Taught By Song provide innovative and motivating French teaching material and
learning aids for children.

Both specialist and non-specialist teachers can design fabulous French language lessons around the music written by John and Monica Hyde for the software programme Zim Zam Zoum, which uses Macromedia Flash technology (animation) for the interactive whiteboard or home computer.

Each of the animated songs in the Zim Zam Zoum programme has vocabulary themes appropriate to level (e.g. for beginners: greetings, numbers, colours, calendar, introducing yourself, talking about your pets, family, birthday; for continuers: giving opinions, saying what activities you like and don’t like, using verbs and the alphabet and much, much more. )

There is much repetition of target vocabulary as well as structure, dependent clauses, etc. in patterned verses and refrains. This ensures that the children really are taught by song. The songs imprint the structure on the memory and it is a great jumping off point for the writing or saying of patterned or parallel sentences, with vocabulary substitution.

The songs cover a wide range of styles from upbeat to jazz, to rap, traditional and even folk. It is proven that young people who listen almost only to non-melodic music such as rap respond positively to melodic music as well and it is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce art and music in school. This makes teaching French fun and stimulating at all levels, but especially in primary schools, where the enthusiasm for using these materials has gone beyond all expectation !

Here is a summary of the benefits of using tuneful songs to teach the French language:

• Presenting the target language through melodic music expands yet further the learning
arena you are providing for your students (catering for the aural-musical intelligence).

• Probably, nothing imprints linguistic patterns better than words set to memorable music.
Because of the unique impact of melodic music, pupils will keep grammatical structures and vocabulary for the rest of their lives (Teachers have commented how just listening to and joining in with the title song, ZIM ZAM ZOUM, has taught their pupils effortlessly about gender agreement).

• Pupils’ inherently positive response to upbeat, melodic music makes them engaged in the activity and motivated to learn and assimilate.

• A correlation between music and improved academic performance has been shown to exist. The currently debated question about the so-called “Mozart effect” deals only with the passive listening to music while studying or taking exams, which has nothing to do with the active learning of language through the lyrics of melodious music. Music is mathematical by nature, whose “terrain” provides a fertile place for language learning to take hold and develop.

The multiple intelligences of Howard Gardner are addressed when teaching language through music with the correct accompanying exercises:

o Kinesthetic (dance, clapping, stomping, body movement, percussion)

o Musical (listening, singing, playing, distinguishing)

o Linguistic (interpreting lyrics while listening or through exercises)

o Logical/mathematical (music is maths)

o Social (choral, dance, co-operative learning with the exercises)

o Visual (illustrations, animations, dramatisations, )

The ZIM ZAM ZOUM animated songs, rich in visual imagery and lending themselves
to dance, invite kinesthetic movement and dramatic interpretation. The lyrics invite use of
logical and linguistic skills to interpret clues and work out meaning. Activities are done in
co-operative learning groups, thus promoting classroom cohesion.

Everybody loves music….
and ZIM ZAM ZOUM from Taught By Song has it in spades !

The creative team of teachers, composers, graphic artists and animators at Taught By Song have married together a winning combination of catchy and tuneful music, with instantly useable French dialogue and charming animations of colourful characters, with whom the children clearly engage. The resulting software is a practical mix of song, animation, interactive exercises and fun activity sheets which together render highly effective teaching materials for language lessons in the Primary classroom.

It makes sense to give pupils every possible memory aid and visual/aural hook for their
learning. So, musical arts are a rich resource when you are teaching French
(particularly in Primary schools) and Zim Zam Zoum from Taught By Song is at the forefront of this teaching methodology.

Music making means much more than playing music or listening to it. Music is an essential part of human life, biologically as much as aesthetically. There is compelling evidence to support the notion that involvement in musical arts positively and, significantly benefits learners for the rest of their lives. The diversity and quality of supporting research is overwhelming.

Music is part of our biological heritage and is present in our genes as a survival strategy.
It is likely that the use of music may have increased the chance of survival in the evolution of specie. Music is depicted on cave paintings going back 70,000 years. Flutes found in France date back as far as 30,000 years. Music, whether vocalized or played by an individual or sung as a social chorus ( viz birds, whales, apes etc) may have been used to attract a mate. It is possible animals are attracted to those producing louder, better or more pleasing sounds. In addition, music is often used for intra-group communication that preserves group safety and identification. It is also likely that robust vocalization improves warning of pending threat or environmental changes. It is worth noting here that, when native-Australians covered vast stretches of wilderness on foot, they used singing maps passed down from their ancestors to find their way. The songs described what land features to look for in a barren setting and helped soothe fears of the unknown.

Music is a socially cohesive force among those playing it or listening to it. Music may also
contribute to changes in the brain (that is verbal memory, counting and self-discipline),
which over the years may have improved survival. In addition, making music probably
strengthened listening skills, so essential when hunting game or escaping enemies. In fact, the human brain has specialized structures for music: for instance cells in the mammalian auditory cortex have been found that process specific harmonic relationships. The rhythmic, temporal qualities link to a specific group of neurons in the auditory cortex.

The experienced teachers in the team that has created Zim Zam Zoum have researched
findings that music heightens understanding. Music making contributes to developing
essential cognitive systems that include reasoning, creativity, thinking, decision-making
and problem solving. It does this by activating and synchronizing neural firing patterns
that orchestrate and connect multiple brain sites. The key cell of the brain is the neuron.
In essence, neurons are switches. Thinking and learning is like throwing a great number
of switches to one state or another. The number of neurons could be as high as 33 billion,
but no one knows for sure. The main point is the number of neurons we are dealing with
is staggeringly large. The possible pathways between these networking neurons could
soar up into the trillions. In many people, the left hemisphere of the cerebrum is concerned with language and the right hemisphere concerns itself with recognising visual and rhythmical patterns. Nevertheless, this does not mean the division is complete. The main connection between the halves is a bridge called the "corpus callosum," which consists of 200 million or more nerve fibres. They carry information both ways. Therefore, the brain acts as an elaborate system of interconnected parts and works by simultaneously going down many paths.

The neural synchrony ensembles increase both the brain's efficiency and effectiveness.
These key systems are well connected and found in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes as well as the cerebellum. The strongest studies support the value of music making in spatial reasoning, creativity and generalized mathematical skills. The activation between family groups of cortical neurons helps the cortex in pattern recognition.

A Russian study suggests that listening to music just an hour a day does change brain
reorganization. The experimental music group of four-year olds listened to classical music for one hour a day. When later measured, their EEG read-outs showed greater brain coherence.

This body of data hints that music does influence not just brain activity, but coherence,
making more of the brain active and acting as a whole, not in just random electrical
discharges. Therefore, one way that "whole" brain electrical activity shows is in our
chemical response - As music influences stress levels, social feelings, self-concept, activity levels and the reward system, we can only look to refine the ways we use it prudently inour schools. Taught By Song harnesses the results of this research to bring effective materials for teaching children French.

Music may be the foundation for later maths and science excellence. In Japan, students
get a minimum of two courses per week in music making. In Hungary, students get three
classes a week or, if they enrol in the music magnet schools, they get it every day.
In the Netherlands, music and other arts became compulsory in 1968. Today, students
are assigned comprehensive art projects to complete before graduation.

Based on the evidence gathered so far, it is both reasonable and prudent that music should be a significant part of every child's education. It is therefore ethically, scientifically and culturally important that all children get exposure to music as an equal to every other discipline. There is also support for the policy of starting children early in their music education, as the effects are greater in the early years. Positive impact increases with each additional year.

Taught By Song, with their imaginative use of Promethean Activprimary software
for Interactive whiteboards, are at the forefront of current teaching trends, using
all the benefits of modern technology to bring a very new and ground-breaking
teacher resource – ZIM ZAM ZOUM – into the Primary French teaching forum.

The first thing to realise about interactive teaching is that it is not a new idea or something
strange to be mistrusted. Nor is it a flash-in-the-pan teaching fad ! One look at the fun
songs and exercises included in the software of Taught By Song’s Zim Zam Zoum shows
just how much interactive teaching increases the potential of children in the classroom.
If you are a teacher and you ask questions in class, give and mark homework, or hold class or group discussions, then you already teach interactively. Interactive teaching at its
simplest is just giving students something to do, getting back what they have done, and then assimilating it yourself to inform your lesson planning and help you decide what would be best to do next. Even more interactively engaging are the songs, games and fun exercises that Zim Zam Zoum brings to the interactive whiteboard in the already interactive classroom and there is no better method of capturing the attention and motivation of primary children engaged in learning a foreign language like French!

Yet, almost all teachers already do these things and so is there more to it?

To answer this question, one has to first consider not how we teach, but how we learn.
Over the last twenty years, the field of cognitive science has taught us a lot about how people learn. A central principle, generally accepted, is that everything we learn, we "build" for ourselves. That is, any outside agent is essentially powerless to have a direct effect on what we learn. If our brain does not do it itself, - that is, take in information, look for connections, interpret and make sense of it, - no outside force will have any effect. This does not mean the effort has to be expressly voluntary and conscious on our parts. Our brains take-in information and work continuously on many kinds of levels, only some of which are consciously directed. However, conscious or not, the important thing to understand is that it is our brains that are doing the learning, and that this process is only indirectly related to the teacher and the teaching.

For example, even the most precise and scintillating exposition of a subject by a teacher in a lecture, may only result in limited learning if the students' brains do not do the necessary work to process it. This is why the term ‘engaging’ is so vital in the teaching process. There are several possible causes why students' learning may fall short of expectations in such a situation. They may:

* Not understand an important concept part-way in a lesson and so what follows is
unintelligible

* Be missing prior information or not have a good understanding of what went before,
so the conceptual structures on which the lecture is based are absent

* Lack the interest, motivation or need to use the mental effort, to follow the presentation,
understand the arguments, make sense of the positions and validate the inferences.

Many of these problems are addressed when a class is taught by song !! Learning is
hard work, and an injection of motivation at the right moment can make all the difference.
One motivating reason provided by the interactive teacher is wanting a response to a live
classroom task. This serves to jolt the student into action, to get his brain off the couch.
More subtle and pleasant events follow immediately capitalising on the momentum created by this initial burst. One of these is a result of our human social tendencies. When teachers ask students to work together in small groups to solve a problem, a discussion results that not only serves in itself to build more robust knowledge structures, but also to motivate. To expect immediate feedback in the form of reaction from their peers, or from the teacher is a strong motivator. If it is not embarrassing or threatening, students want to know desperately whether their understanding is progressing or just drifting aimlessly in idea space. Knowing that they are not allowed to drift too far off track provides tremendous energy to continue. Learning a foreign language benefits from this interactivity, the childrencan see and hear the lyrics to the songs and then sing along themselves to the karaoke versions. They can work co-operatively to deduce the meaning of unfamiliar sentences, benefiting from the combined and different thinking processes of a group to reach the correct translation. Moreover, the hugely engaging Promethean interactive tools such as drag and drop, recolouring, changing size, re-assembling broken language components, matching gender or verb agreements etc. all provide highly stimulating and formative learning games.

The motivational component of software such as Zim Zam Zoum therefore cannot be
underestimated, together with the sub-conscious assimilation of patterns and structures
that are remembered effortlessly to act as foundational and conceptual building blocks
for future learning.

Let’s summarise the reasons for interactive teaching:

It is an attempt to see what exists in the brains of your pupils. This is the "summative" part.
It is the easiest aspect to gauge and well covered in pedagogical literature. However, it is
certainly not the only perspective. The second reason is "formative", where the teacher aims through the assigned task to direct students' mental processing along a creative and logical path. The idea is that, as students think through the concepts encountered along the path, the resulting mental construction developed in the pupil's head will have those properties the teacher is trying to get across. This is something directly addressed by Monica Hyde in the exercises on language learning strategies, as well as the simple vocabulary assimilation games which make up the interactive software package that accompanies the Zim Zam Zoum animated songs. With this teaching resource, the children have demands made on them—and they will respond accordingly! Monica Hyde has devised a huge number of exercises to help guide both teacher and pupil through all the aspects raised by the songs themselves. A song about sweets and sharing them enables the children to have fun while learning how to count in French. Beyond this, the animated song of ‘Les Vingt Bonbons’ contains all sorts of other rich areas of learning
for young children, to do with personal and social education, emotional intelligence, sequencing and story-telling. The charming animations by Laurent Mouflier, will be watched over and again because of the bright colours and humour radiating through song stories. When use in the classroom the children have loved the interactive nature of the songs and the way that with the Promethean interactive software they can take part thoroughly in the learning process.

Importantly, also, the ZIM ZAM ZOUM songs are sung in French by native French children
and, being natural mimics at an early age, pupils assimilate effortlessly
a perfect French accent !

Taught By Song - Innovative teaching materials for children learning French.Learning
through ‘music’, being ‘taught by song’, starts in the cradle !

