar.  Without grammar we can't make sense of words.

We need to teach structures and their use.  This was the problem with the communicative approach in MFL.

Semantics: what a sentence means
Pragmatics: the choices that you make when you use language and the effects that your choices convey

An example of semantics vs pragmatics is tu vs vous in French.  There is a straightforward difference in meaning as well as a choice that needs to be made about which one you use and when.  So much so that French even has a special verb tutoyer.

Another good example of semantics vs pragmatics is the Active vs the Passive voice.
Grammar allows you to identify them.
Semantics identifies the difference in meaning.
Pragmatics asks why there are two forms, how they are different and when you use each of them.

Children should be taught the pragmatics of grammar systematically and not just occasionally.

Grammar is the means to an end.  Vocabulary is the hard part, because there is so much of it.

All systems go for 2014

You could have knocked me down with a feather when the consultation on the new National Curriculum was launched today.  I really was expecting it on a Sunday in half term, as that is the DfE's usual way.  The cynical among us would say that Mr Gove had an ulterior motive for making sure it was released today.....

Anyway.  The main bit of news is that this latest document confirms that the teaching of a language will be statutory throughout Key Stage 2 from September 2014.  By "a language", the DfE means French, German, Italian, Spanish, Mandarin, Latin or Ancient Greek.  This matter of the choice of language was the subject of the last consultation, the results of which are also reported today.  

This consultation had 601 responses, of whom only a third agreed that children should be taught one of the above list of seven languages.  The majority of respondents, therefore, were not in favour of teaching one of a set list of languages.  They argued that we cannot predict what will be the important languages of the future, and that there are other, culturally significant languages that should also be taught.  The Government has decided to proceed with the Order making languages a compulsory subject in Key Stage 2, but has decided "on balance", and despite the responses to the consultation, to keep the list of 5 modern and 2 ancient languages.  The rationale is:
"The proposed list provides a sound basis for primary and secondary schools to work together in clusters on languages provision and effective transition between the key stages. The list is therefore an important building block for introducing languages successfully in the primary phase."

In addition: "We are working with a range of stakeholders, including publishers, educational suppliers, teaching schools and subject associations, to make sure that high-quality support and adaptable models of Key Stage 2 foreign language teaching become available for schools."

The draft National Curriculum Programmes of Study can be accessed here.

First, a look at the overview of the subjects that will be offered:

The thing I noticed about this overview straightaway was that the only two subjects which will be compulsory in only two Key Stages will be MFL and Citizenship.  

About Key Stage 2 languages specifically, the bold highlights are mine:

"Teaching should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one of the following languages: French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Latin or Ancient Greek. The teaching should provide an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at Key Stage 3. It should enable pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and 

writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary."  

It is acknowledged that the ancient languages will have a different emphasis, but that they can contain some oral components.

Pupils should be taught to:

• listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and 
  

  responding
  
• explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
  Songs and rhymes have long been one of the main features of primary languages, and their inclusion here comes as no surprise as it was mentioned in previous government press releases.
  
  
• engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and 
  

  respond to those of others; seek clarification and help*
  
• speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
  One of the difficulties with primary languages thus far has been that teachers, especially those non-specialists, have tended to concentrate on lists of vocabulary and short phrases rather than building up to longer utterances and sentences.  This is one of the reasons that training and upskilling for teachers is crucial if this is to work.
  
• develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases*
  The study of phonics have been an integral and successful part of primary languages.  Again more training will be needed.
  
• present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences*
  
• read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
  
• appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
• broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
  Children studying a Romance language would find selective study of Latin, and - in the case of Spanish - Arabic, to be extremely useful in understanding new words in the foreign language and, of course, in seeing links with their own mother tongue.  There is a very strong argument for its inclusion for building language awareness and links with literacy.
• write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express 
  

  ideas clearly

  
  
  

  
  
• describe people, places, things and actions orally* and in writing

• understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, such as 
  

  (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of 

  high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply 

  these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to 

  English.

  
  
  Yet again, this is where the non-specialist teachers will need considerable input and training.

One of the successes of primary languages, due in large part to the KS2 Framework for Languages, has been Intercultural Understanding.  MFL appears to have been the only subject where this has been made explicit.  Yet there is no mention of Intercultural Understanding in this Programme of Study.  Having had, just this week, Year 5 poring over a book about Chile and Easter Island, and Year 4 learning a song from Mexico, I for one will be raising this in my response to this latest consultation, which closes on April 16th.

