LANGUAGES

Languages education is no longer just about French and German, with many schools branching out and tackling tongues such as Mandarin. However, not many are contemplating Arabic. Assistant

headteacher Alison

Sykes explains why her school is

speaking community with a mosque and community centre. We therefore felt it was very important for our students to share each other’s language and culture. A knowledge and understanding of Arabic, the

A

language, and the different cultures of the Arabic speaking world is essential if we are to live and work together in peace in the 21st century. As a language college, we wanted our students to

experience a language with a different script and origin to those usually studied in British schools. And through our higher education links, we hope students who begin to study Arabic with us will later continue their studies at Exeter University. Arabic forms part of our year 7 Keys to Success

course which explores thinking skills and learning to learn. In learning Arabic, students are encouraged to look for patterns, both familiar and new, and to develop habits of mind useful to learning in general and learning a language in particular.

Union address: NAHT

It is time to take a stand

It’s election time and Mick

Brookes is

getting in first with a reality check on the true state of education

Now that the gloves are off we are sure to be treated to a feast of misinformed, misguided and mistaken rhetoric on the state of “Education UK”. For the politicians, in the world that for some has become so far removed from the world that real people live in, this is a win-win. If you are in opposition, you attack poor standards, poor discipline and poor attendance. If you are in power, you attack poor standards, poor discipline and poor attendance! All will beat their chests and bombastically

declare that they will “drive up standards”, declare “zero tolerance for poor behaviour” and “declare war on school truants”. A win-win for pontificating politicians, but yet

more kicks in the teeth for schools, particularly those working in the most challenged communities with hard-to-teach children and hard-to-reach parents. The other temptation for everyone when they get

older (I hear myself sometimes) is to hark back to a golden time when all things were well and all pigs were fed and ready to fly... The reality is that more young people gain

good qualifications than ever before in the nation’s history. Many more young people have discovered that a background of educational poverty need not necessarily be a barrier to their own ambition. There will always be more to do, but the achievements gained by young people through sheer hard work under the tutelage of gifted and resilient teachers should be celebrated, not attacked. The reality is that many schools are the only oasis

of structure and order and kindness that some young people will know. The battle that many schools have on

a daily basis to mend broken hearts, heads and futures is disgracefully under-reported and unsupported. The reality is that overall absence rates have

dropped and part of the reason is that schools have become less tolerant about authorising absence for spurious reasons, particularly taking holidays in term time. (Frustratingly “unauthorised” absence is misinterpreted by the press and others to mean truancy.) The reality is that there was no golden age

except for the privileged. Adult literacy classes were designed for the majority of young people that left school without basic skills. So yes, we do need to try to put education

into politics, but we also need to take politics out of education, or at least to find the right balance between governance and practice. In an important letter to the Guardian in March,

Professor Michael Bassey argues, along with 13 other professors, “we urge that schooling should be depoliticised. What happens in the classroom should no longer be micromanaged by government – irrespective of who wins the election, political intervention in schools is now counteractive and damaging the all-round education of our young people”. The Children Schools and Families Select

Committee issued this headline: “End the coercion and let schools get on with the job.” So there is some hope that politicians (the Select Committee has representatives from all three main parties) do understand what needs to be done. However, as Andy Hargreaves says in his book

What’s Worth Fighting for in Education, we cannot

afford to wait for the politicians, if we are to create positive change we must do it for ourselves. I believe that we have arrived at a unique point in

time. This is the moment for us all as a profession, together with governors and parents and professors, to stand up and say “enough is enough”, and we must be united to do that. This call must be above union differences, above phase rivalry and above politics. We have three weeks to make our voices heard – so who is up for it? I am.

• Mick Brookes is general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers. Visit www.naht.org.uk

S A specialist language college we have been keen to offer a world language appropriate for our city. Exeter has strong links with the Arabic speaking world through the university’s Arabic and Islamic Studies Centre and an Arabic

short space of time. But in the last two years we have seen a big change in the way the language is taught and the students’ response to it. Ms Mehdi, who completed her teacher training on the

Graduate Teacher Programme with us, has developed an interactive teaching and learning style similar to the rest of the modern foreign languages department. It uses phonics, lively websites and interactive games as well as more traditional speaking and listening activities. In addition, Ms Mehdi has used the school’s impact

Why Arabic?

Arabic is new for all students on entry, as most of our primary feeder schools offer French.

The challenges

One of the main challenges is finding sufficient curriculum time. Each year 7 class has three hours of Arabic for 10 weeks which enables them to reach breakthrough level in speaking. Arabic is offered in our community programme

after school and students (and their parents) can join these classes to continue their studies.