The use of primary noises is important to babies and children learn to sing before they speak. A baby first ‘talks’ with a musical series of coos that communicate hunger, fear, discomfort or pleasure. Further, the mother can often tell the child’s need based on pitch. This shows the role played by communicative musicality in language learning. The instinctive musical arrangements of spontaneous vocal sounds are obvious in babies as they advance from cooing to babbling. The infant learns quickly that his needs are met because of sound making (motivation !). Healthy babies compose melodious structures of rising and descending pitch using the full vocal range available to them from the moment they are born.

Music is a three-dimensional learning tool. Songs are not only words on paper and notes
on a stave. Music sends a message and the message is often clearer at a younger age !
The use of music in first language acquisition is a key aspect of a child’s development and research has demonstrated that music trains the brain for higher forms of thinking.

It is useful here to consider an adaptation from Krashen’s Hypothesis. There are several
features of Krashen relevant to music and language. Three of the most accepted parts
are the affective filter, the monitor model and natural input.

The affective filter hypothesis states that ideal learning occurs in an environment of high
stimulation and low anxiety. According to the theory, the emotional state of the learner acts as a filter. Krashen sees the learner’s emotional state as an adjustable filter that may pass or impede input needed for acquisition. Using music in the class can result in a more relaxed learning environment, and improves both the emotional state and the affective filters of the students. In a relaxed "alpha" state of awareness, the mind is able to absorb and assimilate information much more readily and quickly than in the more normal "beta" state. The primary reasons that influence and moderate brainwave patterns are sound, especially music, and vibration patterns, especially rhythm or beats. Millions of neurons are activated in a single musical experience. It is through the activation of these neural connections that learning takes place - The more neurons that can be connected, the greater the learning potential. Taught By Song recommend the use of music as a classroom tool to unlock the doors to other content. Music is a way to use a multisensory approach to learning that can enable students to absorb content with a relaxing and creative vehicle as a catalyst.

Another aspect of Krashen’s theory is the monitor model. In describing this model, he claimed that second language learners have two means for internalizing the target language. The first is acquisition, an intuitive process of forming the system of language. The second is a conscious process in which students pay close attention to form and rules and are clearly aware of the learning process.

During acquisition, the input language students receive should be just beyond their
understanding. This is called the “I-plus-one” formula. In other words, language learners
are exposed to their own competency “plus one,” or just a bit more of the next level.

Song lyrics often work this way because students will pick up the chorus much sooner
than the verses of a song. The chorus is a hook to the plus-one feature of many parts
of the verses. Students learn the chorus and then use it to learn the rest of the lyrics.

A third aspect of Krashen’s theory is defined as natural input. Given that each side of the
brain represents different styles of learning, natural input is achieved differently by each
individual learner. There are a few general conclusions about the functions of left and right brain learning that help relate to music.With cultural diversity and learning styles, clearly some cultures are more right brain dominant than others are. Among the features of the right brain, dominant personalities are preferences to drawings, freedom in expressing emotions and use of metaphors. Right brain people respond well to pictured instructions and rely heavily on images in thinking or remembering.

The left-brain dominant individual is defined as being more verbally oriented and objective. They rely on language in thinking and are analytical in their reading. The left-brain learner rarely uses metaphor. Music uses both brain hemispheres. Emotion and language are one in a song.

When coupled with a visual image, music can become a powerful learning tool, whilst
adding rhythm and melody to chunks of language invites rehearsal and transfers words
into the long-term memory. Repetition, pronunciation and hand motions combined with a
good-natured attitude can be very effective with language learning. Speech without music
leads to language without heart. Language and music tie themselves together in brain processing by pitch, rhythm and by symmetrical phrasing. Music can help familiarize students with connections and therefore provides a fun way to learn French.

Taught By Song - Making French lessons fun for young children !

"What is important when teaching children French in primary schools ?"
– This is a question that is often put by teachers and educationalists.

Music and rhythm can grip you—stay with you for the rest of your life! A song sticks in
your head all day, and you simply cannot get rid of it. What is it about the power of music
that takes hold of your whole being and your mood so it can create an intensely emotional experience? Music can surround you and make you a different person and it can make you feel energetic and motivated. Is there any way to unleash this power in the classroom to energize and motivate students? Can music possibly be used for instructional purposes in a foreign language classroom to help students in picking up the large range of new vocabulary needed in a year of language learning?

All teachers know this can be done—and often the younger the children the better. Games can reinforce and improve verbal ability and a myriad of physical response sessions to enable students to pick up the vocabulary and grammar concepts expected of them. We only need to think about music, then how younger children memorise songs and finger play in nursery school so effortlessly. The songs are "stuck" there in their heads and the songs remain with the children. Music can coordinate and enliven so much of what teachers are trying to do. Teenagers and younger children love music - they listen to it constantly!

Music can be alive with colourful idioms, grammar and vocabulary. This present-day music approach to teaching French is encapsulated in Zim Zam Zoum’s original songs composed and orchestrated by John and Monica Hyde. The tunes are very catchy and represent the kinds of music to which students listen, in styles with which they are already familiar. In the programme Zim Zam Zoum, Monica Hyde has created comprehension, speaking and writing activities that complement the songs. Thus, singing the songs and memorizing them is only part of the programme. Because the Zim Zam Zoum software systematically builds a scheme of work based on songs, the students can learn and remember fundamentals of French grammar and vocabulary in a fun way, as well as leaping effortlessly into authentic dialogue from the songs’ spring-board. Music is an effective memory aid, and since it is something students enjoy anyway, it helps them relax and become more receptive to language learning. Taught By Song understand that music combines the creative, non-verbal and emotional processes carried out by the right hemispher e of the brain with the specific verbal and logic-based learning carried out by the left hemisphere.

Reactions to the songs have been incredible. Primary school students in the Oxfordshire,
Essex and Berkshire areas where Zim Zam Zoum has been tested, could be heard singing the songs in the playground and parents reported how their children had come home and eagerly taught them to all the family ! We have found that because some of the children have taught the songs to their younger siblings, when they join the schools they already know the songs better than the traditional ‘Frère Jacques’ as though it was part of their musical heritage! One teacher told us that her pupils would work like Trojans all through the lesson, the reward being the chance to sing ZIM ZAM ZOUM at the end. They were not content to sing it once: they had to sing it several times to allow all who wanted
a turn in taking the solo lines.

School runs are valuable learning time and the Zim Zam Zoum package can be bought
as a separate CD to enable families to sing and learn from the songs when in the car,
on holiday or in the home.

We think, with our experience and research of UK primary schools,
that this is best way for children to learn French

The syntactical structures contained in the lyrics to a song transfer to students' everyday
use of the French language and the catchy music by John Hyde reinforces this. Music
has the power to motivate students and create a positive and relaxing environment in the
classroom and Zim Zam Zoum has been a front-runner in responding to this assessment
of how children learn a foreign language. We think, with our experience and research of
UK primary schools that this is best way for children to learn French.

The principle of linear processing is essentially that one limited unit of thought follows another unit in a logical, more or less one-dimensional relationship. The implication of this principle for education is the student's attention switches from one focus to the next focus closely related to it. According to modern research on the brain, the miraculous procedure bears no relationship to linear processing. Therefore, to expect students to react in the way the educational bureaucracy often expects them to is often counter-productive and inhibits learning. These important findings have led to suggestions the left side of the brain is logical and sequential because it is so involved with language--but language is so full of irrational twists and turns that it is anything but logical. Our goal in education should be to employ the rich connections the brain is making. Music has a way of connecting the two hemispheres by using the left for language and the right for distinguishing musical intonations through consistent integration by the corpus callosum. Though one cannot separate the roles of the two lobes, we do know the more connections made in the brain, the more integrated that experience is within memory.

Musical intelligence is a way of awakening and stimulating memory and learning when studying French for the first time. Music is a subject to be studied and understood as a separate skill, but music can also be used as a means for gaining other knowledge—this is a fact well used by Taught By Song.

Music has an uncanny manner of activating neurons for purposes of relaxing muscle tension, changing pulse and producing long-range memories directly related to the number of neurons activated in the experience. These connections measured by injecting the brain with radioactive chemicals detected when the brain cells are active.

To stimulate more neurons produces greater memory. The different parts of the brain and the nervous system filter and process information in different ways that are relevant to the musical mind and overall memory. These different ways provide us with some clues that help us in our teaching processes - Hemispheres of the brain -

Teachers intuitively know when students are enjoying their learning, and with

Zim Zam Zoum we are striving to motivate and interest students with new strategies and
techniques that have been shown to strengthen and increase learning.

Brain research and its connection to learning have enjoyed an explosion in recent years.
It makes sense to teach students using strategies that parallel brain processing to promote learning. Educators do not need to become neuroscientists, but a rudimentary understanding of the brain is in order. If students are to be actively involved in their construction of knowledge hrough multisensory experiences, the learning environment will become more positive as they get information in the different content areas. Music is of interest to students and should be included in a discussion of searching for meaningful knowledge. Singing and creating music to learn content engages students in talking, listening and acting out what they are learning. Lessons need planning in a manner that uses the different intelligences we hold. To assess what children know, teachers need to become "assessment specialists" and to devise ways of assessment that use activities that are contextualized and meaningful to students Zim Zam Zoum represents a fertile area that exploits students' interests, skills and confidence in one domain of knowledge as a means to help growth in other domains.

Attentive listening creates a neuralgic patterning imprinted within many circuits of the
brain. The information consolidates with data got through other senses and learned in
different ways, increasing the length and breadth of neurological circuitry. The implications and details of these patterns are not easily forgotten.

Music such as the songs in Zim Zam Zoum can be used in the classroom to carry out
the following goals: to create a relaxing atmosphere, to set up a positive learning state,
to provide a multisensory learning experience that improves memory, to increase attention by creating short bursts of energizing excitement, and to add an element of fun.

Music is a way to improve the classroom climate to allow creativity to take place. Music
is a thread that can tie together the best techniques in foreign language learning with the
new brain-based research.

Sometimes people feel that singing in class is not "real" education but simply "fun" for
students. Nothing could be further from the truth. As well as using all your intelligences,
you are learning in a positive environment and feeling motivated. Music used to teach
French in programmes like Zim Zam Zoum is a tremendous memory aid. By using music
in the language classroom, it is possible to bring a cognitively challenging activity to the
dimension of one of our most primary and primitive pleasures: singing. Music of the kind
featured by Taught By Song allows material to be remembered. Attaching tones and gestures to specific words sets them in a firm and easily retrievable form -teaching students to remember what they have learned, and to be able to call on that material when needed as they begin to produce language.

Taught By Song provides innovative teaching materials and interactive games for
young children learning French.

How do you use interactive whiteboards with Zim Zam Zoum?

What are interactive whiteboards and how can they help in teaching French language to primary schoolchildren? An interactive whiteboard is a white surface on to which a computer screen displays via a projector.

It is touch-sensitive and lets you use a pen on it (or sometimes a finger) to act like a mouse, controlling the computer from the board itself. Whiteboards can help you deliver exciting and engaging lessons to children of all ages and abilities.

Zim Zam Zoum produced by Taught By Song has used every facet of the Promethean
Activprimary interface for maximum interactivity. The original animated songs are a delightful way to teach French to a classroom of children. John and Monica Hyde have devised a comprehensive package that is incredibly flexible – however and whenever you teach French. The ready-planned lessons can be used ‘straight from the peg’, with a minimum of preparation by the non-specialist teacher, or they can be used as a foundation upon which the specialist French teacher builds a scheme
of work.

How can they help? Interactive whiteboards have the potential to improve teaching and learning by:

* Improving understanding of new ideas

* Increasing pupil motivation and involvement

* Improving planning, pace and flow of lessons

Taught by Song with their clever use of Promethean software for Interactive whiteboards are at the forefront of this thinking. They are simply great lesson ideas for teaching young children French.

Vive Zim Zam Zoum !
Taught By Song - Fun and innovative French teaching
for children in the classroom or at home.

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Languages Review report, March 2009

Right Hon Alan Johnson, MP Secretary of State for Education and Skills
28 February 2009

We submitted an interim report on the languages review on 14th Decd provisional proposals and a number of issues for further
consideration by your Departmenember as a basis
for consultation. It includet.We now have pleasure in offering our final report.

In making the review, you asked us to look into the following issues:

With secondary schools to support them in making available a wider range of more flexible language courses, with accreditation, so that more young people keep up language learning even if they are not doing a full GCSE course;

Further ways of strengthening the incentives for schools and young people themselves to
continue with languages after 14;

With representatives of FE and HE, to look at what more might be done to widen access to and increase interest in language learning among the student population;

With employer organisations, to consider what more they can do to promote the value of
language skills for business and to give stronger market signals to young people about
language skills and employability; and

What broader communication effort is needed to get across the importance of language skills to all sections of the population. In making this final report we have revisited

In making this final report we have revisited points made in the consultations that preceded our earlier report. We have held further consultation meetings on our provisional proposals and have received responses by letter and e mail. We are grateful to those who have helped us in this way, and to the six teacher associations, who at our request, sought to stimulate busy schools to offer comments. In this final report we have developed and extended the proposals in our consultation report for investment in teachers in primary and secondary schools.