September 2014 is only a school year and a half away.  For some schools, MFL business will be then pretty much as it is now.  Others, though, have a very long way to go in a very short time.  There is not much time for major stakeholders - primary schools, secondary schools and what is left of the local authorities - to meet together and thrash out how it is going to work for them.  It is still my opinion that Year 6 to Year 7 transition will make or break this move to compulsion for Key Stage 2.

I am determined that compulsory languages in Key Stage 2 should succeed.  I have invested too much of my career in it and enjoyed too many lessons in it with the children to see it fail now.  Who's with me?

More Primary Languages news

At the end of September the consultation on the proposal to make languages a compulsory subject in Key Stage 2 ended.  Today the report was published.

There were 318 responses (perhaps because the consultation took place over the summer?) and "the vast majority" (91%) of those who responded agreed with the Government's proposal.  Because of this strong support, the Government has decided to proceed with making the learning of a language statutory in Key Stage 2 from September 2014.

The responses were, gladly, as anticipated.  Younger children are more open and receptive to learning another language, learning in primary lays the foundation for Key Stage 3 and, hopefully, Key Stage 4, it is vital for intercultural learning and plays a fundamental part in cross-curricular learning.  And so on.  

Respondents have also made it clear that if compulsory primary languages is to succeed, there will have to be significant investment of money and time in teacher training and support networks.  Many of the classroom teachers who are currently teaching the language are non-specialist, other schools are not teaching a language at all and will need to start from scratch. 

The second part of the report is dedicated to the language or languages that primary children should learn.  Respondents were asked which language their school would be likely to teach, and, not surprisingly, French comes top of the list followed by Spanish and German.  Community languages, Italian and Mandarin are a lot lower on the list.  A quarter of respondents said that "primary schools should teach the same language as their local secondary or partner schools......(to) ensure that coherent programmes of learning were available to children to continue their study of a specific language across all key stages."  This is where the main difficulty lies.

The CofE primary school where I teach Spanish feeds to the local CofE secondary school, who chose Spanish as their first foreign language when they opened.  Out of last year's 27 Year 6 children, seventeen of them went to this secondary school and are therefore continuing with Spanish.  However, when they got there, they were in the same classes as children from other primary schools who had done French to very varying levels and no Spanish at all.  In addition, the ten children who didn't go to the CofE secondary school went to various other schools in the city, and most of them have ended up doing French and not Spanish.  Now Sunderland is a small city and a small local authority.  The problems that we encounter here are much worse in other parts of the country.  It just isn't as simple as "teaching the same language as your local secondary school".  I have written before about a possible solution to this problem and a couple of years ago worked on a transition project which tried to find some ways of overcoming this significant obstacle to primary languages' success.

The Government is now consulting on a new proposal: "to require primary schools to teach one or more of the following languages at Key Stage 2: French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish or a classical language (Latin or ancient Greek). Schools would, of course, be free to teach other languages in addition to one of these."  The draft of the Order by which languages will be made statutory at Key Stage 2 is also published as part of this new consultation.  They say that they will also "consider the points made about workforce training and support" and that there will be a further consultation in early 2013 on the proposed content for the Programmes of Study.  

The consultation opened yesterday (16th November) and we only have until 16th December to register our views.  Every response counts!

I have two jobs

I have two jobs.  First, I am a parent.  A very important job.  I am the parent of two beautiful daughters, currently aged 9 and 5.  I spend all the time I can with them, playing, chatting, baking, cycling, drawing, singing, dancing, reading, all the while instilling in them values, manners, the difference between right and wrong, and encouraging them to be the best people they can be.  I am confident that when they go to school, or to ballet, swimming or Brownies, they are polite, respectful, attentive, trustworthy, hard-working and good friends.  I am immensely proud of them.  I have invested a lot of time in this job.  I have every intention of investing a great deal more.

Both my daughters attended a private nursery full time from the age of 6 months.  They were there for about 8.5 hours a day until they started school.  That's a long time.  I often felt guilty about missing their milestones, about other people effectively bringing them up during the week.  The 2.5 hours between picking them up and their going to bed were precious, precious time.

Why did they go to nursery all the time?  Why did I see them so little?  Because I was a full time secondary languages teacher.  My second job.  From 1995, when I was newly-qualified, to 2003, when my eldest daughter was born, I would arrive at school at 7.45am and leave at 5.30pm, trying not to take any work home but not usually succeeding.  When I returned from my first maternity leave I started to arrive at 8am and leave at 4pm.  I chose to leave at 4pm so that I could pick my daughter up at 4.30.  I couldn't have left later than 5pm as the nursery closed at 5.30.  And then I would hardly have seen her.  All the work that I used to do at school was simply taken home.  And after she was in bed at 7pm I would start working, usually until at least 10pm.

