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Transcript
LANGUAGES EDUCATION NATIONAL SEMINAR
30 October 2006
E&OE
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be able to attend this inaugural National Seminar on Languages Education and I look forward to hearing of your deliberations.
Let us put this in context. Our world is shrinking – time and distance and space –
are all collapsing through faster travel, through global telecommunications networks, through the forces of globalisation. This means there is more constant and widespread contact between people from a diverse range of countries and cultures.
As the world becomes more connected in this way, we need a range of skills to operate and communicate effectively across boundaries.
Australia is a great trading nation. And with our population comprising people from all corners of the globe, we have strong cultural links across the world.
These links have changed over time – both as the source of our immigrant population has broadened and as our trading ties have focussed on our region.
With the phenomenal economic growth of China and India we can expect our focus to move even further from Europe to Asia.
For our nation to continue to prosper we must enhance our links with the world – we do that by improving our cultural understanding, our language skills.
Other countries recognise this imperative.
In the UK in 2000, the Nuffield Languages Inquiry which found that: “Monolingualism will not serve the next generation well - it implies inflexibility and the presumption that others should always be prepared to use English; it creates a culture of dependence on the linguistic competence and goodwill of others”.
This statement has relevance for Australia.
Education for our students should not only respond to the needs of the local Australian community and the local Australian economy, but should also seek to give students the knowledge and skills they need to assist with potential global engagement. Languages education plays a key role in this.
The National Statement and Plan for Languages Education in Australian Schools 2005-2008, developed through the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), will provide an important framework for your discussions over the next two days.
The National Statement clearly affirms the value of all languages, while acknowledging that mainstream schools alone cannot realistically provide the entire range of languages that learners may wish to study.
Other providers will play an important role in providing a wide range of languages for school-age students: distance education providers; Government Schools of Languages; after-hours ethnic or community languages schools; and, in the case of Australian Indigenous languages, schools working in partnership with local communities.
The MCEETYA National Statement and Plan is important - it is evidence of the commitment of State and Territory Ministers of Education to a shared vision of quality languages education for all students, in all schools, in all parts of the country. The challenge is to turn this commitment into action.
During my school years it was common for students to study a second language, such as German or French, or even Latin. Essentially this was seen as part of a liberal education or an intellectual exercise through the study of grammar and literature.
In fact, today some attribute the deterioration of writing skills in Australia to the fact that current generations are growing up without Latin – some suggest that the study of this dead but complex and intricate language enabled students to write beautiful, clear, concise English.
There is increasing evidence that the study of a second language can have practical implications – the whole world doesn’t speak English, and even those who have learned English as a second language prefer often to converse, do business and negotiate in their native tongue.
A second language is now becoming a vital part of the basic preparation for an increasing number of careers. It can enhance career mobility and improve chances of promotion. The study of another language also enables the study of the culture, the beliefs, the attitudes embedded in that language and a full understanding of another society can be developed.
For those discovering the joys and challenges of learning a second language, there are rich opportunities to gain insights into the values and beliefs of others – often discovering more about themselves in the process.
The Australian Government recognises that languages education has an important part to play in equipping young people with the skills and values necessary to participate more fully in the life of a tolerant, harmonious and outward looking country in the 21st century.
In 1989, the study of a Language Other than English was named as a Key Learning Area by Ministers of Education when they made a historic commitment to improving Australian schooling within a framework of national collaboration.
The Hobart Declaration on National Goals for Schooling provided, for the first time, a framework for cooperation between states, territories and the Australian Government.
Ten years later, the Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-first Century, agreed by all Education Ministers, reaffirmed Languages as a Key Learning Area.
Despite this national agreement on the importance of learning another language, which has now spanned 17 years, today more than 85% of Australian school students graduate from high school without having studied a language at Year 12 level.
This statistic has remained fairly constant over the past 20 years.
Why is that so?
Some will suggest that it is part of the crowded curriculum problem.
There has been an overall increase in the range of subjects that students can study at senior level. Students may believe other subjects are less demanding.
It is a fact that languages education continues to present significant challenges for governments, education authorities, individual schools, teachers and the community.
The status, curriculum time, and support accorded to Languages in some states and territories is not reflective of it being a nationally agreed Key Learning Area.
It has in many cases led to disjointed, watered down or repetitive experiences for students that have left them disenchanted and turned off languages study.
Further, the peak principal associations tell me that the supply of qualified languages teachers is an important issue.
You may be aware that last July I announced that the Federal Government would be considering a range of options that would give greater recognition and reward for quality teachers in the form of performance based or merit based pay. Now as the Government looks at options, this may provide the necessary incentive for teachers to provide students with studies in languages.
I have also raised for debate the development of a more nationally consistent higher standards curriculum model.
I welcome the contribution of language educators to this debate on a more nationally- consistent model curriculum.
Despite some misgivings, I am pleased that through the MCEETYA Languages Education Working Party, we are starting to move towards some national coordination of languages education for the school sector.
Terry Woolley, the Chair of the Working Party, will no doubt inform you this morning of the progress being made by the Working Party.
For its part, the Australian Government continues to make a significant contribution to Languages learning in Australian schools.
Through the School Languages Programme, the Government is providing more than $110 million in 2005-2008 to state and territory education authorities with 5% of these funds reserved to support national projects that assist the implementation of the MCEETYA National Plan.
The eight national projects the Australian Government is implementing through the programme will address a range of important issues in languages education.
They aim to:
- investigate the current provision of Indigenous language programmes in schools;
- strengthen the national coordination and quality assurance of after-hours ethnic or community language programmes;
- examine the state and nature of languages education in Australia, in particular the policy drivers and inhibitors and the role of the various providers;
- review teacher preparation for languages teachers;
- provide nationally coordinated professional learning for principals and school leaders; and
- develop a national bank of promotional materials and a Guide for the Teaching, Learning and Assessing of Languages in the 21st Century.
This Seminar is also one of the national projects. Once completed, the reports and recommendations from all these projects will form a basis for further action and decision-making on the direction of languages education in Australia.
To achieve the goals in the MCEETYA National Plan, a pool of highly skilled teachers who are supported, well-trained and have opportunities to participate in ongoing professional learning throughout their careers is essential.
I am pleased to announce this morning that the Australian Government will be providing $1.3 million from the 2006 School Languages Programme funds for a national professional learning project for language teachers.
Professional standards developed through the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations will provide an important framework for improving the quality and effectiveness of teaching.
I believe this is an exciting project, it will be a ‘train the trainer’ model where a national package of materials is developed and state and territory ‘trainers’ are supported to deliver the professional learning locally.
I look forward to seeing this project progress over the next two years. Ongoing professional learning is vital to the quality of teaching.
Nationally developed and coordinated professional learning programmes such as this provide opportunities for teachers to engage in networks that extend their knowledge and skills across state and territory borders.
In addition to this important project, the Australian Government is also funding two other national professional learning programmes for languages teachers.
The first is the Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice project, funded with $2 million under the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme over 2006 and 2007.
This programme will include a particular focus on long-term planning, including the assessment and reporting of student outcomes.
I am told there are a number of teachers involved in this research here at the Seminar.
The second national professional development programme is the Endeavour Language Teacher Fellowships Programme which provides intensive, short-term, language and culture study programmes. Recently I approved the Fellowship winners for January 2007.
The evidence is clear. If Australian students have the opportunity to learn a language other than English there will be many benefits – not only for the individual, but for our nation as a whole.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I declare open the National Seminar on Languages Education.
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