The Languages Company

The Wolf report on Vocational Education was published on March 3, 2011. It considers how vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds can be improved in order to promote successful progression into the labour market and into higher level education and training routes.

Key recommendations in the report include:

• incentivising young people to take the most valuable vocational qualifications pre-16, while removing incentives to take large numbers of vocational qualifications to the detriment of core academic study
• introducing principles to guide study programmes for young people on vocational routes post-16 to ensure they are gaining skills which will lead to progression into a variety of jobs or further learning, in particular, to ensure that those who have not secured a good pass in English and mathematics GCSE continue to study those subjects
• evaluating the delivery structure and content of apprenticeships to ensure they deliver the right skills for the workplace
• making sure the regulatory framework moves quickly away from accrediting individual qualifications to regulating awarding organisations
• removing the requirement that all qualifications offered to 14- to 19-year-olds fit within the Qualifications and Credit Framework, which has had a detrimental effect on their appropriateness and has left gaps in the market
• enabling FE lecturers and professionals to teach in schools, ensuring young people are being taught by those best suited.

The full report is available here
http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-00031-2011

The Commons Select Committee on Education has announced an inquiry and call for evidence into the English Baccalaureate. The Committee has asked for written submissions by noon on Tuesday 8 March 2011 on the following areas:

• the purpose and benefits of the E-Bac and its value as a measure of pupil and school performance;
• the choice of subjects included in the E-Bac;
• the implications of the E-Bac for pupils, schools and employers;
• international comparators for the E-Bac.

These should be:

• be no more than 3,000 words;
• have numbered paragraphs; and
• (if in electronic form) be in Word format or a rich text format with as little use of colour or logos as possible.

Submissions should be sent:

- by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and marked "E-Bac inquiry", or
- by post to: Kathryn Smith, Committee Assistant

Education Select Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London
SW1P 3JA

More information here

The Secretary of State for Education has announced the Government's intention to carry out a review of the National Curriculum for 5-16 year olds in England. He has also announced the appointment of an Advisory Committee to guide the review and an Expert Panel which will "bring together the evidence base". A call for Evidence was launched on the same day. The general position of the Government is that the purpose of the National Curriculum is to establish what children should be taught in key subjects and that this is best defined in terms of "subject knowledge" (rather than skills for example). The Government also wishes to reduce the amount of prescribed content in the Curriculum.

The review will take place over 2 years and will be fully implemented from September 2014 . The detailed timetable is available here. The first stage of the review will be a Consultation ("Call for Evidence") lasting from 20 January until 14 April this year . It has already been decided that English, Mathematics, Science and Physical Education will remain subjects within the National Curriculum at all four key stages, and in the initial consultation views will be solicited on the content of the Programmes of Study for those subjects.

For all other subjects that are currently part of the National Curriculum, including Languages, the review will first consider whether or not they should remain National Curriculum subjects and if so at which key stages. It will also be an option to make a subject compulsory but not part of the National Curriculum. This would mean that schools would have to teach the subject but there would be no statutory Programme of Study in a given Key Stage.

There is every indication that the views of teachers and parents will be taken very seriously and it will therefore be very important that as many people as possible who have an interest in languages respond to the consultation. In the initial phase of the Curriculum Review key questions will be:

• At what Key Stages should languages be compulsory? There is an assumption that this must include KS2 and KS3, but what about KS1 and KS4?
• Are there Key Stages in which languages should be compulsory but not part of the National Curriculum?

In the next phase it will be critical to define more clearly what we understand by subject knowledge in relation to Languages.

Detailed information about the Review is available on the Department for Education website.

The on line consultation document is available here.

Ofsted has published its latest report on Languages, entitled Modern languages: Achievement and challenge 2007-2011.

The report outlines the good progress that has been made in primary languages and notes in particular that senior leaders are very committed to introducing languages in their schools and that there has been good support available with effective use of national frameworks and guidance . Teaching, achievement and pupils' enjoyment were all good overall. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement in the teaching of reading and writing.

In secondary schools, the picture is described as more mixed, with reducing numbers of students taking modern languages in Key Stage 4 along with important weaknesses and barriers preventing good language learning throughout secondary education, including insufficient use of the target language.. According to OFSTED this is shown in pupils' under developed speaking skills and in a lack of use of authentic materials. Many schools had also failed to build on what pupils had already learnt in primary schools. On the other hand attainment is improving for those who do enter for qualifications

The recommendations from this report are reproduced here .

The full report can be accessed from the Ofsted website.