Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

getting on, because although the teachers kept a record, they did not share the informationwith the pupils.Several pupils would appreciate feedback on how to improve and make progress. In manylessons teachers tended to give general praise to the class as a whole.‘I think it would be nice if they told us how we were doing, because if we weren’t doing well,they could actually help us.’‘They just say très bien, but they don’t tell you individually, they just say it to the wholegroup.’‘You need to know, whether you need to concentrate more.’‘Sometimes I feel sad if I haven’t been doing well.’‘Sometimes it can be quite hurtful if you find out you are bad at something and you thoughtyou were good at it.’ (pupils)Pupils in one school said they were given a ‘special mention’ and a sticker for French at theend of the week. Some of the children had a chart in the classroom and once this wascomplete, they got a commendation. They were not awarded marks as such and writing waslimited to labelling shapes or matching pictures and words. In another school pupils saidthere were no marks for French, because written work was not done in French, nor tests,although there were worksheets, mainly for colouring type tasks. House points wereawarded if teams did well in oral games.3.4. Transition and transfer3.4.1. SummaryPrimary-secondary patterns of transfer were complex in the majority of Pathfinder localauthorities. This created real challenge in achieving continuity and progression wheresecondary schools received pupils from a large range of feeder schools.Lack of continuity in a language was a concern voiced by many, especially where thesecondary school changed its Year 7 language from year to year. However, some teacherswere not concerned about the change of language as they felt pupils were developinggeneric transferable language skills.87