We see these as the necessary bases for our proposal that languages should become part of the statutory curriculum for Key Stage 2. They also form a key element in our proposals for a renaissance of languages in secondary schools. We link our proposals for investment in teaching in secondary schools, and for investment in teaching materials, with our development of the major theme of this report on the need for a range of motivating learning pathways for the whole range of pupils and their different learning objectives.

We make proposals to that end. This action in support of teaching and to provide a
range of motivating learning opportunities, lies at the heart of any programme to strengthen the incentives to schools to continue with languages after 14. But we also invite you to consider supporting these in guidance to schools on the continued study of languages in Key Stage 4 and in other ways.

We confirm our earlier recommendation to increase the number of schools having languages as a specialism to 400, and in doing so we think that it will help languages in the schools community as a whole if the increase supported a more even geographical spread of specialist colleges across England.

We welcome the emphasis you placed in our terms of reference on the need for action to
make the case for languages to all sections of the population and to encourage employers to promote the value of language skills for business. We received several offers of help from employers’ organisations which are summarised in our consultation report. In this repor t we make a number of further recommendations, and urge the Government to put its weight behind the case for languages.

2. Languages Review

The cost of our recommendations, in including our recommendation that the present support for primary schools should be continued beyond the present planned support to 2008, would bring the total needed for languages to over £50m a year. By far the biggest element is the support for teaching. In addition we recommend that the additional financial support for specialist language colleges to support key elements of the National Languages Strategy should be continued (currently some £8m a year) with appropriate increase as the number of colleges increases. We are grateful to the Department for its assistance with this assessment.

If you feel able to back the comprehensive programme of action we have outlined in support of languages in schools we believe you will be in a strong position to call upon schools, through action over the next two years, progressively to lift the numbers choosing to take languages in year ten, the first year in Key Stage 4, to the 50 per cent to 90 per cent sought by Minister Jacqui Smith. We recommend that you closely monitor the plans made by schools to achieve this, and we outline administrative measures you could take in support of such an approach. We further recommend you make clear that you are prepared, if the decline is not halted and turned around within a reasonable
timeframe, to return languages to the statutory curriculum. That as you know is not our preferred course because we think the range proposed by the Minister gives schools scope to develop learning programmes for each child that best fits him/her for life, and best motivates many more of our young people to stay in learning after age sixteen. This must be a major objective of education policy. Ron Dearing Lid King

Chapter 1: The Problem and the Response in Outline

1.1 In September 2004, learning a language in maintained schools ceased to be a mandatory part of the curriculum for pupils in the last two years of their compulsory education, usually referred to as Key Stage 4. Instead it became an entitlement for all students who chose to continue after their three years of mandatory study in Key Stage 3.

1.2 Although up to that time learning a language in Key Stage 4 had been mandatory, in fact only 80 per cent got as far as taking the GCSE, and the take up had been drifting down since 2000. This became particularly noticeable when consultation about removing the statutory requirement began in 2002.

1.3 At the same time as the changes at secondary level, the Government launched a programme to provide an opportunity for all pupils at Key Stage 2 in primary schools to learn a language by 2010. The Outcome and Prospects

1.4 The take up of languages in primary schools has gone very well, and a recent survey suggests that already some 70 per cent of primary schools are now offering a language or are close to doing so. The reports we have had indicate that languages are enjoyed by children across the ability range and that there is no lack of enthusiasm, interest or keenness to learn. This has the potential to feed through into the secondary schools, improve performance, and encourage pupils as they reach Key Stage 4 to continue with languages. This is true of the traditional study of French, German, and Spanish, and there is potential amongst community languages, which over the coming two decades will become of increasing commercial importance, and a potential national asset.

1.5 At the secondary level by contrast, the number taking languages has fallen sharply. Last summer, the numbers continuing with a language to the GCSE at secondary level had fallen to 51 per cent. Inclusion of those taking other language qualifications increases this to only 52 per cent. A survey showed that there will be a further fall this year. The preliminary signs were that thereafter the fall was levelling off. However this is not certain, as numbers may be affected by the decision to include English and Maths in the 5 A*-C GCSEs measure in the Achievement and Attainment Tables and in the long term by the introduction of the specialised diplomas which are expected to be taken by 30 per cent of those entering KS4.

1.6 The fall in numbers taking languages at Key Stage 4 is closely related to social class, and to overall performance in Key Stage 3, and their later performance in the GCSE.

4 Languages Review

1.7 Thus the proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals gaining a language qualification in Key Stage 4 is only half that of pupils from better off homes. The proportion of pupils taking languages who obtained 5 A* to C passes is about twice that of the less successful pupils.

1.8 Thus while the policy of languages for all is working well across the whole range of social class and ability in primary schools; at secondary level, even before languages ceased to be compulsory, it was never fully achieved. Twenty per cent were being exempted as far back as the year 2000; a third had dropped languages by the time they became an entitlement rather than a requirement; and we have regressed further from it since then.

1.9 We gave the facts in some detail in our consultation report together with the reasons
for the Government’s decision to open up the options at Key Stage 4 and the reasons for the move out of languages that has taken place.1

Where Next?

1.10 Our judgement is that there is scope for many more of our teenagers to do better than in the past in languages. For the reasons we set out in Chapter 4 of our consultation report, it is in their interest and the public interest, that more of them should do so. We think the low priority many employers give to language skills, as reflected for example in their plans for the new specialised diplomas, is mistaken. It does not however lead us to the conclusion that at this stage all pupils should be required to continue after Key Stage 3, or with the same time commitment. We have seen it as our task to set out how to enable many more pupils to succeed in different ways, within a framework in which schools make a commitment to languages being a substantial part of the Key Stage 4 curriculum, but which also recognises the need to respond differentially to the capabilities and motivations of pupils, in the wider cause of sustaining them successfully in learning to eighteen and beyond.

1.11 The programme of action we propose in this report to enable many more pupils to engage successfully in the study of languages at the secondary level will take two years to complete. But if action can be taken quickly on our proposals to support language teachers in secondary schools, this together with the opportunities for new approaches to fully accredited learning now offered by the Languages Ladder, and innovative approaches to the GCSE; and with the progressive realisation of our other proposals, schools could be aiming in September 2008 to have made progress towards the 50 to 90 per cent benchmark for entrants to languages in Key Stage 4 proposed by Jacqui Smith last year, and aim to complete their progress to it for entrants to Key Stage 4 in the school year beginning in September 2009, when all our proposed changes could be fully in place.

1.12 Failing a response of that kind, from schools, head teachers and languages departments with corresponding support and challenge from government and its national agencies, which we discuss further in our concluding chapter, we outline a return to some form of mandatory requirement. 4 Languages Review

Chapter 2 Making the Case for Languages

2.1 Three out of the five issues we were asked to consider were concerned with getting across the importance of languages to all sections of the population, and in particular to young people. In this you asked us to consider with employers what more they could do to promote the value of language skills for business, and with representatives of Higher
and Further Education to consider what more might be done to increase interest in language learning among the student population. Higher and Further Education

2.2 As an immediate measure, we asked all universities, working with local F.E. colleges,
specialist language colleges and sixth form colleges, to seek opportunities in January and February this year to visit schools to speak with pupils about the value of languages.

2.3 As we have found from direct contacts, for example with the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Hull, Manchester, Nottingham, and more widely, many university language departments have much experience of, and expertise in, engaging with local schools to promote languages. These activities have recently been positively reviewed by the Subject Centre for Languages Linguistics and Area Studies. We think that institutions should receive specific support to develop this activity.

2.4 With particular reference to widening participation in higher education the Higher
Education Funding Council for England HEFC(E) is funding four regional projects costing £2.5m over four years to encourage more young people to study languages. These projects are testing different methods of engaging with schools and colleges to raise the aspiration and demand among young people to study languages. A key feature is to provide the secondary, FE and HE sectors with the resources to work together to promote language study. The regional projects are one strand of a £4.5m programme of work to support languages.

2.5 A sensibly financed programme over four years such as that to be launched by the HEFC(E) is a well conceived response to the opportunity.

2.6 We are advised by the HEFC(E) that for an additional £3m over four years the scheme
could be given national coverage. We recommend that this additional funding is
provided for this scheme and invite the HEFC(E) to undertake it, with part being available for any strongly conceived proposals that are unsuccessful in the current bidding round, with the remainder being available for a second round of bidding in a year’s time

Employers’ Organisations

2.7 As stated in Chapter 6 of our consultation report, the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the
British Chambers of Commerce, the Institute of Exports, and the National Health Service
Employers have all indicated specific ways, outlined in that report, in which they are willing to advance the cause of languages. We invite the Department to maintain active contact with these organisations to foster their continuing support, and to consider whether from time to time there is news or developments that might be of interest to their members. In addition to encourage companies to support languages in schools we suggest for consideration the award of a “kitemark” to organisations who do good work in this field. Major Multinationals and Overseas Embassies

2.8 Our consultation has confirmed the very real and often well funded programmes of activity by major overseas embassies to promote the study of their national language, whether directly or through national institutes.

2.9 Some of the corporate responsibility programmes of multinational companies are
extending to languages and are very impressive. Our sense is that working with embassies, where the company is not headquartered in Britain, there is scope over time for broadening the commitment by such companies to support languages, and intercultural awareness.

2.10 We accordingly confirm the proposal in our consultation report that Government
working with the Embassies in London should encourage international companies, as part of their corporate philanthropy, to sponsor programmes to promote intercultural awareness and the value of languages in this to schools in the areas where they have businesses. In support of that, they could facilitate opportunities for work experience overseas for 14-16 years old pupils, and school to school exchanges between pupils in this country and overseas countries where they operate. Companies might also be asked to consider providing support for pupils in their localities, who have demonstrated an early ability in languages, to engage with similarly talented pupils overseas, to wor together on some project of common interest, for example, promoting intercultural awareness, a comparative study of the attitudes in their own countries to global warming, recycling or sport, and so on. Getting across the importance of languages to all sections of the population, young and old

2.11 While in England, those who are proficient in overseas languages are admired, this is at least in part a reflection of our relatively low level of language skills, rather than from any strong awareness that such skills matter and are an important enfranchisement in a Europe where there is free movement of peoples, a key to multicultural awareness in our own country and in the world, and increasingly relevant to the prospects of our young people in a world of multinational companies where linguistic skills are valued.

2.12 This points to the need for an active programme by the Government to communicate the importance of languages not only to young people, but also to parents who are influential on the choices pupils make for their Key Stage 4 curriculum and beyond.

2.13 In our consultation report we accordingly proposed that the Department for Education and Skills should develop a continuing programme to promote languages focussing on events like the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the 2012 London Olympic Games and other major international events such as the Rugby World Cup in France in 2009 and the European Football Cup in 2008.

2.14 At local level, Local Authorities could be encouraged to promote interest in local
schools in towns overseas with which they have twinning arrangements, and promote
contact at school level through communication technology and exchange visits. This doubtless happens to some extent already, but in schools where the language is in the curriculum this might, with the support of language departments and head teachers, be promoted with especial enthusiasm. We now confirm those recommendations.
In addition:

2.15 We invite consideration for an annual national Ministerial reception for heads of languages departments who in the year have made a distinctive contribution to promoting interest in languages, and for innovations in the practise ofpedagogy in their school, perhaps supported by a cash prize for investment in equipment or an overseas visit for professional development, for the most outstanding cases.

2.16 To address the low numbers of pupils achieving a very high grading at the GCSE progressing to A levels and beyond in languages, we urge that consideration is given to one day events at five or six centres, perhaps to coincide with the European Day for Languages, where pupils have an opportunity to hear from linguists about the range of work they do in this country, for example in the courts, in social services, in Government Departments, and in international organisations such as the European Commission, which we know is anxious to encourage more native English speakers to come forward for appointments as translators, and for main line appointments in its various directorates. This might be supported by the appointment of a “Languages in Careers” Director to get across the value of language skills as a means of widening opportunities in a whole range of careers. 2.17 We would add that major promotional campaigns to influence opinion require substantial resources if they extend to paid promotion using the full resources of the media. We understand that the Learning and Skills Council has found it necessary to allocate individual budgets of £6m a year, and more, to promote apprenticeships, train to gain and student maintenance grants.

2.18 Some substantial expenditure is a matter that goes beyond our competence to recommend, but we tentatively suggest a budget of £2m a year to support a sustained effort through events, articles, languages days, publications, and for material for use in schools, to raise public awareness of the importance of languages.

2.19 Finally we suggest that the potential of senior politicians in promoting the value of languages should be evaluated, and opportunities taken by them to illustrate from their own experiences how some facility in a language has been valuable to them, for example, in building relationships. In particular we urge that the Government should put its weight behind

Chapter 3 What Needs to be Done – motivating learners and supporting teachers

3.1 Our terms of reference invited us to: support secondary schools in making available a
wider range of more flexible language courses, with accreditation, so that more young people keep up language learning even if they are not doing a full GCSE course;
(consider) further ways of strengthening the incentives for schools and young people
themselves to continue with languages after 14.