In key stage 4, Arabic is offered across the city as a

GCSE or a Language Ladder qualification through our Language College Community funding. This allows students who speak Arabic at home to gain accreditation and those who wish to pursue their interest from key stage 3 to continue at key stage 4. Arabic is taught by a native speaker, Ms Mehdi, who

has lived in Baghdad and Exeter and belongs to both communities and who includes cultural information in all lessons. Another big challenge is learning a new script in a

Taking the lead: HTI

What is education for?

Anne Evans

reports on what business really

wants to see from our students

WITH THE General Election looming and the threat of tightened belts all round, school leaders have plenty to think and speculate about. Through HTI’s Strategic Forum I get to hear

what education, business and government leaders are really thinking about some of the key challenges facing schools. The time seems right to share some of the prevalent themes that have exercised our members’ minds over the past few months. One challenge of significance to our battered

and bruised economy, as well as many employers, is how can we inspire more young people to take up STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. Although there are signs that more students are taking A levels in maths, physics and chemistry, we are nowhere near reaching the CBI target of doubling STEM graduates by 2014. And the country is not just crying out for STEM graduates, we need technicians to support them in a multitude of occupations. So what can be done? Although many students say that job prospects are

the motivating factor for studying STEM in higher education, the reality is that inspirational teachers are the biggest influence. So recruitment of inspirational teachers and investment in their CPD has to be a priority to instil excitement in pupils and change negative attitudes. Information and guidance from employers and higher education institutions also needs to improve, so that young people understand why selecting the “hard” options will make them more employable. Education has a vital role in preparing young

people for employment. One of the biggest challenges facing school leaders is how to break the aspiration and attainment deadlock in areas of deprivation.

Research in America identifies three main forms of educational gaps: attainment, poverty, and racial. Cracking just one of these would boost GDP by up to 10 per cent. The same applies to England. Teach First recruits frequently comment that the

young people they teach from deprived areas are brighter than their peers at university. But often, the major stumbling block is that aspirations have self and community-imposed limits. What do we need to do to adapt education and

training systems so that aspirational boundaries are dismantled? What skills do teachers need to engage bright young minds surrounded by generational unemployment? And how can information and guidance better make the connection between learning and routes to employment as well as higher education? Employability and preparation for higher education

are by no means the only goals for education. As Einstein once said, everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted. For many, the education “swingometer” has

swung too far in the direction of what can be counted is what matters. There are those who believe the standardisation that comes from centralised control has squeezed out innovation, enterprise, individuality and hope for the less academically inclined, distorted perceptions of what good education is, and eroded trust in school leaders and teachers. Character-building is a somewhat old-fashioned

notion, but nevertheless it is one of the nobler aspirations for education and the glue of a cohesive and positive society. For many schools, it means looking beyond the pupil and into family and community structures. Promoting social and emotional intelligence,

celebrating excellence and achievement in all its guises, and building local infrastructures to support community aspirations are essential. There are some clear messages and themes here.

With the possibility of change in the air, now is the time to reflect on that familiar old question: what is education for, and what do we need to do to deliver it?

a.evans@hti.org.uk

schools

opportunity to exchange cultures and daily lives.

days to give year 7 students a wider experience of Arabic festivals, clothing and food as well as an opportunity to develop ICT with Arabic. Students have produced web pages about an Arabic speaking country of their choice and recorded personal introductions with specific software. The use of technology, creativity and lively teaching to motivate students has resulted in challenges becoming strengths. Students are positive and spontaneous about their Arabic lessons. They speak the language with confidence and are also becoming competent readers. We are starting to establish effective links with in Baghdad, providing students with the information about

their

Sharing knowledge and experience with other schools offering Arabic has also been valuable. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust’s Arabic network is a useful resource and provides all involved in the teaching and learning of Arabic the opportunity to network and exchange ideas, successful practices.

information and

Finally, our Arabic teacher not only teaches the language but also has developed a module of study as part of the key stage 4 religious education course about prejudice and cultural understanding.

This is proving very successful for year 10 students who need to learn about and reflect on differences and

similarities backgrounds. Both the Arabic language teaching and cultural

understanding have been vital to our work as a specialist school. Equally, the languages specialism has enabled us to

widen our language offer and to develop international understanding.

SecEd

• Alison Sykes is assistant headteacher at St Peter’s CE Aided School in Exeter.

Further information

www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/Arabic

between people from different

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