Le materie scolastiche sono state abbandonate a livelli “catastrofici” nel Regno Unito
The school subjects being ditched at ‘catastrophic’ levels in the UK
di nasrudin45
Le materie scolastiche sono state abbandonate a livelli “catastrofici” nel Regno Unito
The school subjects being ditched at ‘catastrophic’ levels in the UK
di nasrudin45
25 commenti
Only really reason languages as a subject are dying is gcse languages usually suck to learn, turning people off from higher education, we can get away with only speaking English in many cases, especially tourist heavy areas and people are pursuing options in languages that are not formal (duolongo, picking up a language as a hobby)
There’s a lesser need to study languages in an increasingly insular society that basks exclusively in the Anglophone world.
I also think the modern language choices are dated, only people emigrating to France or Germany find them useful. Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic may be better options in today’s world.
At the same time, I believe classical languages form a greater foundation for language comprehension and linguistics than most modern European languages, making them potentially more useful, perhaps pairing them with modern languages.
Classical studies are less fashionable and many young people would rather do something they enjoy, like sports and fitness courses which has unsurprisingly shot up.
A lot more people are doing degrees now than 20 years ago and many see it as more of an experience than access to a lifelong career.
We suffer from mediocrity and stagnation in this country now and there’s less incentive to excel academically while people think they can get rich quick from crypto scams and being influencers.
If you want to actually teach the kids another language, pay to send them to live in other countries. A year in France will teach you better than 7 years of sitting in England conjugating verbs.
I just don’t think you can become fluent in a language by learning it in class. To be fluent you need to be around other people who speak the language in day to day life.
In secondary school I had 2 French lessons per week and you just forget everything, it’s not consistent enough. Meanwhile, our French teacher was going about how we’ll be fluent in French by the end of year 9😂.
Music A level also seems bad. In my sister’s sixth form only 2 people picked the subject and the school literally specialise in music.
It always comes down to the schools fault. When I started high school we had a full languages department by the time I left (2003 but it was happening back then) we had 2, 2 language teachers…. One was solely french and one did German and french. (Was also an Urdu/Hindi teacher but he was actually my science teacher) They also took away the option for my year and the two below to do anything other than french, so killed any joy as it was just a mandated lesson which we had to do.
That school then became a “sports academy” and is now a “business academy” so I doubt in the 20 years they have put any further effort into language just like the labour and Tory government wanted with the curriculum teaching the 3 core and ICT above all else. And now we’re left with generations with no imagination as the humanities are left to rot and be forgotten past year 9.
Not sure what modern language tuition is like, but it really was god awful at my school. Just mindlessly repeating abstract phrases in French and learning big lists of nouns with the correct gender, presumably for the purposes of passing an exam. None of it even remotely useful for visiting France or having a conversation with a French speaker.
Honestly not surprised nobody wants to sign up for that. The only reason anyone did in my year was because they either already spoke the language, or because the language students got the best trips.
Luckily fee-paying schools are still teaching Latin, music, supporting choirs and orchestras and all the rest of it.
Thanks to Labour removing funding for stuff like latin in state schools, within a generation university specialisation in these fields will be held exclusively by public-school educated people. Their state school competition eliminated by a spiteful Labour govt’s levelling-down agenda.
If you can, send your children to a fee-paying school, their options will be greater.
Lots of pupils are already bi-lingual, and besides that plenty of opportunities to learn a language outside of school also if you’re interested in picking up a new skill, so many will wonder why should they spend one of a very small number of GCSE option slots on MFL? And even more so for A-levels.
I did french for gcse, French for a level, did a french uni module
Rocket league taught me more french than all 3…
ntm fdp
They dont see a future in this country. Give them something to work for, a future to look forward too and a goverment they can have hope in- AKA pride, then they’ll be more inclined to go to school.
As of right now, they have no hope. They know it’s uselessness
Languages should move back to historical languages because they give you a foundation if you ever need to learn a modern language while not practising anyone else’s preferences with modern languages. Modern languages are intensely personal. You learn French because you go to France, you learn japanese because you are a weeb etc. You cant teach that at scale because 29 out of 30 kids have no interest in france and will never use french.
Make Old English the language we learn in England, let every child know Beowulf and The Seafarer. We dont teach anywhere near enough about the anglo-saxons anyway, this is two birds one stone.
It’s difficult to teach languages at school.
People are saying things like it needs to be more conversational, you learn more by being in the country and surrounding yourself with speakers etc…all these things are true.
But they’re also wildly impractical at junior school. You’ve got classes of 30+ kids, some of whom can barely speak English nevermind French, and you want to conduct a whole lesson in a foreign language, or send them off to live in Paris for a term?
It’s totally unworkable. Languages eventually DO get taught in a more conversational way but only by the time you get to A Level with smaller class sizes, and pupils who have already largely mastered the basics of vocabulary and grammar.