3.2 It became clear very early in our review that the problems of Key Stage 4 languages could not be solved in isolation from earlier and later stages of learning. This was confirmed during the course of the consultation. What was needed was a coherent place for languages in the school curriculum, and beyond. Much progress has been made since the launch of the National Languages Strategy in 2002, but if we are to address the challenges of the unwanted fall-off in languages post 14, we need a significant reshaping of the languages offer – what has been described as the New Paradigm for languages.

3.3 This also prompts our first important conclusion, which is that a one menu suits all approach to secondary languages is not working for many of our children, and that we must encourage a more varied languages offer which suits a range of requirements for young people. The need is for a coherent languages programme leading to a range of appropriate options if those who are abandoning languages are to be motivated to continue.

3.4 In our consultation report we set out what amounts to a package of reform, intended to
strengthen the existing National Languages Strategy and proposing both short and longer term measures aiming to embed languages in the curriculum for primary schools; and at secondary level to improve the experience of learning a language for pupils, to increase the motivation to learn, and to enhance pedagogy. In the consultation these proposals have received a large measure of support. Combined with a stronger framework and manifest support from Government, we believe they provide the basis for a renaissance of languages in school and in the longer term an improvement in our national capability in languages. Languages in Primary Schools

3.5 The programme for the progressive introduction of languages into primary schools is going well. Schools are well on the way to the target of a Languages for life languages entitlement for all pupils in Key Stage 2 by 2010. Some 70 per cent of schools are already teaching languages or have made plans to do so, and all the signs are that this percentage will increase this year, perhaps to over three quarters. We continually hear the comment that children enjoy their language learning in primary
schools. A specifically primary experience of languages is being developed, linking language learning to learning across the curriculum and making good use of a range of resources, of speakers of the language and of excellent programmes of ICT based learning. There has also been the necessary financial support.

3.6 A framework for languages study in Key Stage 2 has been available to schools since 2005 and schemes of work for German, French and Spanish are now being published. A robust programme of Initial Teacher Training is also in place and set to continue. Local and regional training opportunities have also been made available. All of this means that the ground work for a statutory languages curriculum is already largely in place.

3.7 Against this background we recommend that languages become part of the statutory
curriculum for Key Stage 2 in primary schools, when it is next reviewed. This should
be as soon as practicable and if possible in time for languages to become part of the statutory primary curriculum by September 2010. In making this recommendation we have taken into account the statutory requirement that it should be introduced progressively by year group. In the interim we urge that the experience gained over the last few years and in the period immediately ahead should be used to inform our understanding of what is best learnt in the early years and the most successful approaches to learning. But while the purposes and outcomes of the learning should be prescribed through the curriculum, we would advise against any one tightly prescribed approach to teaching, as has sometimes happened in the past. Key to the future success of this significant primary initiative will be continuing support for teachers through opportunities for professional development and access to support networks and a range of resources, so that all primary schools have the necessary capability to teach languages.

3.8 We recommend that the provision for teacher support in primary schools should
be continued, and where necessary, extended to take schools through the first two
years of a statutory curriculum for languages and to help them widen the range of languages offered, as proposed below.

3.9 French has been the main language offered in primary schools, but as in our consultation report, we think it important to widen the range of languages that can be offered, and we recommend that attention is given to how that can best be achieved and that this should involve continuing consultation with embassies. We envisage that these will prominently be French, German and Spanish. But looking further ahead there will be increasing interest in other world languages, particularly Eastern languages. We should also value community languages, in which, in many localities, children will have a high level of speaking and listening skills. Decisions on such matters go beyond the scope

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of this review and need to be preceded by careful analysis and consultation, including the
need to be satisfied that the capability exists in the school to teach the chosen languages. It will also be important in this respect to ensure that advice and guidance continue to be madeavailable to primary schools on the specific languages which are taught, on the range of curricular models and on the challenges of progression and transition.

3.10 Indeed the full benefits of teaching languages in primary schools will not be realised unless there are good arrangements for transition to secondary schools. To this end we make two recommendations:

a) There should be informal classroom assessment of every child’s learning near the end of Key Stage 2 by reference to the Languages Ladder2, so that the Key Stage 3 teacher is well informed about the pupil’s learning standard and needs. We recommend use of the ladder because it provides the teacher with assessment at the level appropriate to the child in each of the four strands of learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing, and because it is to a common national standard. Its purpose is different from the SATs, which in the past have been essentially a summative means of assessing a school’s performance with all pupils taking the same test. The assessment we recommend is formative in purpose, fit for the individual child, not aggregated, and should not be the basis for any league tables.

b) Wherever possible, with appropriate leadership from Local Authorities, clusters of primary and secondary schools in a local authority area should link up to seek to achieve agreement on the languages to be taught in primary schools and arrangements for progression to the secondary schools, and to foster close contact between the primary teacher and the specialist language teacher in the secondary school. The more the last year of primary and the first year in the secondary school become a continuum the better. In this respect we fully support the proposal of the Training and Development Agency to develop a 9-14 Languages teacher training course.

3.11 The success of languages in Key Stage 2 raises the question of whether it should extend toKey Stage 1. On the mainland of Europe the age at which language learning begins has been coming down year by year, and in the Netherlands, for example, it now begins at age five. In general, however, a starting age of seven or eight reflects current European practice and the priority over the next few years should be the success of Key Stage 2. Where this is succeeding, it may gradually extend to Key Stage 1, and there is wisdom in leaving this to schools to decide for themselves, while ensuring that advice is available for those who wish to make an earlier start.

Languages in Secondary Schools – The Challenge of Motivation

3.12 Motivating learners is a key challenge for language teachers in secondary schools, and not only in England. In other countries the role of English as a world language, and the way it permeates the culture of young people, provides an incentive to learn it and facilitates learning. This tends to overlay the fact that many overseas learners of languages find it a challenging task. It is therefore not surprising that the major source of the abandonment of languages is by students who are amongst the less successful in learning generally.

3.13 Despite this, many teachers are successful with all learners. It has been put to us that 99 per cent of learners who really want to learn a language (i.e. who are really motivated) will be able to master a reasonable knowledge of it as a minimum, regardless of their aptitude or background. It is not our task in this review to provide the recipe for motivational success. We can however propose what needs to be done to create the conditions in which it will be possible to motivate all or most learners.3 These include: A more varied languages offer with a range of appropriate outcomes (assessment) The possibility to recognise and celebrate achievement in small steps Engaging curricular content (including links with the real world in which the language is spoken) Opportunities for teachers to reflect and learn from each other and from leading practitioners.

3.14 These are the issues which we will now consider in more detail.

Recognising Achievement The Handicap of ‘One Size Fits All’

3.15 If we are to motivate learners, the shortcomings of the “one size fits all” approach, in particular for those pupils, who in general terms are faring least well in Key Stage 3 and the GCSE, but also for those higher achievers who find languages lacking in cognitive challenge, leads us to a number of conclusions. What we are proposing reflects what has already been recognised for science at Key Stage 4 where there are alternatives which suit the different requirements of young people depending on their aspirations and aptitude for science.

3.16 Recognising that in practice much of the content and organisation of the secondary
curriculum is determined by the possible outcomes of the assessment system, we address this matter first. This means reshaping the current GCSE, supporting a range of alternative options and paying particular attention to the new Specialised Diploma programme. Reforming GCSE

3.17 The GCSE is the examination which drives the curriculum at Key Stage 4 and casts its mantle over the final year of Key Stage 3. It is particularly in these years that the context of the learning needs to be stimulating to pupils and to engage them in discussion, debates and writing about subjects that are of concern and interest to teenagers. Although outstanding teachers can overcome most barriers to learning, as commonly interpreted the present GCSE does not facilitate this. As we said in our consultation report, it has been suggested to us that to facilitate teaching in such contexts, a range of options might be available from which pupils ight select a specified number. A strong case has also been put for an alternative, more flexible GCSE in languages perhaps with an international or business orientation and involving the development of a more limited range of skills

12 Languages Review

in several languages.4 Such an approach may reflect the interests of a proportion of pupils who would seek such more limited skills in a range of say three languages as more relevant, useful to them, and more appealing than continuing with the study of a single language.

3.18 From our discussions with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) we know that they are planning a review of the GCSE and that they are seized of the importance of an examination that will promote a more lively framework within which to learn a language. In our opinion a renaissance of language needs such a review as a matter of urgency.

3.19 We recommend that the review proceeds as a priority in consultation with the Awarding Bodies, and language teachers. We also invite consideration of a more flexible “languages in use” GCSE.

3.20 We now return to the widely held view, as recorded in our consultation report, that the demands of languages in the GCSE are greater than for the great majority of subjects, and the statistical analysis that appeared to give some support for that view in terms of the
level of demand for the award of a grade. We recognised that to some extent the conclusions are qualified by recognition that factors like student interest and motivation affect achievement. In our further consultation we have found strong confirmation of the view that the award of grades is more demanding than for most other subjects. This needs to be resolved one way or the other by a definitive study, followed by publication of the conclusions because the present widely held perception in schools, whether right or wrong, is adversely affecting the continued study oflanguages through to the GCSE.

3.21 We do not propose any reduction in the demands of the Curriculum but we confirm the proposal that the issue should be resolved as soon as possible and we so recommend.

3.22 We also proposed a new approach to the assessment of speaking and listening, which rightly account for half the marks in the GCSE, on the grounds that the present method is too stressful and too short to be a reliable way of assessing what the candidates can do. It is interesting that when people spoke about the oral test, that however long ago it may have been, it is often remembered as a stressful experience. We therefore proposed that these parts of the examination should be over a period through moderated teacher assessment.

3.23 We recognise that any change has to be made in a way that does not weaken the validity of the assessment, and concerns have been expressed to us about that. But that has to be balanced against the risk that a test that is often highly stressful and over a short period, whilst accurate in its awards against performance on the day, is not a reliable test of the candidates’ capability. We note that assessment of speaking for awards for the Languages Ladder (Asset Languages) is through accredited teacher assessment. We have been advised by one of the examining boards that it is piloting a new approach to assessment, based partly on an ICT programme over half an hour for listening skills, and by teacher assessment over a period for speaking. These are matters for further consideration by the QCA and the examining boards, but we remain of the opinion that the present forms of assessment are not the best test of the candidates’ abilities and contribute to the loss of students to languages.

The Short Course GCSE

3.24 The short course GCSE is not proving popular with learners. It is not distinctively different in approach from the full GCSE. We invite consideration of a programme that is sharper in focus, aimed at those whose interest is in basic functionality in a language in a range of meaningfully relevant contexts to the learner.

Alternatives to GCSE and the Languages Ladder

3.25 There is also a need for a wider range of programmes and assessment options if more pupils are to be motivated to continue beyond Key Stage 3. There is already a range of interesting and successful practice in courses leading to qualifications other than the traditional GCSE. There are, for example, the NVQ language units, the Certificate in Business Language Competence, and an Applied French GCSE is being piloted. The Languages Ladder offers a major opportunity for schools to offer different curricula, and to have achievement recognised at whatever level is appropriate to the pupil, in speaking, listening, reading and writing.

3.26 All of these qualifications attract points in the Achievement and Attainment tables. Schools need to be better informed about these alternative routes to learning languages, and we recommend that the Department finds means of addressing this need, particularly in relation to the Languages Ladder.

3.27 In the interests of broadening the basis of learning to the GCSE we also invite early
consideration of achievement through the Languages Ladder (as currently awarded by
Asset Languages) leading to the award of a GCSE. We are advised that at the relevant points, the levels in the ladder are aligned with GCSE levels, and so, subject to satisfying the QCA that any additional requirements for a GCSE have been satisfied, a GCSE award could be made.

3.28 We have already put forward our recommendation that the ladder is used for
formative assessment at the end of Key Stage 2. We also propose that some assessment of pupils’ progress should be available at the end of Key Stage 3. This will be motivating for pupils who will thus be able to judge the progress being made towards a level 2 qualification. It may well encourage a greater staying-on rate, or at least (in the case of those who are determined to give up languages at 14) it will provide a recognisable outcome, which can contribute to the overall profile of the learner and the school.

3.29 We therefore recommend that a qualification associated with the Languages Ladder (currently Asset Languages) is made available for all pupils at the end of Key Stage 3 at a subsidised cost for schools, and that consideration is given to achievement through the Languages Ladder being recognised through the award of GCSE.

The Specialised Diplomas

3.30 The fourteen specialised diplomas which will be introduced into Key Stage 4 over the next few years, beginning in 2008, raise the need for some new thinking. There will be provision for Additional and Specialised Learning at level 2 for 180 hours of guided learning time over the two years of Key Stage 4, which is available for pupils to make their own choices of learning. A language is one of their options.

3.31 In discussions with a number of lead bodies for the Diplomas, where languages seem particularly relevant, we have invited consideration of languages being required, notably for example as part of the Additional and Specialised Learning. One partnership is ready to do this, but the need as they see it, is not for a GCSE level of competence in one language, but a basic competence in the spoken and listening elements of several languages, and some cultural understanding. Such learning needs to lead to certification, and we have drawn this to the attention of the QCA.

