Last week’s announcements on the draft National Curriculum for England, Michael Gove’s U-turn on the EBacc Certificates and the news of further consultation on performance measures at Key Stage 4 (the EBacc) have been received by officers and members of ALL with mixed feelings.
The final confirmation that languages will be a statutory subject at KS2, thus establishing a solid path for language learning from 7-14, has been warmly welcomed. We have waited a long time for this – since 2010 in fact when we expected languages to become statutory in the Education Bill, only to see it snatched away with the change of Government. Primary schools can at last plan coherently on the introduction – or in most cases development – of language learning. The draft curriculum documents for Key Stage 2 largely seem to have gone down well with members. Questions remain about training the primary workforce (both ITE and in-service) and whether the investment needed will follow this announcement.
ALL President Ann Swarbrick said: “A new era dawns for languages. Congratulations to the many members who have fought for languages to be a serious part of the primary curriculum for well over a decade.”
The Key Stage 3 draft Programme of Study is as light-touch as promised, describing what the emphases in teaching should be but not how it should be done. This leaves scope for teachers to develop exciting, new curricula for their pupils but we also recognise the challenges this implies.
Bernardette Holmes, Past President of ALL said: “The Programme of Study states very clearly the ‘Why’ and the ‘What’ of languages from 7 to 14. It is very helpful that teachers and other professional linguists will be able to work together to develop ‘how’ languages are taught. There is room for flexibility and choice and this is a good thing for the teachers and for the children.”
In her column in the TES, President Elect Rachel Hawkes emphasised the benefit of the clear path of progress from 7-14 “whereby the importance of developing an understanding of how language works at the earliest stage lays the foundation for language learning throughout education and for later life.”
We have been rather more puzzled by the apparently last-minute decision to extend the range of EBacc performance measure subjects to eight, thus once more making languages an optional subject rather than one at the core of the Ebacc. We are currently seeking clarification on this and will keep members informed as further detail comes to light.
You can find links leading to all the documents and details of the consultation on the DFE website.
ALL will respond on behalf of members to the consultation and further details of this and how we plan to seek the views of our members will be available shortly.