So Michael Gove has nailed his colours to the mast and
suggested at this week’s Conservative Party conference that foreign languages
should be taught to children from age 5 (The Guardian, Sept 30).
"There is a slam-dunk case for extending
foreign language teaching to children aged five.”
This announcement has generated a great deal of press over
the weekend and delighted many. But those who work in modern foreign languages
education might argue that this announcement is 18 months overdue.
Prior to the election in May 2010, in response to the Rose
Review in 2008, a bill had been submitted to make primary languages statutory
from September 2011. In preparation for statutory primary languages, local
authorities, the Training and Development Agency for schools, CILT, the
National Centre for Languages and other organisations including the British
Council had developed a range of programmes for teaching staff to develop their
skills to be able to offer modern foreign languages in primary schools. From
specialist PGCEs to intensive training courses in France, Germany and Spain, teachers
became confident, capable teachers of languages and pupils reaped the benefits.
Despite the ‘slam-dunk case’ for primary language learning,
this bill was blocked when the coalition government came to power. As a result
of this procrastination, languages were not statutory when the new term started
in September this year. Years of planning, training and investment by schools,
who had been preparing for the statutory requirement, were put on hold when the
bill did not go through. School leadership teams that were pro-languages
continued to invest in languages development but others, who adhere more
closely to government policy, put the investment on hold and language teaching
stuttered. As a result, language teaching was reduced or halted in many schools
and uncertainty was rife.
Obviously there are other elements to the bill concerning
the primary curriculum that the Coalition may not view so favourably, but why wait 18
months to revisit the foreign language element if Gove is so supportive?
Better late than
never
Nevertheless, it is excellent news that our Education
Secretary has voiced his support for early language learning. But what next? Will he invest in training and development of
teachers, like the previous government? Will he move to introduce legislation that
could have already been in place and ensured that all five-year-olds were
learning a language now? Or will he expect his endorsement to be sufficient incentive
for primary schools to invest in language learning?
