The Department of Education and Children’s schools develop curricula that equip pupils with the skills, knowledge and understanding they will need to enable them to become purposeful contributors to society.
An important part of this is helping to provide a workforce that meets the needs of the Island’s economy.
The Department and its schools work closely with employers through a number of channels, including sector skills groups and the Employability Working Group, which hosted the ‘Reach Higher’ conference in April and is arranging the forthcoming ‘Inspiring the Future’ week (13th-17th October).
The Department welcomes Zac Hall MHK’s encouragement for the teaching of languages in schools and endorses his belief that language teaching ought to be an essential part of the curriculum.
Learning a foreign language is of benefit to young people themselves, to the wider economy and to society in general. Research indicates that it is the learning of the language itself that is of benefit rather than an undue focus on any particular language.
The Department has, however, recognised the increasing demands for Spanish speakers and has encouraged schools to include Spanish within their curricula. Despite the challenges of recruiting teachers who are qualified to teach the subject, schools have worked hard to improve their provision. Three of the five DEC secondary schools teach Spanish to all pupils in Key Stage 3 (11 to 14-year-olds), meaning 1,500 pupils have regular Spanish lessons. Spanish is offered as an option for pupils in Key Stage 4 (14 to 16-year-olds) in the same schools.
It was particularly encouraging to see more than 100 entries for GCSE Spanish this year (12.5% of the year group), with an 81.5% pass rate at A*-C grades. It is also taught as part of the curriculum in a small number of primary schools.
In 2014, 358 students (41% of the year group) completed GCSE language courses. This included 192 students (22.1% of the year group) who completed French GCSE and 58 students who completed German GCSE. A further three students completed a short course in French or Spanish. Nine students completed Manx GCSE and one student completed GCSEs in Japanese, Polish and Turkish.
One of the secondary schools has plans in place for the development of the teaching of Mandarin and, indeed, has long-established cultural links with China.
Factors to be considered in deriving the curricula for schools are many. The Education (Curriculum) Order 2011 states that French should form part of the curriculum for pupils aged 11-14.
Some 29 countries still use French as a foreign language and it is still an official language of the UN. Schools also have to be mindful of pathways for older students and are conscious that many degree courses in French and German currently require some previous experience of these subjects. In 2013, Britain’s top trading partners valued in Euros were as follows: Germany 153 billion, France 150 billion, US 149 billion and China 115 billion, so it would be premature to claim that French and German do not have a critical place in supporting economic growth.
It could be detrimental to students wishing to pursue such subjects were they simply discontinued.
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