3.32 Other groups we have seen are not so minded, at least at this point (one has the matter under consideration). But there will be the option for the pupil to choose a language at least as part of the Additional and Specialised Learning. It is important that a language option that makes sense to the individual diploma partnerships and to the pupils taking their awards will be available.

3.33 We invite the Department to continue discussions we have had with a number of the partnerships to ensure that where a pupil does decide to chose a language in his Additional and Specialised Learning there are suitable contextually relevant courses qualifying for awards. We turn later to equipping teachers to respond to the language requirements of the diplomas Reshaping the Languages Curriculum

3.34 We now turn to the structure of the curriculum itself. Even within the constraints of the current system, it is possible to make more appropriate use of both the courses and time available. With the introduction of a more flexible Key Stage 3 curriculum, it will become more rather than less important for secondary languages to be organised in a different way. In our consultation report we commented on a number of such initiatives and here we return to those which seem to us to be of particular value for languages. Flexible Approaches

3.35 Many schools are successfully fast-tracking to a GCSE at the end of Key Stage 3, providing for more advanced study at Key Stage 4, or for learning a second language. This is likely to become more desirable as the primary reform takes hold and pupils with significant competence in transactional language begin to arrive in Year 7. Allowing pupils to make accelerated progress does not appear to lower standards. On the contrary. An opportunity to move to another language may also be attractive to learners, who wish to learn another language at a basic or intermediate level, rather than seek further progress in their first foreign language. In the comments we have had from students there has on occasion been an indication that they would have chosen to continue with languages if there had been an opportunity to do this.

3.36 While the most successful learners will rightly choose to take the GCSE before moving on to more advanced studies or another language, other students moving on to a second language can have their achievements certificated through the Languages Ladder, and recognised in the Achievement and Attainment tables. We recommend that the Department working in partnership with its key partners provides more systematic guidance to schools about these possibilities. Languages across the curriculum

3.37 Languages may also be combined or linked to other parts of the curriculum. This will be a common feature of teaching in primary schools. We also see merit in developing this more consistently and systematically in secondary schools, providing a basis for further study and use of languages. In its most developed form such initiatives may be fully integrated ìbilingualî teaching and learning (or CLIL5). There are also many possibilities for less ambitious embedding of languages in cooperation with subjects such as Sport, Performing Arts, and Enterprise. We recommend that the Department increases its support for initiatives in this area and ensures that existing experience is disseminated more widely.

The Curriculum and meanings that matter

3.38 In addition to widening the range of study options and curricular models, as we argued in our earlier report there is a general issue of the content of curriculum in particular in the final year of Key Stage 3 and in Key Stage 4. It is widely held, and we believe rightly, that this is not often at a cognitive level that is stimulating to teenagers. We have identified many examples of exciting and relevant language teaching and engaged learning, and these are again described in Appendix 2 to this final report. The challenge is making such experience general rather than restricted. We now turn to that issue.

New Curriculum Content

3.39 The new languages curriculum for Key Stage 3 that has been presented for consultation by QCA provides the scope for teachers to teach in contexts that engage the interest of teenagers. It gives teachers the opportunity to motivate learning. We would also expect that the changes recommended in this report to GCSE and the recommendations concerning alternative accreditation, will facilitate the introduction of more stimulating and relevant content to the languages syllabus. But that opportunity needs to be realised by concrete schemes of work and above all by teaching approaches that translate it into practice.

3.40 The kind of content that will motivate learners ñ those ìmeanings that matterî ñ are illustrated in the appendix to this report, and it is not the role of this review to prescribe. Characteristic of them all, however, is that they are ìrealî content, whether related to other parts of the curriculum, to more creative approaches to learning or to the understanding of language itself.

3.41 We recommend that the DfES in collaboration with key partners develop clear guidelines and support for a mor appropriate and varied content to the secondary languages curriculum. Crucially this should be promoted though a range of opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (see below 3.50).

A wider range of languages

3.42 In our consultation report we proposed that a broader range of languages should be encouraged in schools, both to engage learners and to provide a more relevant pool of national expertise. We particularly highlighted the potential role of world languages including Eastern languages.

3.43 The Secretary of State has already acted on these proposals and in February the new secondary curriculum went out to national consultation proposing that the statutory requirement to offer a working language of the European Union in Key Stage 3 is removed. This would be replaced by guidance promoting major languages, which may include French German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Urdu and other major spoken world languages depending on local needs and circumstances.

3.44 In our earlier report we also raised the issue of community languages and the ability of schools to respond to the potential of pupils with an existing (perhaps mainly spoken) capability. These are a national asset, to which more thought needs to be given in terms of national policy. Funding appears to be difficult to access and local provision is very variable. We were pleased to note that the Department recently announced the establishment of a new National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education which will support the development of more and better supplementary schools, through, in particular, the extended schools and specialist schools programme. Supplementary schools are run by almost every ethnic community group in England including African Caribbean, Afghan, Somali, Greek, Jewish, Turkish, Russian and Iranian. They offer children support in national curriculum subjects, as well as the opportunity to learn their communityís mother tongues and to understand more about their ethnic or national culture and heritage.

3.45 We recommend a review of present practices to identify what seem most suitable for development at local level and the funding and support structures that may be appropriate, perhaps most especially in the extended school day.

Supporting Teachers and Pupils

3.46 If we are to realise the ambitious programme of reform outlined in our recommendations, action will be needed to support implementation by teachers in the classroom. This was a view expressed in our initial report and it was strongly endorsed in the consultation process. To that end we need to ensure that appropriate professional development is available and also that the means exist for teachers to access it. Training and professional development

3.47 In the consultation report we said that ìinvestment in teachers is a key to the future of languagesî. This view has been confirmed by the responses to the report. We need to build on the many examples of rich and rewarding practice in our schools, providing opportunities for language teachers to observe and practice new approaches and to reflect on the learning process. Although we do not propose a unique method, we do believe that successful language teaching has a number of common characteristics, and these are set out in the second Appendix ñ the original Chapter 5 of our consultation report on teaching, slightly edited in response to consultation.

3.48 The central importance of such teacher education is immediately obvious in primary schools and we have discussed that in paragraphs 3.7 and 3.8 above. But there is no less a need in secondary schools if they are to achieve the adoption of successful strategies for language teaching and the motivation of pupils across the ability range. Our approach means that the teacher has not only to be successful with the more successful learners, but with the whole range of aptitudes, and interests, and they have to be able to teach to a range of qualifications. They need to be highly skilled in the use of information technology, and in integrating its use in their lessons. They need time to work with primary schools to integrate the teaching in the first year at the secondary school with the last year of primary learning, across the main feeder schools. They need opportunities to think through how language learning can be integrated into parts of other learning (CLIL), for example citizenship, or geography, so that the language can be used in motivating contexts without detriment to learning in the target discipline. There is a particular need to help teachers at Key Stage 4 to develop their teaching plans to cover a wider range of options. A generation of teachers have become accustomed to work to predetermined topics in the GCSE as a means of structuring their teaching. The topic-free Languages Ladder will represent a pedagogical challenge. Finally, and uniquely, language teachers need regular opportunities for refreshment at the source of their language and culture ñ the target language country or countries.

3.49 Of particular importance, as we stressed in our consultation report, will be the need to retain existing secondary teachers in the system as the reforms outlined here take hold. To that end the DfES should work with schools, SIPs, Local Authorities and others to ensure that a range of opportunities are made available to schools in more challenging circumstances. In particular we recommend the provision of retraining modules for secondary teachers wishing either to support Primary developments or to develop skills as Leading Teachers. These modules should be at no cost to schools and we further recommend that they attract a bursary for teachers recommended by their schools. 3.50 For professional development teachers need the opportunity to work with colleagues, to observe, to practise and to have access to expertise The retention of teachers, as proposed above, will facilitate the release of class teachers to do that. The responsibility for providing such opportunities lies in part with the schools themselves and their use of existing resources for continuing professional development. This in itself however is not enough to embed the changes being proposed, and in additio therefore we recommend

1 The launch of a National Teacher Research Scholarship (NTRS) scheme for languages, enabling teachers to work together and with universities, advisers and other nationa agencies to develop their pedagogy and find solutions to the challenges of secondary language learning. This could be a development of the current National Secondary training programme for languages which involves face to face meetings, distance learning and coaching and is based on local networks of teachers.

2 The targeting of Heads of Department who are key to in school change through regional training programmes coordinated by Comenius Centres and SLCs. This would be further reinforced by the NTRS.

3 More systematic provision of on-line distance training resources for secondary teachers, perhaps linked to the proposed Open School for Languages.

4 Provision of model teaching programmes for the range of qualifications outlined in this chapter. Information and Communications Technology

3.51 We have made earlier references to the value of ICT in teaching and learning languages. Young peopleís familiarity with ICT offers a great opportunity to language teachers. It seems to us that a determined commitment to use this world, which is so familiar to young people, is a key to increasing the engagement of youngpeople of all ages with languages. New technologies can facilitate real contacts with schools and young people in other countries. They can also provide stimulus for creative and interactive work. A number of respondents have for example commented on the power of the Interactive Whiteboard (with appropriate training) to transform approaches to Language Teaching.

3.52 Developments in ICT move so fast that there will be a continuing need for information, updating and training. To facilitate this process we recommend that the Department continues its provision of information on languages and ICT ñ for example through CILT and BECTA ñ and finds ways to support and disseminate innovations in this area. Technology and the Open School for Languages

3.53 We also recommend a major initiative in this field ñ the Open School for Languages. As well as supporting teachers and teaching, the new technologies have a role to play in supporting learners directly. Although we do not think that in schools technology can replace face to face teaching of languages and interaction between learners and between learner and teacher, we are struck by the potential it offers for pupils to access language in their own time and without the pressure of peer observation. Technology can also provide access to a wider range of language than some schools can currently offer.

3.54 We therefore see a strong case for developing a more concerted national framework for open language learning in schools, similar to the Further Maths Centres. This Web-based resource would make available a range of materia in different languages and with content designed to engage learners and support new developments in the secondary languages curriculum. It should support face to face learning opportunities, including intensive courses and provide some facility for training teachers in the best use of appropriate methods and materials.

3.55 We recommend that the DfES should now scope a detailed project with a view to inviting tenders from suitable institutions or consortia to establish an ìOpen School for Languagesî over the next three years. Immersion Courses

3.56 Languages do not need to be taught in lockstep, weekly doses. We see value also in the provision of more intensive immersion courses for four purposes in particular:

1. To help level up the language knowledge of children coming from primary schools to secondary schools, perhaps at the end of the summer term or just before the new school year. This is to help a successful transition, which we have identified as a key need if the primary policy is to be a success.

2. To assist pupils in the final year of Key Stage 3 who have fallen behind, and need an opportunity to catch up.

3. For pupils who at the end of Key Stage 3 want to start a new language.

4. To provide a more engaging and appropriate experience for Key Stage 4 pupils, including those taking combined courses or the specialised diplomas. In some cases these could be linked to work or other experience abroad.

3.57 We recommend support for the expansion of such provision on a local and regional basis. Such activity should be underpinned by our proposals for an Open School For Languages (see above 3.52-3.54). International and Intercultural Experience

3.58 We have been confirmed in our view that international links, including visits, exchanges and work experience are of major benefit in themselves and are greatly to be encouraged if children are to see the ìpointî of languag learning and to relate it to the realities of the 21st century. We suggest a higher priority for opportunities for overseas work experience or visits, with some financial assistance where there are problems of finance for families.

3.59 Much is already being done to encourage such experience and this should be continued. We also recommend additional action to make such experiences more widespread and easier to organise. This will involve: Advice to LAs on supporting such visits by looked after children and for schools that have a high proportion of pupils on free school meals; Promotion of existing national and European opportunities to schools in challenging circumstances; Financial support for the organisation of work experience, in collaboration with the main Embassies; Support and guidance on overcoming administrative and legal issues associated with visits.

Support Networks for Teachers

3.60 For the kind of changes that are proposed in the Report to be effective, there will be a need for coordination and support at a national and regional level. This will be of particular importance in relation to the continuing professional development of teachers. Fortunately language teachers are relatively well served, by Specialist Language Colleges, and by a range of national and regional organisations. Less happily these structures often overlap and compete and national coverage is not guaranteed. We do not therefore need to invent new structures but rather to strengthen them, to increase their impact and where necessary to simplify and rationalise them. We invite consideration of such simplification. The Specialist Language Colleges

3.61 There are nearly 300 schools that are first or second specialism Language Colleges and have an established role in supporting other secondary and primary schools. Since 2004, SLCs have received extra funding (on average £30,000 per year) to support Primary or Key Stage 4 languages in other schools. In our consultation report we stated that further attention needed to be given to the roles that the Specialist Schools are playing in support of Key Stage 4 and we proposed concerted efforts be made to increase the number of schools with languages as a second specialism with a view to achieving the target of 400 Colleges and thereby improve their geographical coverage.

