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Dr Lid King hotseat
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Introduction
The National Languages Strategy for England, 'Languages for All, Languages for Life', was published in December 2002. It sets out a challenging vision of the place of foreign languages in education and in society more generally. Its cornerstone is the introduction of a primary-level languages entitlement by 2010. In the last 12 months we have begun to translate that vision into reality, and in the process to raise a number of important questions about the educational priorities of the 21st century, for example:
- How does foreign-language competence relate to mother-tongue literacy? Will the citizen of the future need multiple literacies?
- What are the specific educational benefits of language learning?
- Is it true that young learners are better at learning languages than older learners? In what ways?
- How might language-learning affect our view of the world (in terms of citizenship, cultural awareness, etc.)?
There are also many specific issues raised by the priorities set out in the strategy. These include:
- The curriculum: how will we fit another subject into the primary programme?
- Community languages: what is their place in the strategy?
- Languages at post-14 level: since they are no longer compulsory how will we convince learners to continue?
- Languages and economic life: how does language competence support economic competitiveness and employability, and where does it sit in the skills agenda?
