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Citizens of a Multilingual World: Key Issues

10. Preparing and Supporting Teachers

To ensure the sustainable success of MLPS, it is essential that Initial Teacher Education courses for primary should incorporate a component of modern language and methodology for all students, that accreditation and Continuing Professional Development should be available to trained teachers and that Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development for secondary should include primary school experience and methodology.

Languages in Initial Teacher Education for Primary

Support for Modern Languages in the Primary School

The original aim of the Modern Languages in the Primary School (MLPS) programme was that trained primary class teachers should introduce a modern language to their class, embedding it in the daily routine and work of the class and making connections between the modern language and other areas of the primary curriculum. This aim has, for many classes, remained elusive, and a number of needs remain:

• there are not enough MLPS-trained teachers assigned to the teaching of upper primary classes¹⁴ to ensure that all children in P6 and P7 are taught a modern language by their own class teacher;

• new teachers entering the profession need to have linguistic and pedagogical skills at least equivalent to those achieved under the MLPS programme in order to be able to teach languages to P6 and P7 classes;

• the revised 5-14 Guidelines for Modern Languages mean that all teachers engaged in modern language teaching in primary schools will need opportunities to become familiar with the Guidelines and to develop their teaching practice in accordance with the approaches recommended;

• MLPS-trained teachers need further professional development to enhance both their own linguistic competence and their language-teaching skills.

A modern language for all intending primary teachers

A longer-term alternative to the current teacher education model resides within the provision of pre-trained entrants to primary teaching posts. The Guidelines for Initial Teacher Education Courses in Scotland (1998) set out the requirements applying to courses leading to the award of a Teaching Qualification (Primary Education) and state that beginning teachers should be competent to deliver all aspects of the 5-14 Programme.

• We are proposing that a modern language should rapidly be included in the Initial Teacher Education courses of all intending primary school teachers.

• A modern languages Credit award at Standard Grade, a pass at Intermediate 2 or equivalent qualification should be a minimum entry-level requirement for all Initial Teacher Education primary trainees on B.Ed. or PGCE Primary courses.

The modern languages component will therefore form part of all intending primary teachers' qualification for primary school teaching. It will contribute to their own education in a global, multilingual society and will provide them with an initial set of competences for introducing a modern language to their classes from P1 to P7. It will equip them with an awareness of how languages are learned and interact with each other (including the first language), of how first language literacy may serve to promote second language learning, and it will allow them to further develop their language skills that they bring with them before entering their Initial Teacher Education programme.

We believe that meeting these entitlements is a feasible goal for the four year B.Ed. Primary course. We recognise the difficulty of achieving similar levels of competence in the course of a one year PGCE Primary course, given the short period of time available.

We therefore conclude that:

• since some entrants to a Primary PGCE may already have a degree qualification in a modern language while others will not have gone beyond Credit level at school, students entering the PGCE Primary course should negotiate an appropriate entry and exit point reflecting their degree of linguistic competence and prior learning relating to the teaching of languages;

• Teacher Education Institutions should consider providing summer courses before or after the PGCE year in order to enable their students to meet this requirement. The Languages Innovation and Training Fund (LITF) may possibly serve to support the development of such courses. Opportunities to complete a period of school experience abroad could also be developed as a way of helping PGCE students reach the necessary level of linguistic competence.

Accreditation for experienced primary teachers of modern languages

We recognise the enthusiasm and commitment of the many primary teachers who volunteered to take up MLPS training opportunities in the years since the scheme was introduced. At the same time we accept that some teachers feel overtaken by events in that their initial participation in the MLPS training was voluntary but they see MLPS as subsequently having become effectively compulsory and subject to inspection. Our recommendation concerning the entitlement of all primary school pupils to a modern language from P6 onwards will confirm a modern language as an integral part of the primary school curriculum. Many of the voluntarily trained teachers have acquired considerable experience of teaching MLPS and are achieving considerable success. We believe that the way forward in their case is to recognise their skills and dedication by recommending that their initial training be accredited and that they receive further Continuing Professional Development support.

We recommend that:

• all primary teachers who have trained to teach modern languages, whether through the MLPS programme or as part of their Initial Teacher Education programme, and who are considered by their headteacher and local authority to have successfully implemented this in the classroom for one year or more, should be eligible for accreditation from an appropriate Higher Education body; and that

• such HE bodies, possibly drawing on the Languages and Innovation Training fund in the first instance, should develop Continuing Professional Development modules that will further support MLPS teachers and keep their modern language competence up-to-date.

We believe that local authorities have an important role in working with schools in order to identify specific Continuing Professional Development needs for languages at 5-14 and in negotiating the content and methodology of Continuing Professional Development modules with appropriate Higher Education bodies.

Continuing professional development for primary teachers

We do not consider that the standards of linguistic skill and language teaching competence reached at the end of the present MLPS training course fully equip primary teachers for teaching all relevant aspects of their modern language. It enables them to make a good start, but there will be need for further professional development, e.g. in helping their pupils acquire modern language writing skills.

All languages teachers have a responsibility to maintain and develop their language skills. A variety of formal and informal opportunities exist to enable them to do this. These include 'keep up your language' courses arranged for teachers by local authorities or by cultural bodies responsible for French, German, Spanish and Italian, or made available through adult and community education. ICT also offers many opportunities to use and extend language capabilities. Teachers will no doubt recognise that they can benefit as much as their students, or more, from ICT activities, links with teachers abroad and the range of flexible learning opportunities. A number of primary languages teachers have completed Open University degrees in the languages they teach, and are to be commended for doing so. Opportunities for primary teachers to take part in teacher exchange programmes which enable them to work in schools in the countries whose languages they teach are also in some cases available.

