News
Language policy & practice in the UK
Language policy & practice in the UK
The Languages Company is no longer listing current news items.
For up-to-date news on language policy & practice in the UK, go to:
• Association for Language Learning http://www.all-languages.org.uk/
• Speak to the Future, the Campaign for Languages: www.speaktothefuture.org
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages – Twitter account @APPGFML
For a record of recent news please see the Language Company News archive:
News archive from The Languages Company:
The 2014 A Level results were published in August. In a context where the recent “first results count” reforms have led to large numbers of students deferring entry for a year, the JCQ said about A Level language entries:
“Although French, German and Spanish all had fewer entries than last year (down 7.4, 0.1, and 0.6 per cent respectively), as a proportion of all UK entries there is stability. The proportion of candidates awarded A* in these modern foreign languages increased.”
Full results are available at http://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels and the JCQ’s press statements are available at http://www.jcq.org.uk/media-centre/news-releases
The Speak to the Future campaign has issued an analysis of the trends at A Level at http://www.speaktothefuture.org/what-is-happening-to-languages-at-a-level/
To access the Language Rich Europe website for information on multilingualism in Europe and the LRE Report go to:
http://www.language-rich.eu/home/welcome.html
The International Federation of Language Teacher Associations, who work closely with The Languages Company including as Association Partners on the LUCIDE project, will be holding their World Congress at Niagara Falls next year: 26-28 March 2015.
The Call for Papers is now open, and closes soon: 1 May 2014. Find out more at http://fiplv.com
A major publication on languages in the UK and Europe is published today by the Language Rich Europe Consortium,. Language Rich Europe is an EU funded project involving 20 European countries, and co-ordinated by the British Council. It seeks to record countries’ progress in supporting multilingualism and to engage leaders in government, educational institutions, public services, business and the media to help develop a more strategic approach to languages across society.
The English launch of this project takes place on 28th June at the London School of Economics. Over the course of the next 12 months, we will be holding a series of workshops to help shape recommendations and opinions with regard to supporting multilingualism in the UK.
For further details read our press release or contact Philip.harding.esch@languagescompany.com
To read more about Language Rich Europe please see the official website
The European Commission’s Erasmus programme of funding for cultural and work exchange between institutions and individuals has been relaunched with an increase of over 40% in its budget. It is called Erasmus+
Institutions & individuals can get funding for work, study or training abroad, and the money is available now.
Any individual or institution interested in study, training, work experience or volunteering abroad; or in organising a transnational partnership for their education, training or youth organisation, may be eligible for funding from Erasmus+.
Erasmus+ is the new EU programme for education, training, youth and sport. Funding has been increased by 40% and we encourage everyone in the UK who is eligible to apply.
The UK national agency for Erasmus+ is the British Council and they have a specially-developed web portal for anyone in the UK who is interested in accessing this funding. Interested parties should:
For information about Erasmus+ from the European Commission itself, visit http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm
A new campaign, called Speak to the Future, has been launched with the support of over 30 organisations. The campaign calls for urgent action on policy to safeguard and revitalise language learning across all phases of education in order to boost educational and career opportunities for young people and our ability to compete in the global economy. Campaigners have united to send a powerful public message highlighting the vital national importance of foreign language capacity in today’s global world.
Baroness Jean Coussins, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on modern languages, welcomed the campaign and said: ‘A national languages recovery programme is needed to improve the quality of our children’s education, their future employment prospects and the influence of the UK on the international stage. ‘
The campaign has five key aims, designed to create a coherent approach to language learning across all phases of education:
Further details are available from http://www.speaktothefuture.org/
Support for language learning, language teaching & information on languages policy.
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After 14 years we have regretfully decided to cut back our activities.
The website will remain live, but untended, until the end of 2022 should you wish to download some of the historic and we think useful documents it contains.
As well as the outcomes of projects such as LUCIDE and Positive Messengers there may be some interest in the reviews of the past, and our thinking on Pedagogy, in particular in the light of current developments.
We would have wished to withdraw on a high note, with many of the challenges of the last decades resolved. Sadly this is not the case.
It will, however, be for a new generation to take up the struggle for greater language capability and the dream of languages for all in a world of mutual respect.