Don’t miss your chance to respond to the Government’s Curriculum Review!
The deadline for responses is Thursday 14th April 2011.
Guidance:
Why should I complete the form?
This is a real opportunity to get languages into a stronger position in primary and secondary schools.
Click here to see a message from ALL President Karl Pfeiffer on the Curriculum Review.
Who completes the form?
You can complete the form in whatever capacity you wish to: as a teacher, parent, school governor, etc. etc. Anyone can respond to the consultation – so tell your friends and colleagues!
What do I complete?
As much or as little as you wish to – feel free to pick and choose. If you don’t want to complete all the sections, you don’t need to – just complete the parts that you feel are relevant to you. For example, you may wish to focus on particular subjects and / or key stages.
Those multi-taskers amongst us may wish to complete the language section as a teacher, and the rest as a parent or other role – you are free to do this too!
How do I complete it?
– In one sitting:
You can respond online here: http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=Respond&consultationId=1730&menu=1 (which takes 15-30 minutes) – but remember that your answers may not be saved until you get to the end of the form and press submit.
Be aware:
– you can go back and amend sections during completion – but make sure that your answers to later sections have been saved, and don’t need inputting again.
– to print your response, you will need to allow ‘pop-ups’ on your browser: Go to tools, pop-up blocker to amend your settings.
– Gradually:
You can respond online here: http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=Respond&consultationId=1730&menu=1 and register on the e-consultations website. This will allow you to save your answers and receive updates on the consultation.
Be aware:
– to print your response, you will need to allow ‘pop-ups’ on your browser: Go to tools, pop-up blocker to amend your settings.
– Offline:
You can download the word file here, and complete it at your leisure. You should then email it to: [email protected], or post it to: Department for Education, Consultation Unit, Area Level 1 C, Castle View House, East Lane, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 2GJ.
Glossary:
The Curriculum Review will ask your opinion on which subjects, in which key stages, should be:
– National Curriculum subject = the subject is compulsory, and content is centrally determined (there is a statutory Programme of Study).
– Compulsory subject = subject is compulsory, but content is NOT centrally determined (there is NOT a statutory Programme of Study).
– Non-Statutory subject = the subject is not compulsory, but guidance on content could be made available (there is a NON-statutory Programme of Study).
Preparation:
Before you submit your response, please bear in mind the following questions:
1. How do we ensure that all pupils learn languages enjoyably and successfully across all Key Stages and especially at Key Stages 3 and 4?
2. What support would need to be provided in schools generally to allow language teaching to be taught well and successfully to more pupils?
3. What support would need to be provided in addition to school-based developments and opportunities?
4. What changes need to be made to the ways languages are assessed?
5. What would need to be changed in your school to ensure good and successful language teaching at KS 1-4?
6. Should languages be compulsory but not necessarily tested in the more “academic” public examinations (i.e. GCSE)?
7. How should CPD be organised to provide the best possible in-service opportunities for language teachers?
8. Are there ways that initial teacher training should be changed to ensure better language teaching?
9. How can we find the number of language teachers that would be needed were languages to be compulsory across Key Stages 1-4?
10. What is the one thing that would make the biggest change to language teaching in schools in England?
ALL Consultation:
If you are completing your submission online or offline, please let us know your opinions by email: [email protected], on Facebook: www.facebook.com/alllanguages.org.uk, on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wendynewman1, or by post: Association for Language Learning, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH.
We can then use your views to inform our own response as an Association.
