The Languages Company

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Before contacting us directly you might find that your question – or something like it– it has already been answered.

Primary Languages

The existing primary curriculum will remain in force until 2013-14 and this means that

•    The entitlement for all children in Key Stage 2 to learn a language remains in place
•    The Key Stage 2 Framework for languages is still available to be used as a national point of reference
•    OFSTED will continue to report on primary languages

From 2011 the earmarked funding to support primary languages was "mainstreamed" into the schools budget.

Longer term the position of primary languages will depend on the review of the national curriculum, but there is good reason to suppose that Ministers will favour the inclusion of languages in Key Stage 2 as this government statement makes clear. The Government's Expert Panel on the Curriculum also proposed in December 2011 that some form of primary languages should be compulsory.

Until March 2011, the relevant guidance was contained in the Standards Fund letter which read as follows –

‘To continue building on the good progress already made and to support the primary workforce, funding is once again being allocated to support primary language learning provision across authorities and schools during 2010-11.

It is expected that a very significant proportion of the total allocation for primary languages will be devolved directly to schools.  As a general rule…. we expect to see at least two-thirds of an authority’s allocation devolved to schools.  It will be for individual authorities, in consultation with schools, to decide how best to devolve this funding to ensure the building of capacity across the local area.  Schools can determine what they spend this money on, but it could be used to pay for in-service training for teachers and teaching assistants, purchase teaching resources and materials, and pay for the employment or shared employment of Foreign Language Assistants or other adults with language skills.  Any remaining funds can be retained centrally by the authority to enable coordination and mobilise sources of support at a local level. ’

2011/12

From April 2011 it was decided that most funding would be devolved to schools.

Many but not all existing general grants were incorporated in the dedicated schools grant

In relation to languages this means that the previous Specialist Schools grant became part of the DSG. As for the National Strategy grants, only the formula elements allocated to schools were included, consisting of Universal and Targeted elements, Leading Teachers, Every Child initiatives, Early Years Foundation Stage, and two-thirds of the Modern Foreign Languages allocation. The important point here is that at least part of the Languages allocation was notionally maintained. More details are available in the technical note on the DfE website.

 

The short answer is yes. The guidance which was sent out with the standards fund allocation states:

‘……research has shown that two of the key challenges are progression within the primary sector and transition from primary to secondary schools.  Many schools and authorities are already tackling these issues in a variety of ways.  You will want to take these into account in your planning and consider whether measures to address these are more effective if undertaken at school or authority level.’

 

Secondary – KS3

There is now a possibility of teaching an intensive KS3, more likely in 2 years than 1,  but this does not mean that the course  can be truncated.  The pupils still have to have the opportunity to reach the standards expected of a 3 year course – and this is likely to be challenging in a language, especially for those starting from scratch in Year 7.     In addition MFL is in any case statutory at KS3, and the school would be in breach of its statutory duty if it did not teach languages to all pupils in Y8 and 9, unless they were exempted through a statement of SEN or there has been some kind of exemption for the purposes of experimentation.  

Disapplication from parts of the national curriculum is permitted, but this is not intended to allow blanket disapplication from a particular subject.  The latest position is contained in Sections 90-93 of the Education Act 2002 and can be summarised as follows:

Disapplication is permitted, for individual pupils:

 

• through a statement of special educational needs, under section 92 of the of the Education Act 2002;
• for a temporary period, through regulations under section 93 of the Act;

and, for groups of pupils or the school community, for a specified period:

• to enable curriculum development or experimentation, under section 90 of the Act.

The Secretary of State's specific approval to disapply is only necessary for applications under section 90 - curriculum development work and experiments. In all other cases the head teacher of the school takes the action, informing the local authority, governing body and parents as appropriate. All or part of the curriculum may be disapplied, but schools should ensure pupils' access to a broad and balanced curriculum or learning programme, including as much of the National Curriculum as possible.  Only National Curriculum programmes of study and assessment arrangements may be disapplied.  Disapplication may not be extended to other statutory requirements, such as issues around approved qualifications, religious education, sex education, careers education and collective worship.  Therefore, a whole school's pupils cannot be given a blanket disapplication for the purpose of SEN.  The individual pupils' SEN statements would have to reflect this.