These days both my daughters attend wraparound care at their school.  It opens at 8am, so that's when I drop them off.  I then get to school at about 8.25.  They finish 15 minutes before me, so I get to pick them up between 4pm and 4.30.  I can't pick them up after that as I would have to pay for another hour for each of them.  And it's not cheap.  And anyway I want to see them.  My rule is that I don't do school work when they are up, so if I have work to do I start at 7.30pm.

You may be wondering what all this is about.  Why am I boring you with the minutiae of my childcare arrangements and when I do my school work?

Stay on after school if you want pay rise, teachers told was the headline on the front of The Times today.  The head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has been making more pronouncements about teachers and the job that they do.  Except that this time he has started to talk about their pay.

So what exactly has he said?  I have The Times here by my side.  Allow me to quote:

"As a head I would make it clear that if you teach well or try to teach well, if you work hard and go the extra mile, you are going to get paid well.  You are going to be promoted.  Somebody who is out the gate at 3 o'clock in the afternoon is not.  Isn't that fair?  Am I being unfair?"

"If you are going to go and work in these [poor] areas, there has to be a commitment to working beyond the end of the school day.  That's why I asked those questions about performance management.  It's about recognising those people who do go the extra mile.  They've got to be the role models.  Not the person who says: 'I'm sorry, I've reached the end of my hours, I'm off.'"

"Any important job comes with stress.  Teaching is higher status than ever before.  It's one of the best jobs in our society.  It we've got a leadership group that is moaning all the time and saying how stressful it is...  We've got to set an example, to say, 'Yeah, it's difficult, but, actually, it's a wonderful job.'"

Understandably these comments have enraged the teaching community today.  Why is it that all the most contentious issues are raised at the weekend or during the school holidays?  Do they really think we aren't going to notice?

His inference is that only good teachers stay at school after lessons are finished.  "Working hard" and "going the extra mile" are things that you can only do in the school building.  The teachers who don't make the effort to do a good job leave with the children, and, I expect he thinks, go home, eat chocolate biscuits and watch Countdown.  Two things.  First, if I were to leave at 3pm I would leave halfway through a lesson, as I expect would many teachers.  Second, I have explained why I have to leave when I do, and the fact that I have to leave to collect my children does not mean that I have finished work for the day.  Quite the opposite, most days.  

I do a good job in the classroom (it has been said) so why should it matter where I prepare for it?  If I am stuck at school after lessons being a surrogate parent to the children there, then someone else will have to act as a surrogate parent to my own children somewhere else.  Sir Michael, surely you can see that there is something wrong there?  I think that caring for and making time for my own children makes me a better role model to tell the truth.

I do not agree that teaching is "higher status than ever before".  I think it's a great job, and I wouldn't have stuck it out for 17-and-a-bit years if I didn't.  But many parents still don't hold education and educators in high esteem, and you only have to look at the comments on the BBC's report of this story to get some idea of what the general public think of teachers.  

I think I'd better stop there.  I'm just one teacher and this is my personal response.

Teachers are caught between a rock and a hard place.  You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't.  To be perfectly honest, I would much rather be damned by Gove, Wilshaw and their cronies than by my family.

Sellotape

Today I was reading about the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in many pieces.  The first people to work on them decided to use a new wonder-product - Sellotape - to join the pieces together.  The only problem is that the Sellotape was far more destructive to the Scrolls than they could ever have imagined, and much of the current preservation work is spent trying to put right the wrong done to the delicate parchments by the Sellotape.

This made me think of the use of technology as a magical remedy for the improvement of language teaching.  It may improve things in the short-term, but then we may spend a disproportionate amount of time later on trying to put right the wrongs that it has done by its improper or careless use.

It also brings to mind what Gove is doing with education at the moment.  Using new wonder-solutions, the latest trendy ideas, to stick together the pieces of a system that needs improvement.  But for how long are we going to be painstakingly cleaning off the residues of this botched attempt?

Slightly appeased

Following the news over the weekend that the overhaul of the National Curriculum has been delayed until 2014, the DfE released yesterday two documents covering what has been done so far.

First, the Summary report of the Call for Evidence.  The Call for Evidence ran from January to April of this year, and altogether there were 5763 responses.  2359 of these were primary and secondary teachers.  81% of the 2679 respondents who completed the MFL section said that it should continue to be a National Curriculum subject.  The other points arising from the Call for Evidence and regarding MFL were:

• learning a foreign language not only helps pupils to understand their own language more deeply, but also helps them to respect and understand other cultures around the world.
• children in many parts of Europe begin to learn at least one foreign language at the age of 7. For England to be competitive in the European business market, it is therefore important that when young people leave school they are able to converse in at least one other language
• GCSE must not be the sole outcome at Key Stage 4.
• The few respondents who said that MFL should not continue to be a National Curriculum subject were mainly talking about KS1 and KS2.  In their opinion, the learning of another language takes vital time away from other subjects and is not suitable for children who are just starting to read and write English.   
• 13% were of the opinion that pupils need to begin learning as soon as possible.
• Children have recently made good progress in learning languages at Key Stage 2. Respondents were concerned that the work that had been done to introduce languages into primary schools would be curtailed.

