Education Comment Language matters
Schools need to draw up a cohesive national strategy towards teaching languages, writes Paul Vanni
It all used to be so straightforward: start learning French at 11, perhaps earlier if you had been to the right kind of prep school. An O level or GCSE would follow at 16, or perhaps if you were bright enough at 15, after which AO, or Scottish Higher would stretch you for an additional year. Over the past 20 years, things have moved on from this somewhat unenlightened vision of language learning. Japanese and Russian have waxed and waned in popularity. Italian has maintained its small but loyal following while Spanish, which built up a head of steam from the mid to late 90s onwards, now seems to have had its own rise in part checked by the growth of Mandarin. When you throw into the mix all the possible public examination options, it’s clear that the choices that need to be made by schools, parents and children are indeed complex, and it is perhaps no surprise that the thinking process is not joined up. Since 2004, pupils have been allowed to drop all
modern languages at 14, and over the past seven years the number of teenagers taking a modern foreign language to GCSE has fallen by well over a third. Most independent schools require the study of at least one modern foreign language to GCSE, but the demoralising effect of national Government policy and the marginalisation of language learning have surely contributed to a general decline in language numbers pre and, importantly, post- 16. I was at the Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association meeting last year, when I overheard two heads of department from leading schools agreeing that in their respective schools, languages were hanging on “by their fingertips”. Tis is not uncommon. It is perhaps a response to this decline that many schools have revamped their provision of foreign languages over the past few years. What is lacking is a
unified national vision of the bigger picture. Too many schools are simply going it alone, sometimes in an attempt to stop languages from flat lining, sometimes as a way of carving out a niche for themselves. Parents who send their
children to a prep school that offers a language other than French as a first foreign language should think carefully about what comes next. It may well be that their first choice
14 FirstEleven Autumn 2011
“Spanish seems to have had its rise, in part, checked by the growth of Mandarin”
of secondary school is not in step with their son or daughter’s prep school, and the language studied to age 11 might not be on offer. Just because you can now sit Common Entrance in Spanish, it does not mean that every secondary school will necessarily have the right stream for a Common Entrance-level candidate with Spanish to slot into. Similarly with a language such as Mandarin, one
has to decide what the objective is in studying it at secondary, and even primary level. If what you want is a truly authentic sounding Mandarin speaker, then the sooner a child starts to learn it, the better. Te later one leaves it, the harder it gets for a learner to replicate Chinese sounds as their facial muscles and hard palate develop, becoming hard-wired for western sound patterns. If what you want is an excellent grounding in the language, the ability to converse fluently and an academic qualification that will stand up to real scrutiny in the workplace, then a three-to-five-year course leading to GCSE followed by A level or Pre-U Mandarin, both of which are now geared towards the non-native, could be for you. However, if what you want from the study of Mandarin at school is a springboard to a degree in the subject, then you may well be disappointed. Currently, university Mandarin courses are geared towards beginners or near beginners. So where do parents stand at a time when the primary,
secondary and tertiary sectors of education sometimes lack in joined-up thinking, and is there a case for schools to continue to plough their own furrow? Certainly we need more good linguists entering the job market. But equally, is there not a
case for excellent teaching in one language from primary level onwards? By ensuring that nationally we teach a common first foreign language to a high standard, it thereby facilitates the learning of second languages. In the absence of a clear
lead from central Government, independent schools have a moral obligation to drive forward the discussions between the primary and secondary, and the secondary and tertiary sectors.
Paul Vanni is the Deputy Head, Director of School at St Paul’s Girls’ School.
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk
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