3.62 We now recommend that the impact of this additional funding is reviewed, and that on this basis the funding is continued in the most effective way. Consideration should also be given to whether such funding could be extended beyond the Language Colleges to other good schools with successful languages departments.

3.63 We further recommend that concerted efforts are made to increase the numbers of second specialisms in languages. We also recommend offering a further or annual opportunity to specialist schools to take up languages as a second specialism ëout of cycleí with special attention being given to improving geographical spread. National and Regional Support Organisations

3.64 In the consultation report we mentioned the role of the British Council in supporting the international dimension, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and its networks supporting specialist schools, and in particular CILT, The National Centre for Languages, which offers a comprehensive range of support services for language teachers. There is also an active subject association ñ ALL.

3.65 We recommend that public support for these bodies is maintained and where possible refocused to address specific concerns relating to languages post 14.

3.66 At a regional and local level there is need for professional leadership of teachers to oversee the arrangements for professional development to which we give particular emphasis in this Report, and to organise the use of secondary language teachers, who may become surplus to requirements in the short term. Such support can be offered to schools by the national organisations referred to above, Local Authorities, especially when they have maintained a post of Languages Adviser, by the Specialist Language Colleges and by the CILT network of Comenius Centres. In some cases Higher Education Institutions are also in a position to give regional support.

3.67 But many Local Authorities have either withdrawn or much reduced the support they once gave to language teachers through Language Advisers. There is therefore no single route through which such strategic support can be directed in the secondary sector. Instead there are a number of support organisations ,with complex and overlapping roles. In its evidence to the Review, CILT itself commented on this complexity and suggested the need for some rationalisation.

3.68 We therefore propose time limited action to ensure that there is effective local support in all areas proposed in this Report through a 3 year programme for supporting local and regional consortia of LAs, SLCs, and Comenius Centres, for example ñ who take responsibility for coordinating and promoting lasting change in schools, and in particular coordinate appropriate support for schools where the take up of languages has fallen to low levels in Key Stage 4, and where the school is prepared to commit to a recovery programme. It has been beyond the scope of the Review to find a solution to this complexity.

3.69 We therefore recommend that as a matter of some urgency the Department reviews the range of support available and develops a more coherent model for supporting change which it funds for an initial three year period. Priority for such regional change agents, working closely with SIPs, will be support for schools seeking to raise take-up of languages in Key Stage 4 from a low level.

Beyond Sixteen

3.70 It was part of our brief to consider the possible influence of post-schools sectors (FE and HE) and also of business. In large part the relevant issues are dealt with in Chapter 2, on promoting languages. There are two areas, however, in which decisions taken outside the statutory years of education have a direct backwash effect on languages in schools. The role of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)

3.71 We referred in our consultation report to the importance the LSC placed on language skills for employment. Increasingly decisions in the post-16 field are driven by skills priorities identified by regional and sector bodies. This direction of travel has been confirmed in the Further Education and Training Bill and the Leitch Review of Skills, both published in 2006. There are grounds for concern in this respect that there will not be a strong voice for languages in setting the funding priorities for the nation. We therefore confirm our recommendation that the Secretary of State should identify languages as one of his priorities in his annual grant letter to the LSC. The influence of Higher Education

3.72 Although beyond the remit and competence of the review, the recent decision by one major University (UCL) to include languages as a criterion for selection of undergraduates has already attracted comment. Several Head Teachers have observed that if such a view was more widespread it would have a significant impact on the take-up of languages post 14. We therefore urge universities to consider whether, and in what ways, they can show that they value languages, albeit in ways that do not impact adversely on the widening participation agenda. We are aware, for example, of a recent proposal that where a candidate for entry does not have a language at GCSE level they might be required to continue their studies at university, or show evidence of studying a language, or a proven interest in languages.

3.73 We have referred in Chapter 2 to the HEFC(E) programme for promoting languages in schools as part of its widening access agenda, and how that could be expanded to give national coverage. Coherence and Commitment

3.74 Work is continually taking place on the curriculum, learning programmes and Key Stage Frameworks. It is clear that there should be closer coordination of the timetable for revision of the framework and curriculum and that these should always be considered together. The Department should see that this is so.

3.75 We therefore advise that the Department accepts a responsibility for ensuring that the work is closely coordinated. We urge in particular that the programme for languages in primary schools, Key Stages 3 and 4 are developed as a coherent whole. Piecemeal changes are not the best way of doing the job. Above all, the Department and its Ministers must make a long-term commitment to the success of this Strategy, and this must be reflected in its priorities and commitments for the next funding period.

3.76 The success of a programme such as we have outlined, as finally determined by Ministers, will depend crucially on a long-term commitment to it by the Government, extending beyond the Department for Education and Skills, which is reflected in its priorities and commitments for the next funding round.

Supporting Action and Conclusion

Action needed

4.1 Our appointment reflects the Governmentís concern to remedy the scale of movement out of languages at the end of Key Stage 3. Our proposals in the preceding Chapters addressed the five areas for action identified in our terms of reference, and in making proposals we have not hesitated to range more widely in the interests of the coherent development of a policy of ìLanguages for All.î Our proposals for including languages as part of the statutory curriculum for primary schools at Key Stage 2 reflect that.

4.2 Turning specifically to secondary schools, we see our proposals in Chapters 2 and 3 as the basis for a renaissance of languages in Key Stages 3 and 4. They will have a progressive impact and should be fully in place by September 2009.

4.3 But if they are to realise their potential, they will need to be supported by a strong programme of communication to schools.

4.4 A year ago the Minister of State, Jacqui Smith asked schools to set a benchmark of between 50 and 90 per cent of pupils taking a language in Key Stage 4. But this was not supported by any new policies. It was communicated in a low key way and it appears to have been little noticed.

4.5 Nevertheless, we think that in the interests of a curriculum that responds to the abilities, aspirations and needs of every child, her approach, which leaves more choice in the hands of parents, pupils and teachers than is possible with any mandatory requirement, has much to commend it. We believe, on the basis of the measures proposed in this Report, and with the concern of all the associations representing teachers and head teachers to see a recovery of languages, that a new approach to schools by the Secretary of State, stating the importance he attaches to languages, and setting a 50 to 90 per cent benchmark, backed by a strong programme of communication, has the potential for producing the required response.

4.6 We think that including data about languages in the Tables will focus schoolsí attention on languages both in terms of the choices that pupils make and how well they succeed. After appropriate piloting we recommend two performance indicators: one measuring attainment at GCSE level and one measuring participation and attainment at more modest levels so that this is captured and valued as well. But we see this as information for parents, not as a basis for comparison between schools, and to supplement the information for parents in the School Profile.

4.7 Ofsted school inspections are only at intervals of 3 years and are ëlight touchí. The inspector is concerned with the overall performance ofthe school, not specifically with languages. However, we understand the HMCI, Christine Gilbert, has already committed to adding a judgement to inspection reports on the extent to which schools are setting challenging targets from this September. We would expect that in the context of a letter to schools from the Secretary of State and the changes that are being made to the self evaluation form to prompt schools about their languages provision, this will encourage healthy dialogue between the influential inspectors and head teachers.

4.8 In addition to general school inspections, Ofsted also carry out three yearly subject surveys which look in depth at the quality of teaching and learning in specific subjects and other related issues. Given the fragile state of languages take up at the moment, we recommend that the languages subject survey is expanded to cover more schools and that an interim report is made available to the Secretary of State mid cycle to monitor the impact of the measures that we are proposing.

4.9 School Improvement Partners have a key role. One of the urgent measures that we took following our consultation report was to speak to School Improvement Partner (SIP) managers to encourage SIPs to raise the issue of languages with head teachers. We appreciated being given such a generous hearing. We think this needs to be a continuing function of the SIPs. Therefore we recommend that the take up of languages at Key Stage 4 is added to the list of specific issues that they must discuss with schools. To target effort the Department should provide details of schools where language take up appears relatively low or in rapid decline. In these circumstances, schools and their School Improvement Partners will need support to decide how best to get back on track and we would encourage the Department to give urgent attention to setting out options and guidance for School Improvement Partners to use. The role we envisage for the School Improvement Partners is thus one of identifying problems, and identifying means to progress as well as one of challenge.

4.10 In recommending that schools are set benchmarks of between 50 and 90 per cent for the continuing study of languages, we recognise that the scale of the recession is such that the achievement of these figures for many schools will take time, and that the changes we have recommended for the opportunities for learning a language, and changes in the GCSE examination, with appropriate new curricula, will not be fully in place until September 2009. We think it realistic to recognise that schools would be committing themselves to a programme of progressive action which may not be fully realised until September 2010. We believe that in very many cases, schools will be able to make quicker headway, but it is realistic to recognise that for some schools where languages have fallen to a very low level, it will take such time to provide the kind of learning experience that pupils need.

4.11 In the communication to schools which we propose, it would be helpful in recognition of our emphasis on offering a range of learning opportunities, to make clear that the continued study of languages in Key Stage 4 may lead to an acceptable range of outcomes recognised by the GCSE, the Languages Ladder and otherlanguages qualifications.

4.12 We have considered whether the Secretary of Stateís call on schools to set these benchmarks, should be supported by a statutory direction. We have verified from consultation with the Department that this course of action is open to the Secretary of State. But there was such strong opposition from the two head teachers associations to a directive that we think that in the interest of having the goodwill of head teachers, it is probably better on balance to proceed as above. The first opportunity to assess whether there has been a positive response will be in September 2008. At that time, the curriculum choices made by pupils early in 2008, will become apparent. But our reforms will taketime to work through and it would be unrealistic to expect any substantial change in decisions being taken as early as February next year. A better means of judging the response of schools to the proposed benchmarking could be obtained from a report by the Chief Inspector in the Autumn of 2008 since this would take into account the plans and measures schools were taking to achieve their benchmark.

A Return to a Mandatory Requirement

4.13 A return to a mandatory requirement at this stage was only supported by one of the six teacher and head teachers associations, but if a recovery of languages cannot be achieved by the approach we propose, we would see a return to a modified mandatory curriculum as being the necessary consequence.

4.14 In our consultation report we outline the substance of such a requirement. It would not apply to pupils who were only at level four in English and mathematics (the level expected of an average 11 year old) although they would maintain an entitlement to languages study. Nor, recognising the crucial importance of motivating many more of our young people to succeed in their learning to age sixteen and beyond, would we think it right at Key Stage 4 to require more than the equivalent of the curriculum time needed for a short course GCSE. This would imply a much slimmer statutory programme of study than that which existed prior to 2004. This is directly relevant to the potential success of the new specialised diplomas, where the time for Additional and Specialised Learning at level 2 is only 180 guided learning hours.

4.15 While the mandatory requirement would be limited as outlined above, we would expect a substantial majority of pupils to be following a full programme of language study leading to a full GCSE or the equivalent and the Government to make that clear in its guidance to schools.

In conclusion

4.16 When the Government decided in 2003 that Languages and Design & Technology should no longer be compulsory in Key Stage 4, it fully expected a reduction in take up. But this decision was balanced by the introduction of languages into primary schools, when it is widely agreed that children take readily to them. While the introduction of languages into primary schools has gone very well, and we have been encouraged by that to recommend they become a mandatory part of the Key Stage 2 curriculum, the fall in the study of languages at Key Stage 4 has gone further than the Government might have expected or wished.

4.17 Even when full weight is given to the Governmentís concern in 2003 to motivate many more of our young people, and especially those who come from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds, to succeed in education, to their own and the national good, it is clear that action is required to recover the situation.

4.18 An effective response lies in a revitalised learning experience, which through providing different routes to learning, will be more meaningful and motivating than at present to the whole range of young people. As part of a successful policy, language teachers need better support. Inevitably the experience of the last five years has been very disappointing to them and has severely affected their careers. Our proposals therefore include investment in teachers and teaching, and recognition of their achievement.

4.19 This action in schools needs to be supported by a continuing programme to get across to the whole country ñ parents, employers and pupils ñ that languages matter.

4.20 We have consulted extensively over the last 4 months. One of the points that has repeatedly been made to us, is that a quick fix is not th answer: a simple return to a mandatory requirement will not motivate those who currently find languages both difficult and lacking cognitive interest, and schools committed to finding ways of motivating all their pupils to be successful learners, would not respond with commitment to a simple statutory enforcement.

4.21 Nevertheless, with the many pressures on head teachers, a supporting framework will be need for such action with the need to maintain the goodwill and commitment of head teachers, who feel themselves needing to respond continually to the developing needs of society and adapting to them.

4.22 We believe that this Report offers a balanced way forward with the prospect that from 2010 all our young people will have 7 years of required study of languages, the majority of whom, in the light of that experience, and the range of learning experiences in languages offered in Key Stage 4, will be continuing to age 16 with increasing numbers doing so beyond this. We underline the word beyond, because we need more of our young people to be continuing languages through to level 3 and on to University. With the changes we have proposed, we believe that this is a realistic aspiration.