The second document is the Report by the Expert Panel forthe Curriculum Review, the results of which “will be subject to further consultation and discussion”. 

The report recommends that MFL should be a Foundation subject in Key Stages 2-4, although "It is worth noting at this point that the optimum age at which to introduce modern foreign language teaching remains a contested matter that requires careful consideration of evidence; this is not yet fully resolved and we therefore present modern foreign languages in lower Key Stage as a query .... However, we do believe because of its importance that it should be included in the National Curriculum at upper Key Stage 2, which represents a change to the existing arrangements."   It adds in a footnote: “We are aware, for instance, of the arguments in favour of teaching language awareness in primary schools to avoid language choices which cannot be continued in secondary education, and the counter-proposals of those who believe that more specific capability in a language should be developed from as young an age as possible.”  

Therefore it recommends compulsory MFL for Years 5-11, but maybe not for Years 3 and 4, Lower KS2.  I hope that provision is extended across KS2, as in my experience Y4 is the optimum year for language learning.  The proposed Foundation Subjects will have “refined and condensed Programmes of Study and minimal or no Attainment Targets”.  

This table is a summary of the recommendations made:

The list of aims for the recommended new curriculum is also an interesting read:

Provision should be developed to:

1. Satisfy future economic needs for individuals and for the workforce as a whole, including the development of secure knowledge and skills in communication, literacy and mathematics and confidence in acquiring new knowledge and skills; (recognition needs to be made of the valuable contribution that MFL makes to literacy and maths.)
2. Appreciate the national cultures, traditions and values of England and the other nations within the UK, whilst recognising diversity and encouraging responsible citizenship;
   (the Ofsted team that inspected one of my schools in September were looking for evidence of this.  Where will MFL’s intercultural understanding fit in?)
3. Provide opportunities for participation in a  broad range of educational experiences and the acquisition of knowledge and appreciation in the arts, sciences and humanities, and of high quality academic and vocational qualifications at the end of compulsory schooling;
4. Support personal development and empowerment so that each pupil is able to develop as a healthy, balanced and self-confident individual and fulfil their educational potential;
5. Promote understanding of sustainability in the stewardship of resources locally, nationally and globally.

So this is cautious good news for the languages community, especially at the primary end.  The previous plans to make primary languages compulsory were abandoned in April 2010, after which schools started to abandon language teaching.  The funding ceased in March 2011 causing many Primary Languages advisers to be made redundant.  In 2014, when it is intended that the new curriculum will be in place, some schools will not have taught a language for 4 years, and many local authorities will have been without the necessary support and expertise for 3 years.  It’s still going to be a long, hard slog.

Outraged from Tyne and Wear

While catching up with Twitter this afternoon I saw some references to the Curriculum Review.  Now I've been waiting anxiously for the publication of the conclusions of the Review, mainly to see what the Coalition's plans will be for languages in KS2.  We had been told that we could expect it at the end of this year.  So now, in fact.  But I had seen no reference to it in the press or elsewhere.  I consulted one of the #MFLTwitterati:

I read the article with interest.  It concentrates on English and maths, and you have to read between the lines for the rest.  It was this paragraph that was of particular concern:


"The conclusions of the review had been expected in the new year, but wholesale reform of the curriculum will now be delayed by 12 months.

A final report by an expert panel is unlikely to be published until the end of 2012, with specifications in the core subjects to be introduced in 2014 rather than 2013."

So the timetable on the DfE website no longer stands, and we will have to wait  even longer for some kind of decision about the future of Primary Languages.  This is infuriating given its already precarious position.  I am also outraged by the fact that this information has come out via a newspaper article (no mention of the information is made on the DfE website) over the weekend and after most schools have broken up for the Christmas holidays.  This appears to me to be underhanded and cowardly on the part of the DfE and of course of Gove himself.  But then I suppose I'm not really surprised about this.  It's not like it's the first time it's happened.

Realising the Strategic Importance of Languages

11.1.11.  Baroness Coussins Day.  The day of "Realising the Strategic Importance of Languages", the event organised by Links into Languages NE for language teachers and their senior leadership teams.

