Thursday 21 Feb 2008 @ 16:25
Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
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Community languages need more support, says Ofsted
Courses for people wanting to qualify as teachers of ”community” or ”heritage” languages such as Arabic, Bengali, Japanese, Mandarin, Panjabi, Turkish, and Urdu should be expanded, Ofsted has found.
Ofsted’s new report published today, Every language matters, evaluates the supply and uptake of the postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) courses in languages other than French, German and Spanish, Irish and Welsh.
The report found the quality of teaching by those who had a PGCE in community languages was consistently good. This contrasts with the more variable quality of teaching of community languages generally.
In addition, senior staff in schools say community language teachers with a PGCE qualification have better information technology skills, teaching methods, ability to assess pupils’ progress and manage behaviour more effectively than those without the qualification. Teachers who had gained a PGCE identified benefits including professional development, qualified teacher status and a bridge to a career.
However, inspectors found that the number of initial teacher training courses leading to a PGCE available in these languages was limited and the way courses were structured sometimes deterred applicants. Prospective teachers had little or no choice over the location where they studied for their qualification, which put them off applying, as did the requirement that potential trainees should also be able to teach a European language. Many courses also required full-time attendance, which made them impossible for full-time teachers to attend.
The report found that over half of the 134 teachers in the survey who were teaching community languages did not have qualified teacher status. Of those who did, half had gained their qualification in a subject other than languages.
This finding comes a time when the overall numbers of pupils taking languages at GCSE level are falling. This is despite the Government’s review of languages in 2006, chaired by Lord Dearing, who described community languages as a “national asset’’ and recommended widening the range of languages that schools could offer.
Miriam Rosen, Director of Education at Ofsted, said:
“We found that people want to have the opportunity to learn community languages, despite the barriers existing today. We also discovered that when community language teachers were given the opportunity to gain qualified teacher status, their teaching improved.”
The report therefore makes a number of recommendations designed to ensure that all community language teachers have the opportunity to get a PGCE qualification. It says community or heritage languages should also be given a higher status. A number of barriers unintentionally deterring people from applying for PGCE training should be removed.
Some training providers overcame the difficulties by developing individual programmes to suit trainees, including flexible course structures to allow trainees to study part-time over a longer period, the use of complementary schools to supplement teaching practice in schools, and arranging for trainees to teach English as an additional language on teaching practice.
The report calls for more investment in resources and materials in schools to help in the teaching of community languages. It suggests the Department for Children, Schools and Families should provide a wider range of national web-based resources for community languages. Ofsted also recommends that training institutions ensure they are better informed about which languages are taught in which schools – so they can identify schools they can work with to train languages teachers.
Ofsted recommends that the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) should ensure that all community language teachers have the opportunity to achieve qualified teacher status. Ofsted also recommends the TDA consider how PGCE language courses might offer a wider range of languages than French, German and Spanish, and how to accord them higher status.
Editors’ notes
1. For this survey, during the academic year 2006/07, inspectors visited eight providers of initial teacher training, interviewed current and former trainees and observed teaching in schools. Discussions were held with staff in 20 schools and colleges with high numbers of GCSE entries in community languages. The term “community languages” refers to areas where the majority of the learners have an affinity with a language through their ethnic background. They may not be able to speak or read it fluently. However, examination boards do not distinguish between modern foreign languages and community languages.
2. In addition to French, German, Irish, Spanish and Welsh, it is possible to study any one of 16 other languages at GCSE and A level: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Dutch, Gujarati, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Turkish and Urdu (Appendix 1 in the report). After French, German and Spanish, the most popular languages in terms of the number of GCSE entries are Urdu, Italian and Chinese (Appendix 2 in the report). However, in 2006/07, there were only 35 trainees nationally studying to teach Arabic, Bengali, Japanese, Mandarin, Panjabi, Turkish, or Urdu with one of five initial teacher training providers. No courses exist for training to teach Gujarati, although 1,025 pupils studied this at GCSE level in 2006. Only eight providers of initial teacher training offer PGCE courses in community languages and take up on such courses was low.
3. The Nuffield Languages inquiry (1998-2000) was set up to review the UK’s capabilities in languages and summarised that schools and colleges: “do not provide an adequate range of languages…we teach a narrowing range of languages at a time when we should be doing the opposite…” and recommended measures to attract more language teachers.
4. Senior staff in schools were positive about the impact of PGCE training on the quality of the teaching of their community languages teachers. However, just over one in five of these teachers had a PGCE and over half of the 134 teachers in the survey who were teaching community languages had a PGCE. Not all the languages teachers interviewed were convinced of the importance of training (especially if the language they taught was their first language).
5. Lord Dearing’s report is from Languages review (00212-2007/ISBN 978-1-84478-907-8), DfES, 2007.
6. From 1 April 2007 a new single inspectorate for children and learners came into being. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) has the responsibility for the inspection of adult learning and training – work formerly undertaken by the Adult Learning Inspectorate; the regulation and inspection of children's social care – work formerly undertaken by the Commission for Social Care Inspection; the inspection of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service – work formerly undertaken by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration; and the existing regulatory and inspection activities of Ofsted.
