The future for Primary MFL in Wales….

FOR INFORMATION - October 2009

Moving on from the Pilot….the NEXT stage

The End of the Pilot (Sept 2003 - July 2009)

The CILT Cymru KS2 Project for Modern Foreign Languages 2003 – 2009 funded by the Welsh Assembly Government comes to a close at the end of this academic year. It is encouraging that so many clusters are planning to sustain their primary-secondary links through MFL and we look forward to a future of continued collaboration.

This has been a well-funded, highly successful 6-year Pilot out of which a great deal of good practice has emerged. 136 schools have been given the opportunity to establish good links and effective teaching/learning methods. We are very proud of the progress that has been made in a relatively short space of time. All Pilot schools contributed to the CILT Cymru guidance ‘Getting Started’ which is being requested by new schools and is helping to spread the benefits of the early start.

The Assembly is also aware that many successful clusters of schools exist outside the Pilot – all of whom have a great deal to share.

The next step is to shareall this good practice that exists in Wales and extend the opportunities for MFL in KS2 to new clusters of schools.

The next step – the dissemination of good practice:

In order to disseminate good practice and thereby extend the opportunities to more pupils in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government has set out a proposal in the revised ‘Making Languages Count’ * to create a network of ‘Innovator Schools’. These Innovator schools will act as centres of excellence for their locality. Each 22 LEAs would in theory have their own centre. This proposal is open to ALL schools/clusters in Wales - these could be clusters that were involved in the original Pilot, or other existing clusters who feel best placed to act as a ‘centre of excellence’ for their locality.

How will it work?

This proposal will be under a degree of discussion following the recent consultation period with schools and stake-holders in Wales but it is anticipated that families of schools will be invited to submit a 3-year plan outlining how they propose to work with the LEA / CILT Cymru to share their experience, skills and expertise with other schools in the locality whilst at the same time developing new aspects of their own MFL provision in KS2-3 for future case-studies. Clusters will work closely with CILT Cymru Advisers.

Timescale (update – Jan 2010)

It was anticipated that guidelines / criteria for applications would be available in schools in late Autumn 2009 but due to the delay in the publication of Making Languages Count’, the Scheme will start slightly later than planned. As soon as there is any further information, it will be posted here – keep watching!

Schools and LEAs in Wales will also be informed in writing as soon as the application forms are ready. The application form and further information will then be available to DOWNLOAD from our website.

If you have ANY questions about the Innovator Network, contact Siân or Nia on 02920 480137.

*Making Languages Count consultation document (the Welsh Assembly Government’s draft strategy for MFL, March 2009) can be viewed here.