Education White Paper released

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Education White Paper released

Last week saw the publication of the coalition government's long awaited education White Paper: 'The Importance of Teaching'.

A number of big changes are proposed which will, if implemented, have a profound impact on the ways that schools are funded, the training of teachers, the curriculum and examinations.

Much of what’s in the White Paper has been leaked in advance, so the proposals come as no real surprise and in ideological terms are very much what one might expect from the coalition government: greater freedom for schools, with more money directed at the front line and in the control of head teachers, an emphasis on traditional academic subjects, a slimmed down curriculum, a return to “linear” examinations. As promised there is a proposal to introduce an English Baccalaureate – an additional award for students who achieve five GCSEs in academic subjects - and the decision to reform performance tables to include this broader set of core knowledge.

Bernardette Holmes, President Elect of ALL, said in an interview, “ALL welcomes the emphasis in the White Paper on the importance of language teaching and learning at secondary level. An English Baccalaureate would certainly support a revival of language teaching at Key Stage 4, particularly for the more able pupils. Since languages became optional in 2004, ALL has consistently voiced its serious concern about the number of pupils dropping languages at the end of Key Stage 3, including many high attaining students. However, it is also our firm belief that pupils of all abilities should have opportunities to learn languages throughout their school education and we fear that some young people could be further marginalized if there is no firm policy to support languages for all. We are also concerned that the outstanding achievements of primary teachers in introducing a language into the Key Stage 2 curriculum have not as yet been recognized in the White Paper. We are keen to hear the government’s plans for primary languages in the new curriculum.”

There has been a lot of rhetoric around teacher autonomy and professionalism in the run-up to this White Paper. If the Government is serious about its vision of “teachers taking greater control over what is taught in schools, innovating in how they teach and developing new approaches to learning”, then this is a vision that ALL shares and will do all it can to support. Kathy Wicksteed, national lead on behalf of ALL for the LinkedUp scheme (an initiative of the Links into Languages consortium in which ALL is a founder member) commented, “The LinkedUp scheme has shown us how much can be done to make language learning exciting and effective when teachers are given a little time and money to work together on new ideas. Teachers have the answers and it will be fantastic if they have more of a say.”

The White Paper also plans to overhaul teacher training, by increasing the time that trainees spend in the classroom, and by setting up a network of ‘teaching schools’ modelled on the ‘teaching hospitals’ system. Cynthia Martin, lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Reading and Past President of ALL said, “ALL will follow closely the developments around these new proposals about teacher training – the languages workforce has shrunk in recent years as the numbers learning languages have declined and we now need the best possible training and professional development for teachers to ensure that we have a workforce ready to take on the challenge of what could be a new era for language learning.”

We’d like to hear from you now about the White Paper proposals, so that we are informed on your views when we attend meetings over the coming weeks. Please send your comments to: languagestoday@all-languages.org.uk.

There will also be a chance for everyone to respond to the proposals in a period of consultation. We’ll let members know more about this as soon as details are available.

- DfE Press Release:

www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/pressnotices/a0068673/schools-white-paper-published.

- ALL Response to the White Paper:

www.all-languages.org.uk/uploads/files/Press%20Releases/White%20Paper%20press%20release.pdf.

- ALL Members' responses to the White Paper:

ALL Member Responses.

- Schools White Paper: The Importance of Teaching:

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