Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

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However, secondary teachers do not universally welcome the growth of primary languageswork:‘The kids who have had German in their primary schools are streets ahead of the others.This can be a problem.’ (secondary teacher)There was still a feeling that many secondary schools did not really value or take full accountof the work done in primary schools. Concern was expressed by primary teachers andheads that secondary schools would not acknowledge their pupils’ prior language learning,which would lead to work covered in KS2 being repeated in KS3. One primaryheadteacher felt that there was little the primary school could really do to influence whathappened at secondary school, particularly when they fed into so many schools. Often theresponse from the secondary was simply ‘that’s nice’ but everyone knew that the pupilswould start again.‘I was worried that our children would be fired up with enthusiasm here and then they go towhatever secondary school it is and they start again from scratch and then they becomedisaffected. It’s like pouring water on that flame, isn’t it?’ (primary teacher)‘But also, it doesn’t have a street cred, if they’re being asked to do very simple things. Thedesign of MFL needs to keep on taking on board that early language skills need to bedesigned for children to access at different ages, but with different images that are modernand have high street credibility. […]’ (primary teacher)In one Pathfinder where schools concentrated on the oral approach to language learning,teachers were less anxious about repetition:‘If they go to secondary school and are doing French there, they will have done no writtenwork, so the secondary school will have to introduce the written work. It’s [then] not so mucha question of their repeating everything, they will have orally similar sorts of things thatthey’re doing, but they won’t have done the written work. It actually gives the children, wefind, a bit of a confidence boost, because ‘Ah, this is something we can already do’. (primaryteacher)One primary languages co-ordinator wondered whether some secondary schools were reallyaware of how much some children could do in French by the time they entered year 7. The97
situation was especially difficult where not all primary schools were providing languages andsecondary teachers were going back to basics.‘I was asking [the secondary teacher who visits primaries to teach] what happens with thechildren, because in the school where she teaches they’d had 3 years of French before theygot to secondary school, and she said they did originally hope to fast track them, butbecause the children come from such disparate areas and there’s only a few that do it andthen the rest have none, there weren’t […] enough for them to do this and have a specialclass for them. So in a way it feels like a bit of a waste that they have to start back at squareone, because […] they must feel […], ‘well we’ve done this, we did this ages ago. Why arewe having to do it again?’ (primary teacher)One SLC was dealing with this through enrichment lessons, giving pupils in year 7 the samelanguage teachers as involved in outreach work. They also tried to group children accordingto language learnt, but this was not always possible. The attitude of some secondaryschools was shown by the fact that some children had been re-doing the same tier of alanguage award again at secondary school.One language teacher expressed concern about the consistency of teaching competenceand content which would impact on transfer:‘I worry that other schools are just getting someone’s Mum in, and that all sorts of things arebeing taught all over the place, and from the secondary school’s point of view, what are theycoming to me with, completely random things, wrong things? (outreach teacher)In some cases secondary schools were responding to work done in primaries by rethinkingthe KS3 curriculum, or being aware of the need to rethink:‘We were suspicious to begin with. It was new, and now thankfully we’ve stopped talkingabout that … We’re seeing things happening in the primary that are going to affect ourteaching, our future in the secondary. Yes, it’s an exciting period, but it’s going to be anupheaval, and we are going to have to re-write our [secondary] schemes again.’ (outreachteacher)In one Pathfinder in the first ten weeks of Year 7, a new theme Les vacances wasintroduced, to include avoir, être, get pupils talking about the present and the past. In theoutreach teacher’s view, this would not duplicate and overlap with what had been done in98
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RESEARCHEvaluation of the Key Stage
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Contents1. Executive summary 32. In
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practice and factors that might imp
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of the experience. Individual feedb
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• The analysis revealed the need
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• Are pupils with SEN and gifted
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Both respondent characteristics and
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Interviews were recorded and a 25%
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2.2. Advantages and disadvantages o
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2.2.2. Languages Delivery by the Pr
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2.2.4. Languages Delivery through a
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Analysing these models, conditions
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• Schools should be encouraged to
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however, instances of schools where
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3.1.3.4. Time allocated to language
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‘French would not be taught now a
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• beneficial for the subject’s
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Many teachers remained very depende
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Table 2: Integration and Communicat
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‘We’ve written a letter and dra
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‘it makes you realise that if acc
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Table 5: Languages and Learning - Q
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3.1.5. Pupils - Learning and Attitu
Page 47 and 48: • useful for travelling abroad -
Page 49 and 50: • ‘Comments at the end to help
Page 51 and 52: ‘At times they find it difficult
Page 53 and 54: teacher who knew our level.’ In t
Page 55 and 56: In most Pathfinders, however, there
Page 57 and 58: 3.2.2. Recommendations• Primary t
Page 59 and 60: Effective staffing is essential to
Page 61 and 62: Martin and Mitchell 1993). In anoth
Page 63 and 64: Nineteen respondents had specialise
Page 65 and 66: As revealed in questionnaire 1, in
Page 67 and 68: However, some teachers were pleasan
Page 69 and 70: However, there were frequent instan
Page 71 and 72: • team-teaching on the ground•
Page 73 and 74: involved external bodies in the del
Page 75 and 76: Generally, there was a sense that s
Page 77 and 78: • Methods of recording progressio
Page 79 and 80: However, there were challenges in a
Page 81 and 82: In one Pathfinder one school cluste
Page 83 and 84: One example of assessment included
Page 85 and 86: trying to evaluate, prior to each u
Page 87 and 88: Case study: exemplar of a well deve
Page 89 and 90: In some Pathfinder schools effectiv
Page 91 and 92: ‘Only a very small number (6/7) g
Page 93 and 94: • transfer of more sensitive info
Page 95 and 96: ‘…I know the Year 7 teachers we
Page 97: 3.4.5. Links to KS3 Framework/Natio
Page 101 and 102: 3.5. Sustainability and Replicabili
Page 103 and 104: develop ‘effective and replicable
Page 105 and 106: 3.5.4. Leadership and managementThe
Page 107 and 108: on one aspect of delivery. This was
Page 109 and 110: 3.5.5. Staff and staff expertiseIn
Page 111 and 112: ‘Usually it is impromptu: 10 or 1
Page 113 and 114: ‘The reason why I have decided to
Page 115 and 116: c) there is obvious progression fro
Page 117 and 118: to be constrained. Methodologies ge
Page 119 and 120: Time spent on the project was gathe
Page 121 and 122: Estimating development costs of res
Page 123 and 124: There were significant differences
Page 125 and 126: on staff costs, with the impact on
Page 127 and 128: 5. CONCLUSIONSOverall, this evaluat
Page 129 and 130: 5.2. Teacher Competence• Primary
Page 131 and 132: o for training secondary teachers i
Page 133 and 134: ReferencesBell, E with Cox, K. (199
Page 135 and 136: Case Study 2Case study 2 is a compa
Page 137 and 138: channelled through this school. At
Page 139 and 140: Case Study 5This LA is a large auth
Page 141 and 142: Case Study 7Case study 7 is a joint
Page 143: Copies of this publication can be o
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