We recommend that:

• local authorities and their schools should explore sources of funding -e.g. Enterprise Companies - that would enable teachers to work in other European education systems for short periods, and facilitate teacher exchanges between Scottish primary teachers and their counterparts in countries whose languages are taught in Scottish schools;

• the Central Bureau should clarify the extent to which European funding is available for such purposes and inform local authorities of opportunities.

Primary teachers' language teaching skills will also require further professional development:

Other Teacher Education Institutions are encouraged to consider the development of appropriate further professional development courses for primary teachers, leading to a Diploma or a Masters Degree in primary languages education.

Initial teacher education and continuing professional development for secondary teachers

Over the past decade, there have been wide-ranging changes affecting the teaching of modern languages at secondary school. These include the adoption of Languages for All, Modern Languages in the Primary School, Higher Still and the revisions of the 5-14 Guidelines for Modern Languages and of Standard Grade. The Action Group recommendations, if implemented, will add considerably to this process of change. We state firmly however that if languages are to survive in schools as an entitlement for all rather than the preserve of an elite and dwindling minority, then further and significant change must take place, since the present position cannot be justified or sustained.

Languages teachers at secondary school have a degree qualification in their language, they have spent a period of residence abroad in a country where their language is spoken and they have the equivalent of a year's Initial Teacher Education to prepare them for teaching their language at secondary school. As such their needs are different from those of languages teachers at primary school.

They have a heavy dual role to play:

• that of providing their students with as much exposure to the language as possible (since in Scotland this is normally not provided elsewhere in or out of school), and

• that of actually teaching the language.

This makes their task more demanding (both in terms of teaching strategy and of energy expenditure) than that of teachers of English as a second or foreign language. In many parts of the world exposure to English as a second or foreign language in the media and through tourism is often part of the natural environment. This helps students enormously in acquiring the language. However, in Scotland change is taking place in this regard. The new technologies will increasingly offer languages teachers in Scotland 'virtual' opportunities to put their students in touch with native speakers and other users of the modern language they are learning. As such there will over time be significant changes in their role as languages teachers. We are not claiming however that everything will be new. There is already a substantial amount of good practice on which to build, as illustrated for example in the 'red boxes' of the 1998 HMI Standards and Quality Report.

In view of these developments, languages teachers at secondary school will have clear continuing professional development needs and are entitled to support in meeting them.

Topics for Continuing Professional development for languages teachers

Among the topics we consider appropriate for primary and secondary school languages teachers' Continuing Professional Development are:

• promoting positive attitudes and raising levels of motivation, aspiration and self-confidence among all students learning languages. The Foreign Languages in the Upper Secondary School research, the Assessment of Achievement Programme pilot and many comments at our consultative meetings identified this as a major area of need;

• marketing of languages, giving them a modern positive image, and linking them to further study and career possibilities, a need that implies collaboration with senior school management in order to create a languages ethos within the school and with guidance and careers staff in order to ensure that students are in a position to make well-informed choices;

• enabling students across the full range of abilities and needs, including those with special educational needs, to benefit from their full entitlement to a modern language. The Foreign Languages in the Upper Secondary School research showed that a significant minority of principal teachers of languages had over time become less supportive of 'languages for all'. We accept that a major challenge lies ahead in ensuring that all students and not simply an elite minority perceive their six years or 500 hours as being interesting, relevant and useful;

• providing feedback to students which helps them diagnose difficulties, chart progress and maintain motivation. Our languages entitlement backed by substantial evidence from inspection and research identifies feedback as a key component in successful learning;

• the principles underlying the learning of a second language (a Continuing Professional Development need identified in the 1998 HMI Standards and Quality report) and the broader principles and processes that lie behind the 5-14 Guidelines, e.g. 'language to languages';

• helping students develop important new dimensions and combinations of language skill arising from the new technologies, e.g. writing e-mails in order to communicate, reading from computer screens in order to search for and process information in their modern language, writing in order to contribute to a project that will appear on the school's website, interactive listening and speaking by means of video-conferencing;

• enabling students to acquire strategies for learning and for using languages that will help them with their particular modern languages at present and in their subsequent lifelong learning and use of other languages;

• developing, managing, monitoring and evaluating local innovations. We have argued that a key to success lies in local authorities and schools assessing their own priorities, needs and opportunities and developing their own innovations, supported by the Languages and Training Innovation Fund, in order to deliver or to go beyond the entitlement. Teachers will therefore in turn be entitled to support in how to make a success of innovation.

There are no quick fixes in meeting these needs. All of the above areas will have to be incorporated into Initial Teacher Education so that in due course Continuing Professional Development can build upon them. In the shorter term, we believe that languages teachers at primary and secondary school should be supported by means of:

• proposals submitted by local authorities and other bodies to the Languages Innovation and Training Fund;

• national development of appropriate materials and software in support of 5-14 and other key areas, co-ordinated by Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority;

• basic training in ICT through the New Opportunities Fund;

• provision of information from policy, inspection and research on key aspects of language learning, language use, language teaching, attitudes, motivation and marketing, co-ordinated by Scottish CILT;

• provision of national and local courses, seminars, conferences by national bodies, Teacher Education Institutions, university languages departments and local authorities.

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