Pace of change in languages

As the summer comes in at last, the pace of change in the UK languages world is accelerating. The Westminster government is planning to bring in a new curriculum in English schools, while the Scottish government is committing itself to the European target of enabling people to learn two languages as well as their mother tongue. In both cases, the practical implications have yet to be worked out in detail, and there will surely be some real advances as well as potential drawbacks.

In higher education, there are positive moves too. In England, the Routes into languages programme is gearing up for another three years, with new priorities, the government has put a lot of money into helping students to take a year abroad and there is a possibility of a further HEFCE funded initiative to support the capacity of the sector to provide suitable language courses. Language electives are popular, but language degrees are still getting fewer applications and further closures of departments are in the news.

Many organisations are now pitching in to promote the cause of languages. The British Academy’s work on policy is producing a number of useful reports and materials, most recently, their booklet Talk the Talk (http://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Talk_the_Talk.cfm) offers students a guide to their prospects using languages. The British Chambers of Commerce highlighted the major shortfall in foreign language skills within the business community that is hampering exports (http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/press-office/press-releases/duplicate-of-bcc-knowledge-gaps-and-language-skills-hold-back-exporters.html#.UdJ9JetAHfI). The British Council, the European Commission, the Foreign Office and many other bodies are weighing in too. It is getting to be a crowded field.

LLAS is supporting the Speak to the future campaign for languages, which has a role in keeping communication between all the different bodies involved in the languages issue, as well as its own forthcoming campaigns. It will launch a ‘1000 words’ challenge, encouraging people to learn other languages to a useful level, and will also promote moves to accredit achievement in home languages.

The new academic year will see the relaunch of Routes into Languages and the LLAS/UCML annual ‘Thriving’ workshop for Heads of Department in September.

The Language Show will have high profile seminars in October. And both the British Council’s International Education Week and the British Academy’s Festival of Languages are planned for November. The autumn is going to be busy