Advocacy
SPEAK TO THE FUTURE – THE CAMPAIGN FOR LANGUAGES
2011 – present
“Speak to the Future – the Campaign for Languages in the UK”
The Languages Company is co-founder and a principal supporter of Speak to the Future – the Campaign for Languages in the UK.
Speak to the Future is a collaboration between all the major language organisations in the UK to make the case for languages. It was initially funded by the British Academy and supported by several other organisations.
At its heart, the Campaign had five objectives:
- Every language valued as an asset
- A coherent experience of languages for all children in primary schools
- A basic working knowledge of at least two languages including English for every child leaving secondary school
- Every graduate qualified in a second language
- An increase in the number of highly qualified linguists
For each objective, the Campaign formed a working group of leading experts in the field seeking to influence policy and decision makers. For example, the primary working group submitted evidence to the national curriculum review and this contributed to the inclusion of languages as a statutory part of the new KS2 curriculum.
Speak to the Future engaged in several high-profile initiatives to garner support from the general public. For example:
- The 1000 Words campaign aimed to inspire people to try learning a language, perhaps for the first time, and dispel common misconceptions about how difficult language learning is.
- Write to your MP aimed to gather responses from all MPs in support of languages before the last election.
- Promote your project gives a platform for language initiatives and projects from around the country to list their projects and events.
Speak to the Future has made a major contribution to the Language Show in London for the past three years, running a high-profile Symposium with high profile speakers and policymakers alongside the main exhibition.