I’ve yet to see a single workable suggestion for how you change language teaching wholesale at junior level, other than just what individual departments and teachers can do to make it more fun and engaging.
“The shortage of language skills is holding employers back” This issue is almost already solved with tech.
>*”ends with several clear recommendations for reversing the decline…”*
Myopic and bureaucratic. It will never work unless the actual problem is diagnosed.
Tow good examples of indications to start with:
* Real issues with teacher recruitment and retention – why? Because teaching standardized classes aka “test to teach” which is built off the government Exam Results data strategy of performance of schools reduces the learning environment. Eg compulsory taking of subjects is pure BS to time table kids for a DPS adult to chaperone for that slot and then ensuring it is 20-30 kids is cost budget effective for that. Meanwhile the kids in French class don’t learn French!
* Trend of rise in PE over 3 separate language subjects is another example at A Level. Because PE probably leads to feeling better, direct benefit and employment options that are realistic… Again where is the analysis? There is none, as with above it is bureaucrats and academics who do not analyse the reality…
Etc.
So here is the thing, not all schools are ever going to be able to provision the same way and that is likely the SOLUTION. Allow for diversity in schools to explore what works for the students they get and the context that is their reality.
It is not just an utter waste of everyone’s time FAKING IT and driving teaching into a nose dive, in French conjugation of verbs as it is in writing chemical formulas in chemistry and many children failing at this and wasting their time and the teachers time and the other students time.
But no, standardized faking it is has to be observed and thus fake solutions every year discussed in UK Schools.
The school system a “computer says no” to the max.
As a dyslexic, I never was allowed the essential time I needed to learn how to even use english. But also told off for bad spelling and handwriting.
If they used that same time to teach me to manage my dyslexia at a younger age I could have reached my true potential.
All I got was “hello my name is….” and “do you speak german” in german and a GCSE everyone knew I’d fail anyway. To rub salt in the cound, literally most germans speak better english than native speakers, TOTALLY USELESS.
Not much incentive for British kids to learn another language is probably the main reason. Whereas almost every European kid teaches themselves English so they can make mom taunts in online games.
I was taught sign language in a deaf hearing integrated school 100x better than I was taught Spanish in my secondary and said deaf hearing primary.
The way we teach languages normally sucks
You can’t really dumb down exams cos if someone has A* A level in a language they’ve got to be able to speak it.
Starting a couple of years ago I decided to learn a foreign language as an adult.
I picked the one I was made to do at school because at least I had some sort of foundation, even if I couldn’t remember anything.
Those lessons were so boring and repetitive and I couldn’t stand them.
As an adult, learning the language has been one of my most enjoyable hobbies I have ever picked up. I love it, and I practice every day just for fun.
They’re far from the only subject with this issue, but languages just aren’t taught in an engaging or fulfilling way. It’s all drilling vocab lists and conjugation drills, set phrases and impractically focused.
I’ve learned so much more in the last 2 or so years compared to the 5 years I did in school, to the point that I’m now conversationally fluent and can read academic papers and full length novels without issue, in less than half the learning time I had as a child when my brain was more adaptable to language. It’s now just funny how little I could speak it after 5 whole years of multiple free, mandatory lessons a week.
No wonder nobody is taking it for A Levels and degrees.
Plus, languages are one of THE most accessible things to learn independently and at home. Most people who study a language do so to, you know, SPEAK it. They don’t need an A Level or a degree for that unless they really have a deep personal passion for the drier, academic parts of the subject.
I disagree with a lot of the comments that are saying there is no point learning another language when people learn English.
I went to a language school, so maybe I am a bit biased. I had to do a minimum of 2 languages. I picked French and German.
Due to life choices, I ended up living in French speaking Switzerland, France, and Germany. So knowing French and germany was great.
Furthermore, learning another language is great for the brain. It helps create and strengthen pathways in the brain. The earlier you learn another language, the better. At university, I noticed that the people who spoke multiple languages (with English as a second langugage, but basically fluent) were a damn sight more intelligent than those who only spoke one.
Learning French, I realised just how much of English is just French words.
I don’t understand some of these replies. Why were you expecting to be fluent after doing a GCSE in a language? It’s there as an introduction and to get you comfortable with the foundations. You wouldn’t be an expert in English Literature if you got full marks in your Macbeth paper, so I don’t get why MFL is treated so differently.
Of course, it’d be better if we started earlier but that’s another problem. We hardly have enough MFL teachers to fill secondary schools as it is.
Not many English people need to learn any other languages because they speak English most of the world can speak some or decent English. Im Lithuanian so I had to learn English it wasn’t optional for me learning another language for an English speaker is purely optional
What did they expect after brexit and cossie livs? Students to take up courses with no career prospects for the lolz?
We will continue to be terrible at foreign languages if we continue to do no really FLT until secondary.
I’d argue we need to be like our European counterparts and teach languages earlier if anything