Interestingly, the verb "realise" has two meanings - "to grasp or understand clearly" and "to make real; give reality to".  All MFL teachers can do the first one and would like to do the second one.  Members of SLT may not know the first one, and until they can do the first one the second one is unlikely to happen. 

The event started with keynote addresses from Baroness Jean Coussins and Richard Hardie, Chair of UBS Limited, giving us plenty of information to help us to grasp and understand clearly the current languages landscape in this country.  Here are some soundbites:

Baroness Coussins

Baroness Coussins is a cross-bench Peer.  She said that cross-bench Peers are "troublemakers about the causes that we really care about", and hers is of course languages.  This endeared her to the MFL Twitterati straightaway, as we consider ourselves to be troublemakers too, if troublemakers think outside the box, question the status quo and work to effect change. 

"The prevelance of English should not be overestimated".

We live in a country of "complacent monoglot Brits".

Over a third of UK businesses need language skills.  They mostly need French and German, but more Mandarin and Spanish is required now.

Language learning "opens doors to understanding peoples' cultures".

Meetings in Brussels are being cancelled on a daily basis because of a lack of English-native-speaker interpreters.

"The timing is right for a national languages recovery programme", especially with the Curriculum Review imminent.

At the moment we have "curriculum by league table".

We need to aim for language learning to be the cultural norm like it is in Belgium or the Netherlands.

"I do believe very strongly that it should be compulsory for every child to study a language until the age of 16."  (Though not necessarily studying for a GCSE).

This is Baroness Coussins's wishlist for languages:

1. Make sure that school policy includes something prominent about preparing children to be global citizens.
2. Introduce a compulsion in KS4, whether they study GCSE or not.
3. Make a qualification in a language necessary for access to the 6th form.
4. Make a qualification in a language necessary for University entrance.
5. Make sure that timetabling doesn't make the study of two languages impossible.
6. Give parents information about languages and their usefulness.
7. Promote exchanges and visits to the target language countries.
8. Foster links with universities and other institutions in the community, including businesses.
9. Investigate and try CLIL.

"If you really want to get under the skin of another culture, you need language skills and not just a louder voice."

Richard Hardie

Richard Hardie's company, UBS Limited, is particularly keen to hear from graduates with language skills; that's to say with strong oral and written skills in another language AND English.  Their client base is increasingly globalised and multicultural.

Language skills "build trust and deepen relationships with clients"

The "English" spoken in some countries is not always intelligible to an English person!

Languages "prove you've done something difficult".

Denying students the opportunity to learn another language is denying them access to many avenues of employment in this country and overseas.

UBS Limited estimate that by 2030 the main business languages will be English, Spanish and Mandarin.


After the keynote addresses we moved into our groups, where delegates worked through a series of activities to explore feelings about languages at the moment and what can be done to resolve the situation.  With Chris Harte's guidance we had put together a plan structured by DeBono's Thinking Hats.  Some White Hat facts were already in delegates' packs, so when they entered the room we moved straight to the Red, emotion, hat.  Delegates were asked to plot on a feel-o-meter their feelings about the state of languages at the moment.  This is the feel-o-meter from my group, and as you can see, feelings were quite mixed.

Then, using yellow post-its for the Yellow positive hat, and pink Post-its for the Black negative hat, individuals wrote down positives and negatives of the current languages landscape.  Then they discussed their Post-its with the rest of the their table, to see if there were any common themes.  The discussions arising from this were very interesting, particularly as we had representatives from primary, middle and secondary schools, and we could have spent much more time on them.  The one overwhelming point to have come from my group was how crucial headteacher support is to this.  If successful language learning is not in the headteacher's vision for the school, it will never be completely successful.  The Green opportunities hat was next.  Delegates noted down lots of ideas for things that they could do in their school to raise the profile of languages, improve the teaching and learning, and ultimately make them more successful.  They then ordered these ideas in a diamond ranking, putting those with the highest impact at the top.  We also discussed which were the quickest wins.  Finally, individual school groups worked on an action plan, for the Blue planning hat, which would be the beginning of a much longer process and dialogue between the MFL departments and teachers and their SLTs.

The final part of the event was questions to the panel.  On the panel were Bernadette Holmes, President Incumbent of ALL, Michael Wardle, a local languages star who is currently DH at a school in Durham, Elizabeth Andersen, Head of the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University, Richard Hardie and Baroness Coussins.  Here are some closing soundbites:

Target language use: "Taking independent control of the language system to make meaning"  Bernadette Holmes

"Be courageous. Languages matter. Your voice matters." Bernadette Holmes


I hope that in all the schools represented today the dialogue which was started is only the beginning of a longer and fulfilling process of realising the strategic importance of languages.