Primary languages

Read an article in the Times last year (Sep 11th 2010) that the compulsory teaching of MFL in primary schools had been quietly dropped in the 'wash-up' of legislation before the election and that some schools , it was feared, would be dropping plans to teach them, although the programme of MFL teaching in primary schools was quite well-established ( and rightly so). This article might well be dated but what is the legal position at the moment? Has it changed? And has there been a rush by primary schools to slim down or abandon plans for the introduction of MFL. Also.... does French still dominate in primary schools or are other languages catching up?

 

You are quite right about the plans for making KS2 MFL compulsory. At the moment KS2 MFL remains an entitlement. Some schools have dropped it for this reason, but not as many as was first feared. The schools in my LA that have dropped it have done so for financial reasons - can no longer afford to pay the specialist teacher and no other teachers are trained to pick it up. The vast majority of primary schools do still do French, simply because it's the language that most teachers learned when they were at school, there is a huge amount of support material and resources available, and for KS2-KS3 Transition reasons. Hope this helps.

 

Yes, French is the dominant and often only language choice in primary schools. The system needs tearing down and completely overhauling. Japanese and Chinese should be on the primary curriculum. Do not deny our children the future.

 

Might have known the one-trick pony that is hikochan would chip in. Ignore it, OP.

 

Hikochan is right, however, that French is only taught because most people learn French and can only offer that language, and the cycle perpetuates itself. Just because you don't want to hear that doesn't make it untrue.

 

Er, I think you'll find it was me that said that.

 

Er, you think?