Solutions in the Schools

1 It became increasingly clear during the course of the review that a major objective of teaching in Key Stage 4 must be to engage pupils with ìthe meanings that matterî to them. It also became evident that much good practice already exists in our schools and that what needs to be done therefore is not so much to invent new approaches to language learning and teaching but to provide opportunities for teachers to share good practice, to learn from what works, to adapt it and make it their own.

2 This view was confirmed by our discussions around the Interim Report, by the further contributions of practitioners and in particular by the arguments of a number of experts in the field of languages pedagogy to whom we are very grateful. In this Appendix we set out some of the issues which we believe will need to be addressed if our aspirations for a more widespread and successful pedagogy are to be realised. Is there a ìright wayî of teaching?

3 The best way of teaching a language has been debated for decades and the debate continues. Teaching has become more demanding in terms of the need to win the engagement of the pupil than in previous generations, when greater reliance could be placed on a pupilís duty to listen and learn. This poses a particular challenge to teachers whose subject requires hard learning, and languages is one of these. As Professor Eric Hawkins once famously said teaching a language is like gardening in a galeÖ

4. While the debate will doubtless continue, there is widely held consensus about language teaching, with which we concur, which claims that successful language learning takes place when ñ a Learners are exposed to rich input of the target language b They have many opportunities to interact through the language c They are motivated to learn. In addition we agree with the view that was put to us that learners need to understand both what and how they are learning if they are to have long-term success. We need to ìcapitalise on language learnersí relative cognitive maturityî6 which means that they are able to understand and talk about how language works and to benefit from feedback on their performance.

5 According to a number of commentators, one of the problems that has bedevilled language teaching methodology has been the perennial pendulum swing between creativity, rote learning and understanding. In fact successful language learning is likely to include all three as part of the process of exposure to and interaction with the new language. These principles and understandings can be incorporated into a wide range of practical applications depending on the interests, aspirations and learning styles of individual pupils, as well as the experience, personality and goals of particular teachers.

6 We have also understood that there are particular challenges facing the language teacher in her or his task. Learning a second language is concerned with forms as much as with meanings. Much of the meaning, in particular for beginners, is already known and this affects both the process of learning and pupilsí motivations. In addition oracy skills are far more important for language learning than for other areas of the curriculum. Listening and speaking have equal weight with written skills in assessment schemes and the aural/oral mode is most common in classroom interaction. Teachers also face a particular challenge because of the perception that the model of performance should be the native speaker, whose mastery of the language no non-native teacher (let alone learner) is likely to equal.

7 Finally the rest of the curriculum is not neutral to the acquisition of foreign language competence. It is known that the internalisation of a second language takes time and in a school (or any institutional) framework, that learning is surrounded by a ìgaleî of English. This is why the issue of learner motivation is so important for successful learning.

8 As a contribution to thinking in schools on teaching languages we now give some examples of existing practice of schools that have been notably successful. In referring to them we recognise that there will be others that are equally good, and we do make a key recommendation in the Report on the need for language teachers to have increased opportunities for professional development in which looking at successful practice will be a valuable element. It is our hope that this very short incursion into matters of pedagogy and these examples of existing good practice will provide a basis for further development and reflection on successful language teaching and learning. The curriculum and ìmeanings that matterî

9 A central element in our understanding of the reasons for the fall-off in languages take-up post 14 has been the issue of engagement (or pupil motivation). In UK conditions we can not rely solely or perhaps even primarily on the instrumental motivation which says that a foreign language is economically and culturally indispensable (as is the case with English in other countries). Although we should, and do, make the case for more vocationally orientated courses, if all or most pupils are to continue with the often-demanding task of learning a language, the subject matter must really engage them here and now. The examination syllabuses have been criticised because the topics chosen do not engage the interests of teenagers. We have responded to that elsewhere, but the form of teaching adopted can make a difference, and we have found excellent examples of that. We have not found only one way of achieving this end. In some cases it appears to be a matter of making better use of the immediate surroundings of the classroom. The conventional suspension of disbelief involving an unreal journey to ìMFL Landî is dispensed with and replaced with the game, the intrinsic enjoyment of competition (in particular with the teacher), and an approach to language which enables pupils to say what they want to say. This can also be developed to offer access ñ even at a fairly basic level ñ to real meanings, and real cultural experiences.

Creative use of the target language ñ Cheam High School Languages staff at Cheam High School in Sutton are committed to ensuring that all pupils enjoy a stimulating and rewarding language learning experience throughout Key Stages 3 and 4. There is a huge emphasis on consistent use of the target language by both teachers and pupils. Schemes of work and lesson plans are carefully constructed in order to address the whole range of learning styles and to allow pupils to achieve at the highest level possible. Visual and kinaesthetic activities provide excellent support for all learners but teachers expect the very highest standards of their pupils in all four skills. Drama, music and authentic materials are prevalent in lessons. And yet the department does not see any of this as being incompatible with high achievement at GCSE and preparing pupils to use their languages at home and abroad, now and in the future. Pupils are encouraged to say what they want to say in the target language, to use the language for real purposes and to express feelings and emotions in the target language. ThE department produces schemes of work that will allow learners to engage emotionally and conceptually with the vocabulary and structures of the language that they are learning. A year 9 module of work for example is based on the film ìAu revoir les enfantsî and pupils are able to talk with confidence and passion about the experiences of young people living under the fear of Nazism during the second world war in France.

10 In a number of schools we have also seen pupils engaging with language itself ñ showing interest in decoding meaning ñ almost for its own sake. Some elements of the primary literacy framework (and increasingly the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages) will encourage such approaches, as can the Key Stage 3 Framework and Strategy. Some schools have found very successful ways of encouraging such engagement almost entirely in the target language. In other cases, for example in a Blackburn Grammar School, a deliberate attempt is made to use cognates and to operate bilingually in the classroom with considerable success and motivated learners.

11 Another characteristic of such engagement can be the links which are made to ìreal lifeî whether the immediate world of the teenager (making friends with others) or the more adult world of future work. One such example is the video-based, ICT resource entitled ìSpanish Flirtî, a learning soap opera about English and South American teenagers. Others involve more ìvocationalî approaches.

Vocational International Project (VIPs) ñ Sheffield The Vocational International Project was developed by Sheffield Local Authority following a fall in the number of students studying languages in Key Stage 4 and a belief that a business language course or course with a vocational content would motivate students and benefit them in their future careers. VIPs provides as an alternative qualification pathway, based on the NVQ model, along which students continue their study of languages in Key Stage 4. VIPs promotes a vocational approach to European languages, teaching them in a business context. Students engage in active learning activities, with a strong focus on the spoken word and independent learning with ICT. There are also opportunities to visit local companies to meet employees using languages in their jobs, illustrating that a little language can make a big difference. Students appreciate the usefulness of the course for their future employment opportunities, both in terms of content and skills learnt. Over 1,000 Key Stage 4 students have been involved over three years, meaning greater numbers opting to continue language learning post-14. Students achieve NVQ level 1 and/or 2.

12 Many schools and networks have developed languages courses linked to the demands of employability. As well as the ìVIPsî project, the Black Country 14-19 pathfinder has majored on such ìvocationalî approaches. This is also a theme being developed in the South West through a series of seminars bringing together teachers and local businesses and entitled ìMaking Languages our Businessî.

13 We have also seen inspiring examples of language being used as a vehicle to access real meaning across the curriculum and beyond. This might involve using language to organise an international football tournament as part of a schoolís aim to establish the importance of the international dimension and respect for other languages and cultures both in the school and within the local community. (Ashlyns SLC in Hertfordshire). In other schools links have been made between languages and the performing arts, often involving pupil mentoring of younger pupils including those in local primary schools.

Languages and Drama at Notre Dame SLC Norwich This lively project, which integrates language and drama, brings German to life through pantomime and provides creative preparation for AS level German while encouraging others to learn the language. The performance of Aschenputtel (ëCinderellaí) requires the students to do more than learn their lines. They write and learn the script, organise costumes and props, sound and lighting; moreover, all rehearsals take place in German. In keeping with tradition, the panto, which has been performed for over 500 learners of all ages, allows the audience to interact with the characters on the stage. Students from Notre Dame and neighbouring schools are more motivated to learn German as a result of the project, which has attracted attention from the University of East Angliaís international visitors. The resources are available to other schools interested in adopting the project via the website.

14 Such cross-curricular work is further developed by those schools that are able to link subjects in the curriculum through ìContent and Language Integrated Learningî (CLIL).

CLIL at Tile Hill Wood SchooL Tile Hill Wood is an 11-18 all girls comprehensive school in Coventry, West Midlands with over 1,300 students on roll. This CLIL (content and language integrated learning) project sees Year 7 pupils learning Geography, RE and PSHE through the medium of French with lessons delivered jointly by language and subject teachers. Pupil attainment in French has risen significantly with achievement in the other subject at least as good as the non-bilingual groups. The immersion method is hugely popular ñ 93 per cent of pupils have opted to continue with such learning in Year 8.

15 Many of these innovative and engaging approaches to language learning are effective with all children. Although not exclusive to Specialist Language Colleges, it is noteworthy that many such approaches do come from specialist schools. This is to be expected, but it also raises a challenge in relation to dissemination, resourcing and teacher training. New approaches to assessment

16 Notwithstanding the criticisms of the current specification for the GCSE, these examples show that successful teaching is taking place at Key Stage 4. Credit must also be given to the Examination Boards for their contribution to the increase in language competence that has taken place of the last 15 years. An increasing number of schools are also using GCSE to fast track pupils as a basis for more advanced study or perhaps a new language in Year 10 or 11.

GCSE in Year 9 at Dereham Neatherd

Dereham Neatherd School is well know for its excellent fast-track GCSE results in Languages but as a Specialist Language College its aim is to raise achievement across the whole ability range for all its pupils ñ and at the same time meet its Language College targets. In order to do this the Head of Department broke the departmentís work down into five key areas ñ communal and classroom displays, pupil organisation, teacher organisation, teaching methodology and regular assessments in all four skills. Examples of this shared approach include:

all staff working from medium-term plans which have been written by the department with pupil achievement in mind and staff planning a unit of work, in advance of it being taught, from these plans;

common mark grids that allow for comprehensive tracking of pupil achievement;

departmental inset to ensure that teachers working in the same department have the same set of high expectations of pupils and are able to deliver effective language lessons;

getting pupils to think for themselves, mind-map their ideas and work out rules and patterns with a partner. This forms a huge part of the teaching methodology;

Fair and enjoyable assessments that encourage pupils to reflect upon their achievements in each skill area. GCSE results have reached 70 per cent A*ñC and the department is happy to be able to make a difference to their childrenís GCSE grades and also to their enjoyment of language learning and their perception of how learning a language can help them in many other ways.

17 We nevertheless think teaching will benefit from changes in the current specifications, so that teaching can take place within a framework that engages the interests of teenagers. It is also right to recognise that the GCSE is not appropriate for all learners. For some pupils more applied approaches or the portfolio approach of NVQ may be a better solution. Others may be better served by the Languages Ladder. Since 2005 increasing number of schools have also been registering to use the Language Ladder tests through Asset Languages. The range of applications has been wide, demonstrating the flexibility of this new system which can be used to assess progress at the end of Key Stage 3, on transition to Secondary from primary for partial competences in a new language in Key Stage 4, or following an intensive experience of language learning.

Getting away from lockstep approaches

18 We should not assume that language learning works best when offered in small doses over a long period, and only in a class of 30 with a teacher. The flexible curriculum of the future will need a range of approaches, and some of these may actually be conducive to better language learning, in particular when time is at a premium. Indeed many experts believe that more intensive approaches are more effective, and this is certainly a feature of adult learning of languages

Intensive and flexible ñ Junior CULP (Cambridge University Language Programme)

In July 2004, the Cambridge University Language Centre ran a one week intensive language course for 11 Year 9 students from Impington Village College, which incorporated face-to-face tuition and on-line work. As a result of the success of the pilot the Junior CULP project was established which provides a 120 hour, year long intensive language course for students from six local schools: Impington Village College and St Ivo, St Peterís School and Hinchinbrooke School in Huntingdon and Netherhall School and Comberton Village College in Cambridge. Students receive 70 per cent of their language tuition at the University Language Centre, in blocks of intensive language study. They participate in Saturday sessions as well as three week long sessions of tuition spread at intervals throughout the academic year.

The impact on students is very positive with many participants continuing their language studies into Key Stage 4.

Initially set up to enable reluctant learners to have the chance to learn a language in an innovative way combining excellen classroom teaching in groups of about 20 with cutting edge specially written elearning materials and methods which incorporate independent learning based upon the learnerís preferred styles of learning, the project soon attracted many other groups of learners in Key Stage 3, including the gifted and talented, the highly motivated and the average learner who is committed. Schools typically report that the euphoria of involvement washes off into language classes back at school.

Using new technology

19 Another key feature of CULP is the use of technology to support both flexibility and greater learner autonomy. Such access to learning through technology is now becoming far more widespread in language learning from primary through to advanced studies. Many language colleges, for example Monkseaton and Shireland are playing a leading role in the use of technology to support and monitor the curriculum, often in cooperation with the Open University or other HEIs.