More detailed information is available in the DCSF Guidance on Disapplication

 

Secondary KS4

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was proposed by Michael Gove in September 2010 in a speech where he stated that pupils who study a range of GCSE subjects including a language would be given special recognition in the form of an English Baccalaureate. He said 'I'm proposing that the Government look at how many young people in each secondary school secure five good GCSEs including: English, Maths, a Science, a Modern or Ancient language and a humanity like History or Geography, Art or Music.'’

He went on to stress the government's commitment to language learning, saying 'I am deeply concerned that fewer and fewer students are studying languages, it not only breeds insularity, it means an integral part of the brain's learning capacity rusts unused.'

The EBacc was then introduced as a performance measure in the 2010 performance tables. It is not a qualification in itself. The measure recognises where pupils have secured a C grade or better across a core of academic subjects – English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language. The initial suggestion was modified however so that the humanity GCSE can only be History or Geography, It was also made clear that only specified GCSEs would "count" and that this did not include Applied GGSEs or Asset Languages for example.

A survey of almost 700 maintained secondary schools carried out in August 2011 by the National Centre for Social Research, for DfE, showed a big increase in the number of pupils taking EBacc subjects . From September 2011, 52 per cent of the cohort was studying a language, compared with 43% in 2010/11 – an increase of 22%.

Ministers have confirmed that these subjects will also be used for the 2011 measure, and we expect this to also be the case until the first changes to the National Curriculum are introduced in 2013. For more information click here.

The government is committed to increasing the number studying languages. As Michael Gove said in letter to Headteachers in September 2010, 'I want to step up the number of students studying sciences and languages, and encourage a deeper knowledge of our history. I think that special recognition for those pupils who secure passes in a balanced range of rigorous qualifications, and for their schools, could strengthen the culture of learning in this country.'  

The question of the KS4 curriculum has been considered as part of the ongoing Curriculum review. In December 2011 the Expert Panel set out its views in a Framework for the National Curriculum, which proposes that languages should be re-introduced as statutory in KS4, As yet the nature of that curriculum has not been decided.

Note. This answer is being superceded by current curricular developments (curriculum review, Ebacc). Until the curriculum is formally changed (2014) however, existing regulations emain in force.

Since 2004 schools have had to provide the opportunity for students in KS4 to take a course in all four entitlement areas, including languages. QCA guidance on this stated that "schools must provide access to a minimum of one course in a modern foreign language that leads to a qualification under section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000". It is for schools to timetable option blocks in such a way that pupils have a genuine choice, though of course it's up to them how they achieve this. Schools must provide the opportunity for students to take a course in all four entitlement areas, including languages, should they wish to do so. This was underscored in the letter sent by Jacqui Smith to all Head Teachers in 2006.

This covers the legal and administrative aspects. Of course there is a perhaps more important issue which is about the importance of languages for all pupils and the opportunities which the new curriculum and many of the most recent curricular and assessment developments are providing. There are many sources of argument in this area, among them materials produced by CILT and the Subject Centre in Languages Linguistics and Area Studies. The languages Review also provided much of the argument for languages and proposes how we might best take things forward.

From 2009 Schools (other than specialist Language Colleges) were asked to audit their current provision and take-up for languages post-14 and record in the SEF how they plan to increase take-up in the future to ensure that at least 50% of the cohort are following a language course in key stage 4 leading to an appropriate qualification. This process was never clearly carried through and was abandoned in 2011.
 

FOREIGN EXCHANGES

The new regulations come into force this autumn and they have caused some concern among teachers who organise the very valuable exchange visits which we strongly encourage. The new rules are probably not as stringent as some people have believed: there will for example be no cost involved as exchanges are a voluntary activity and they will also be phased in and so may not apply to your current exchanges until 2010. Here is the guidance from the DCSF.

You might also contact the British Council with their long experience of exchanges

Of course most schools do in any case vet the suitability of families, and most parents understand amd expect this. Even so we would be interested to hear of how these new regulations work in practice and whether any further clarification might be needed.