Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

3.5.5. Staff and staff expertiseIn local authorities where significant numbers of FLAs were employed, there had beenrelatively few difficulties in recruiting native speakers to take part in primary languages.Some were recruited from abroad for short periods, but many had applied locally for theseperipatetic posts and were in the second or third year of work. There can be no doubt thatthey brought, in most observed cases, youth, vitality, culture and authenticity to the languagelearning experience of the children. With intensive training and nurturing by local authoritystaff, and effective deployment in the schools, they were performing a very useful function indelivering the contents of national or local schemes of work. What some may have lacked inpedagogy, they made up for with the variety of their activities and the humour and sense ofprogress they generated in the children. One Pathfinder, operating in this way, through thedirect employment of a larger team of FLAs, had enabled more schools to sample thepresence of primary languages free of charge before deciding to enter a service levelagreement to maintain their presence.However, there were drawbacks to the use of FLAs. Apart from the fact that they wereteaching in many different schools during the working week and could not therefore beexpected to know the children as well as the class teachers (one such assistant wasteaching over 900 pupils over a two week cycle), they were tending to concentrate theirefforts, naturally, on the spoken language, leaving less interesting activities to the classroomteachers. In doing so, they seem to have created a bias which could make the classteachers’ task more difficult.It is also important as far as sustainability is concerned for local authorities where FLAs areemployed longer term to create a career path for them. The idea of a new designation ofhigher skilled teaching assistant with a proper salary scale, pension rights etc. would meanfewer talented people leaving what is perceived to be a temporary ‘fill-in’ job.Perhaps a distinction should be drawn here between FLAs who work over one school yearand return home thereafter and those who may be resident in the UK. Short termassistantships are usually based in one or two schools. Some primary schools were offeredFLAs as part of the local authority’s provision through the Pathfinder, but were having to findthe cost to sustain what they appreciated as a useful foreign presence from their ownbudgets.It was felt by several headteachers that primary teachers’ confidence was not yet at the point‘to go it alone’. They were still relying on secondary teachers being present. Some, it was108