Alan Moys, 1935 – 2022
ALL Fellow, Lid King, reflects on the passing of a great friend to language teachers – Alan Moys.
It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Alan Moys on January 4. Sadness for a good friend and mentor, but also for the passing of an era. For Alan was a member of that generation of linguists and educators who did so much to promote languages and a love for the richness of our multilingual world, even in the often infertile soil of our country.
He was a teacher, then adviser in Derby. He was a talented course writer – bringing French learning to a general public with books such as “Colloquial French” and “France Extra”, and in later life a promoter of language policy, playing a central role in the seminal Nuffield Inquiry into Languages. He was also a redoubtable defender of language advisers and advice, through his role in NALA as a founder member, and eventually President. He will, however, probably be best remembered as the Director of CILT at a critical time in its history.
For those who are too young to remember, CILT (The Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research) was for over 40 years a mainstay of support for language teachers in the UK, and some would say the envy of linguists across the globe.
Alan became Deputy Director of the Centre in 1978, with (ALL Fellow) John Trim as Director. These were difficult times as the Thatcher government, elected a year later, declared an open season on QUANGOs (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Government Organisations, of which CILT was one). In John Trim’s words “a disproportionate part of directorial time and effort went to explaining and justifying our existence, refuting draconian and uncomprehending management reviews.” For four years CILT was “under review” and together with John, Alan played a major part in the response, not least by mobilising the languages community in support of the Centre. This reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that in 1985 Sir Keith Joseph, citing the “clear indication of the importance which CILT’s clients attach to the Centre’s continued and effective operation” called an end to the review and endorsed CILT’s position as a source of support for languages in schools and an information centre aimed at fostering communication across all sectors.
Alan’s contribution during this period was not only defensive. Based on his schools and advisory experience he promoted the development of a more outward looking profile for the Centre, which supported an annual workshop on IT and language teaching (then known as CALL) and provided the secretariat for the nascent Graded Objectives movement. In 1986 he led the development of in-service training packages (INSET) for local authorities and soon afterwards a programme of national conferences, beginning with conferences on Adult Education and German in the UK.
In 1987 Alan succeeded John Trim as Director, and he continued and enhanced the work of turning CILT outwards to support the languages community. He further developed the Conference programme, initiating the almost legendary CILT national Conferences of the ‘90s – “Beyond GCSE in languages”, “Autonomy in Language Learning”, “Creativity…” Under his leadership CILT also expanded its publications programme (which hitherto had been of high quality but also rather highbrow) with the creation of the Pathfinder series, making the theory and practice of language teaching accessible to all, and stimulating teacher education and debate.
By now, thanks in large part to Alan’s diplomatic skills, CILT was in a happier relationship with Government – and was called upon, or sometimes suggested itself, to support national initiatives through reviews and research. Projects, such as those on ‘Languages and Special Needs’, or ‘Diversification of the first foreign language’ became a key part of the Centre’s work. Initial steps were also taken toward the promotion and support for languages in business through the establishment of a dedicated post at CILT and the support given to the Language Export Centres. Across the UK, Alan was also the inspiration for the creation of sister organisations in Scotland (SCILT) and subsequently Wales and Northern Ireland. He also first imagined the creation of regional language centres across England – the Comenius Centres, which involved all of the national bodies supporting languages, notably ALL, publishers, cultural agencies, the BBC, C4 and NALA – a creative solution which was typical of Alan.
Alan himself retired in 1992, but these initiatives provided the foundation for a major expansion of CILT’s work, both nationally and internationally in the 1990s. Much of this is documented in the 1996 publication “Thirty Years of Language Teaching”, a reflection on languages during CILT’s first three decades. Although he had retired from CILT he did not retire from languages. After a brief and not entirely happy flirtation with OFSTED
inspections he played a key part in the Nuffield Inquiry into Languages, of which he was the secretary and in many ways prime mover, and whose 2000 report was so important for the development of a language strategy in 2002. He was also able to play a greater role as president in NALA ,the organisation he had helped found in 1969. (Alan’s work for NALA is commemorated in Harmer Parr’s mémoire accompanying this piece.)
But it is as Director of CILT that he will often be remembered. For those who met him at that time, Alan would have appeared to be relaxed urbane and witty – a good companion and attentive listener. This is not an illusion. He was all of those things (and more) . What I recall most vividly however is how he transferred those human qualities into a style of leadership which was reflected in the organisation itself. For most of us Alan’s CILT in Regents Park was a friendly and relaxed place (if occasionally idiosyncratic). In management Alan led by example; his style was informal and the opposite of bureaucratic (despite the periodic requests of Education Department units with strange initials such as COM for management and staffing reviews) The Centre did have a kind of clocking-in machine, but nobody, except the person who had to make sense of it in the finance department, paid much attention. There was no “open door policy” as doors were open. Appraisals and objective setting were ‘light touch’. Yet not only did we survive, we prospered. There is doubtless a lesson here for our over-managed and rather oppressive education system of 2022. For, above all, Alan was what is now called a people person, and he was not afraid to let his staff develop and take initiatives and even to make mistakes. For this, many of us will always be grateful. (He was also incidentally a highly accomplished carpenter and an aficionado of Baroque music.)
Underlying this relaxed style was a passion for languages, a real understanding of pedagogy and a keen political sense which enabled him (and CILT) to negotiate the turbulent waters of late 20th century politics. For that we will always remember our friend Alan, whose life touched so many in the language world. Personally I also treasure his customary response to new suggestions: “Good idea . Why not?” he would say.
One of his favourite stories was about the house he and Therese renovated and loved for many years in Gardefort near Sancerre. One morning many decades ago, while staying with friends in the region, Alan went out to buy bread. He came back an hour or so later to confess that he had failed in his search, but instead he might have bought a house.
Why not indeed?!
Lid King, Director of CILT 1992-2003
Alan’s funeral will be at St Faith’s Crematorium, Norwich on Thursday 27 January 2022 at 12.30.
Donations are invited to the Alzheimer’s Society.