20 As the example from Rotherham shows not only do such approaches increase independence they also directly affect pupil motivation as the project rather than the language becomes ìthe pointî.

21 As schools develop more and more links with schools abroad, the use of ICT also becomes a major support for communication between pupils (e-mail links), for joint curricular work (on line and video conferencing) and for the exchange of data. Much exciting joint curricular work has been going on, for example in Devon where St Peters School has used technology to underpin real exchanges between pupils. Such links and exchanges are supported by the British Council-administered Global Gateway website ñ www.globalgateway.org ñ or other portals such as E-Languages ñ www.elanguages.org or E-Twinning ñ www.etwinning.net . An example of this from East London is reported below. Languages beyond the classroom

22 It is also important that pupils see that languages exist beyond the classroom. This begins with the cultural and cross curricular work described above, but there are other examples of the outside world impacting on classroom learning.

23 Increasingly, universities are linking with and supporting schools. There are many examples of mentoring and support from Universities and their students. The Subject Centre for Languages Linguistics and Area Studies based at Southampton has published a report on such initiatives.

Aston University: Languages for Life Higher Education Outreach Programme for Schools Aston Universityís Languages for Life project was set up in 2001, initially to research attitudes to European language learning amongst young Asian women, and to identify why these potential students were under-represented on language courses. As a result of the findings from the research, Aston University used funds from its ìWidening Participationî budget to establish a programme of outreach visits to local schools. Undergraduates from the Schools of Languages and Social Sciences are recruited as ambassadors, and talk to pupils from Years 9 to 12 about their passion for languages and their reasons for making languages part of their university degree.

24 As well as universities, businesses can enrich the school curriculum through Education Business partnerships of various kinds. CILT has been coordinating a ìBusiness Language Championsî programme on behalf of the department and Goethe Institut has developed a Project Engage to bring the world of business into schools.

25 For many schools and communities languages are not ìforeignî. They are part of everyday experience. In addition to the increased facility for obtaining recognition for community languages, offered for example by the Languages Ladder/Asset, community languages can become part of a whole school experience which underlines the value of languages and the importance of intercultural understanding

Community languages at Woodbridge High (a non selective mixed comprehensive) Since 2000 the school has considerably expanded the provision of Community Languages classes in the school. 9 languages are taught including Urdu, Bengali, Panjabi, Turkish, Chinese, Arabic, Greek as well as Spanish and French. Community Languages teachers are recruited through the local press. As part of the schoolís promotion of internationalism the TAFAL (Teach a Friend a Language) project was set up aiming to raise the profile of home languages spoken by students. It was run as a competition in which native speakers teamed up with a friend who had no prior knowledge of the language and together they produced a short conversation which was presented to a judge The project encouraged the young people involved to consider the importance of each otherís home language

26 Languages are also intrinsic to the international dimension in schools, and the significant growth of links with schools abroad, supported by the British Council also offers a new dimension and purpose for language learning. By 2010 every school should have such a link. There can be little doubt of the benefits that such international collaboration can bring to our children and their learning. Indeed many have argued that this intercultural dimension is one of the main motivational drivers for language learning as well as a major rationale for languages in our schools.

A joint curricular project in, Hackney Year 11 GCSE French pupils from Our Ladyís Convent High School, in the London Borough of Hackney, joined with their French partner school, LycÈe Jean MacÈ in the eastern suburbs of Paris, to take part in a year-long Joint Curriculum Project entitled ìMan and Nature in a Rural and Urban Environmentî. In a bid to extend crosscurriculum opportunities at Our Ladyís, as well as increase the number of pupils opting for French at KS5, a working group of teachers from the Languages, Science, ICT and Geography departments came together to plan and oversee the various project activities.

Having introduced themselves to each other by e-mail and via video-conferencing in the target language, the pupils from both schools came together to take part in a joint field trip to the Jura mountains in France. The pupils worked in mixed teams to study at first hand some of the geographical features of the region, to explore aspects of local industry and how it had changed, and to consider environmental questions such as water resources, waste treatment and pollution in a rural setting.

In preparation for the return visit of the French group to London, both sets of pupils continued to correspond, particularly in order to design the itinerary for the visit. The focus was to be the regeneration of east London, the Thames barrier, and the changing role of the River Thames, themes which required a certain amount of selfreflection on the part of the UK pupils on the urban environment within which they live.

Building on what exists

27 Our investigations tell us that solutions to the challenges of motivation and engagement already exist in our schools (and beyond!). The challenge is to make them more widely available. This will require both dissemination and support for teachers. We are in this respect fortunate since many of the organisations and mechanisms which will enable us make relatively rapid progress already exist.

28 The Departmentís International Strategy calls for action to equip our children, young people and adults for life in a global society and work in a global economy. A key goal is that by 2010 every school in England is in partnership with a school/college elsewhere. The British Council provides support for schools to develop international partnerships and enables pupils and staff alike to engage positively with other cultures and languages. This includes support for Joint Curriculum Projects (grants are available to schools to work for 2-3 terms on a collaborative project with a partner school in one of the following countries: China, France, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Spain). Teachersí Professional Development (staff can apply to spend 1-2 weeks in a school in France, Germany, Portugal, Russia or Spain to explore a topic of personal and professional interest to them). Immersion Courses (groups of students can embark on 1-2 week intensive language courses in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese). Student Fellowships (students aged 16-18 can carry out an individual research project at a school in France, Spain or Germany. Students are assigned a mentor teacher in the school and are hosted by a family for two weeks.)

29 The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) has built up a support network for languages based on lead practitioners in the regions. They are described as ìinnovative and outstanding teachersî, who share their good practice with colleagues in other schools and contribute to Trust conferences and events. Their work includes building regional networks, authoring case studies, publications and resources, leading professional development workshops and supporting and mentoring. The Specialist Language Colleges themselves have been asked to support the National Languages Strategy and have received additional funding for this purpose. Although many of them are choosing to support local primary developments a number are addressing the issue of Key Stage 4.

If more Language Colleges were able to offer such support this would begin to make a real difference.

30 Finally CILT ñ the National Centre for Languages and its national network of Comenius Centres not only provides a unique support services for language professionals, it has also in the last year established a series of 14-19 Learning Networks across the country. With each one concentrating on a particular strand of curriculum innovation, the networks aim to work together to provide appropriate and relevant language study for all in the more flexible, responsive 14-19 curriculum. All types of establishment are involved ñ specialist language colleges, schools with other specialisms, sixth form colleges, FE colleges, HEIs, local authorities and business partners ñ with different sectors taking on the role of lead institution. Networks are designed to have local, regional and national impact, providing a coherent structure for future development of language provision.

31 In sum it is clear that for the development of a more coherent, relevant and engaging Key Stage 4 languages offer, many elements are already in place both in the practice of schools and universities and in the appropriate support organisations. The task then is one of building on what is good, focusing on effective implementation and providing the framework which will encourage positive progress

Language Learning in Anglophone Countries

Australia 1 Approximately 50 per cent of students take a language in Australian Schools. Regional Asian languages as well as French and German are the most popular.

2 Language learning is compulsory in 4 of 8 states in Australia. The age to which this applies varies from state to state. There is no entitlement in the other states.

3 The National Statement for Languages in Education in Australian Schools recently set out a plan to promote languages and emphasized their role in intercultural understanding.

New Zealand 4 Language learning is not compulsory in New Zealand at any level. Languages have been designated as a ìkey learning areaî in a new curriculum that is currently under consultation. Schools may be required to offer a language, but it is not expected that it will become compulsory for students to take a language. In years 7-8 (roughly KS3) approximately 57 per cent of students take a language. USA

5 There is a wide variety of language provision across the various states of the USA. MFL is not compulsory in any these and take-up ranges from 2-60 per cent. Some states require MFL for an honors diploma, but not for a standard diploma.

6 In 1997 31 per cent of primary schools offered a language and 86 per cent of secondary schools. In 2000 33.9% of students were enrolled in a language in US public secondary schools. Spanish is the dominant language by a considerable margin.

Ireland 7 MFL is not compulsory in Ireland, although Irish students learn English and Irish throughout the period of compulsory education. The majority of Irish students take at least one European language to Leaving Certificate level, partially because the National University of Ireland still requires Irish, English and a foreign language for matriculation.

8 Languages are a requirement for accreditation in both the Leaving Certificate Applied and Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme.

Scotland 9 There is no statutory requirement to include modern foreign languages (MFL) in the curriculum in Scotland. (The only aspect of the curriculum for which there is a statutory requirement is religious observance.) However, students are ìentitledî to 500 hours of MFL teaching between P6 and S4 (ages 10-16). How this is delivered is determined by education authorities in collaboration with their schools who are encouraged to develop their own innovative ways of meeting the entitlement. Almost all primary and all secondary schools offer at least one MFL as part of their curriculum

10 The entitlement applies to all learners at all levels. Approximately 80 per cent of Scottish students at S4 (age 16) took an MFL in session 2005/6. In the same session, over 90 per cent of pupils in the last two years of primary school (ages 10-11) were learning a foreign language. A number of primary schools introduce a earlier start to language learning, including in the nursery class in some cases.

11 Earlier this year, the Scottish Executive issued its Strategy for Scotlandís Languages for consultation.

Wales 12 Wales is a bilingual country, with 21 per cent of the population able to speak Welsh as well as English. The study of at least one modern foreign language is a mandatory element of the National Curriculum for all 11-14 year olds. Pupils are also taught English and Welsh throughout their compulsory education. There are opportunities for young people to continue with language learning beyond the age of 14 and currently 31 per cent of 14-16 year olds are following a course of study that includes a qualification in a modern foreign language.

13 The Welsh Assembly Government is currently supporting development work in primary schools with the aim of providing opportunities for schools to offer a modern foreign language for pupils in Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 7-11 years) on a non statutory basis.

14 The Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification, which is to be rolled out at Advanced and Intermediate levels from September 2009 and is being piloted at Foundation and Intermediate levels in 14-19 learning, includes a compulsory language module.

Northern Ireland 15 Modern Languages are part of the secondary curriculum and 11-14 year olds (Key Stage 3) have to study at least one European language. As with all other subjects (with the exception of developing skills, Learning for Life and Work, PE and RE) and in order to provide greater choice and flexibility, languages are not compulsory for pupils aged 14 and over (Key Stage 4 and post-

16). However, schools have to provide access to language courses and as a minimum, have to offer at least one of the official languages of the European Union.

16 Although languages are not part of thestatutory primary curriculum, there is some ad hoc provision in primary schools and some piloting of modern languages is underway. 40 Languages Review

Acknowledgements We are extremely grateful to all of you who contributed to the consultation. We list the wide range of organisations that sent in their views below. In addition, many hundreds of individuals gave their time to attend meetings, to respond to the on-line consultation and in many cases to present detailed arguments in writing. You are sadly too numerous to mention individually, but all of your ideas have been considered and many of them are reflected in the conclusions of our review. Thank you.

Organisations Airbus UK Arsenal Football Club Assessment & Qualifications Alliance (AQA) Association for Language Learning (ALL) Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL) Association of University Language Centres Association of University Professors and Heads of French Bath and NE Somerset Local Authority Bayer Birmingham Local Authority BMW Bolton Local Authority The British Academy British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) The British Council British Exporters Association (BEA) Cambridge Assessment Cambridge University Language Centre Canterbury Christ Church University Centre for Applied Language Research Chartered Institute of Linguists The National Centre for Languages (CILT) Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Degussa Ltd. Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) Deutsche Bahn Durham Local Authority Edexcel Engineering Council UK E-Skills Eurostar Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, Cambridge FEdS Consultancy Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) Footstep Productions Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) French Embassy Fujitsu Services GCHQ General Teaching Council German Academic Exchange Service The German Embassy The Goethe Institut GoSkills Government Skills Harcourt Education Her Majestyís Treasury (HMT) Hertfordshire County Council Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE) Hodder Education Hodder Murray Home Office HSBC Hull Local Authority Independent Schools Council Independent Schools Modern Languages Association (ISMLA) Institute of Directors (IOD) The Institute of Export (IOE) Invest in France Agency The Italian Institute Japan Airlines (JAL) Lambeth Local Authority Learning & Skills Council (LSC) Leicestershire & Leicester City Learning Partnership Local Government Association (LGA) London Borough of Tower Hamlets London Stock Exchange Luton Borough Council Ministry of Defence (MoD) National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) National Association of Language Advisors (NALA) National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) National Union of Teachers (NUT) Nelson Thornes Newham Local Authority NHS Employers NIACE The Nuffield Foundation OCR Ofsted The Open University Oxford University Press People 1st The Philological Society Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) Reuters SAP UK Scottish CILT Secondary National Strategy Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) SEMTA Sheffield Local Authority Skills for Health The Spanish Embassy Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) Staffordshire Local Authority Suffolk Local Authority Telefonica Foundation Training and Development Agency (TDA) UK Trade & Investment Universities UK