7. The report, Every language matters, is published on the Ofsted website, www.ofsted.gov.uk
Ofsted’s new report published today, Every language matters, evaluates the supply and uptake of the postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) courses in languages other than French, German and Spanish, Irish and Welsh.
The report found the quality of teaching by those who had a PGCE in community languages was consistently good. This contrasts with the more variable quality of teaching of community languages generally.
In addition, senior staff in schools say community language teachers with a PGCE qualification have better information technology skills, teaching methods, ability to assess pupils’ progress and manage behaviour more effectively than those without the qualification. Teachers who had gained a PGCE identified benefits including professional development, qualified teacher status and a bridge to a career.
However, inspectors found that the number of initial teacher training courses leading to a PGCE available in these languages was limited and the way courses were structured sometimes deterred applicants. Prospective teachers had little or no choice over the location where they studied for their qualification, which put them off applying, as did the requirement that potential trainees should also be able to teach a European language. Many courses also required full-time attendance, which made them impossible for full-time teachers to attend.
The report found that over half of the 134 teachers in the survey who were teaching community languages did not have qualified teacher status. Of those who did, half had gained their qualification in a subject other than languages.
This finding comes a time when the overall numbers of pupils taking languages at GCSE level are falling. This is despite the Government’s review of languages in 2006, chaired by Lord Dearing, who described community languages as a “national asset’’ and recommended widening the range of languages that schools could offer.
Miriam Rosen, Director of Education at Ofsted, said:
“We found that people want to have the opportunity to learn community languages, despite the barriers existing today. We also discovered that when community language teachers were given the opportunity to gain qualified teacher status, their teaching improved.”
The report therefore makes a number of recommendations designed to ensure that all community language teachers have the opportunity to get a PGCE qualification. It says community or heritage languages should also be given a higher status. A number of barriers unintentionally deterring people from applying for PGCE training should be removed.
Some training providers overcame the difficulties by developing individual programmes to suit trainees, including flexible course structures to allow trainees to study part-time over a longer period, the use of complementary schools to supplement teaching practice in schools, and arranging for trainees to teach English as an additional language on teaching practice.
The report calls for more investment in resources and materials in schools to help in the teaching of community languages. It suggests the Department for Children, Schools and Families should provide a wider range of national web-based resources for community languages. Ofsted also recommends that training institutions ensure they are better informed about which languages are taught in which schools – so they can identify schools they can work with to train languages teachers.
Ofsted recommends that the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) should ensure that all community language teachers have the opportunity to achieve qualified teacher status. Ofsted also recommends the TDA consider how PGCE language courses might offer a wider range of languages than French, German and Spanish, and how to accord them higher status.
Editors’ notes
1. For this survey, during the academic year 2006/07, inspectors visited eight providers of initial teacher training, interviewed current and former trainees and observed teaching in schools. Discussions were held with staff in 20 schools and colleges with high numbers of GCSE entries in community languages. The term “community languages” refers to areas where the majority of the learners have an affinity with a language through their ethnic background. They may not be able to speak or read it fluently. However, examination boards do not distinguish between modern foreign languages and community languages.
2. In addition to French, German, Irish, Spanish and Welsh, it is possible to study any one of 16 other languages at GCSE and A level: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Dutch, Gujarati, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Turkish and Urdu (Appendix 1 in the report). After French, German and Spanish, the most popular languages in terms of the number of GCSE entries are Urdu, Italian and Chinese (Appendix 2 in the report). However, in 2006/07, there were only 35 trainees nationally studying to teach Arabic, Bengali, Japanese, Mandarin, Panjabi, Turkish, or Urdu with one of five initial teacher training providers. No courses exist for training to teach Gujarati, although 1,025 pupils studied this at GCSE level in 2006. Only eight providers of initial teacher training offer PGCE courses in community languages and take up on such courses was low.
3. The Nuffield Languages inquiry (1998-2000) was set up to review the UK’s capabilities in languages and summarised that schools and colleges: “do not provide an adequate range of languages…we teach a narrowing range of languages at a time when we should be doing the opposite…” and recommended measures to attract more language teachers.
4. Senior staff in schools were positive about the impact of PGCE training on the quality of the teaching of their community languages teachers. However, just over one in five of these teachers had a PGCE and over half of the 134 teachers in the survey who were teaching community languages had a PGCE. Not all the languages teachers interviewed were convinced of the importance of training (especially if the language they taught was their first language).
5. Lord Dearing’s report is from Languages review (00212-2007/ISBN 978-1-84478-907-8), DfES, 2007.
6. From 1 April 2007 a new single inspectorate for children and learners came into being. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) has the responsibility for the inspection of adult learning and training – work formerly undertaken by the Adult Learning Inspectorate; the regulation and inspection of children's social care – work formerly undertaken by the Commission for Social Care Inspection; the inspection of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service – work formerly undertaken by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration; and the existing regulatory and inspection activities of Ofsted.
7. The report, Every language matters, is published on the Ofsted website, www.ofsted.gov.uk
