SATEAL conference 16 March 2019 Almost there: Scotland's 1+2 Languages Policy Louise Glen Senior Education Officer For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Languages : why bother?! Closing the gap Personal and societal benefits of bilingualism Contribution to Scotland’s prosperity ‘Cultural agility’ from knowing other languages and cultures Equality of opportunity for Scotland’s children and young people Breaking down cultural misconceptions This is an internal page in blue and can be duplicated to create additional pages. Always keep the heading and footer as shown. Use the corresponding blue internal and back pages if you are using this page.

Brief history of modern languages in Scotland’s schools 1977 : No primary languages S1/2: Compulsory S3/4: Elective but most able ‘should be encouraged’ 1987: No primary languages S1- S4: Compulsory 1989: Primary languages! P6-S4: Compulsory 1993: P6- S2: Compulsory 2008 – present Some primary S1-S3: All pupils entitled to learn a language until the age of 15 at least - but not sustained in all schools yet… From 2021: P1- S3 !! For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

2011: Scottish Government manifesto commitment By 2021 : “… a norm for language learning in schools based on the European Union 1 + 2 model … every child will learn two languages in addition to their own mother tongue. This will … create a new model for language acquisition in Scotland.” For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Why start early? Child’s brain from infancy → 5 : primed to learn language Birth → puberty : brain plasticity & cognitive flexibility Accent mimicry at its peak This is an internal page in blue and can be duplicated to create additional pages. Always keep the heading and footer as shown. Use the corresponding blue internal and back pages if you are using this page.

Policy into practice : L2 (first additional language) - entitlement P1 to S3 L3 (second additional language) - to be introduced from P5 at the latest L3 at some point in secondary BGE (S1-S3) - in addition to L2 For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Policy into practice : L3 Starts P5 (at the latest) & is a P5- P7 experience, as well as at some point within S1-S3 Can be the same language, P5-P7 eg German Can be a variety of languages eg Japanese in P5, BSL in P6, Polish in P7 Can be a 1x per week experience with follow-up work (not unlike the old MLPS model) Can be over a school session, or over an intensive block of time each year Can be delivered by another teacher, a member of the school community, a languages student etc Has to cover all 4 skills and be a progressive experience For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Which language? No hierarchy of language The first additional language (L2) must be a living language, able to be carried on into secondary school and be available as a National Qualification thereafter L3 can be any language For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Modern languages available as L2 : French Spanish German Italian Gaelic (learners) Urdu Mandarin Cantonese For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Snapshot of L3 in P5-P7 across Scotland 2018 Scots Gaelic BSL Russian Polish Japanese Dutch Mandarin Arabic Welsh Greek Swahili Portuguese Swedish Norwegian For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

BBC News 8 May 2018 The belief that Scotland is more welcoming to immigrants than the rest of the UK is a "misleading fantasy” Scotland's vote to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum has “given the myth that the country is not racist a new lease of life” 2013/14 - just under 5,000 racial attacks in Scotland. Similar discrimination is continuing against eastern Europeans, gypsy/travellers, Muslims and other ethnic groups. This is an internal page in blue and can be duplicated to create additional pages. Always keep the heading and footer as shown. Use the corresponding blue internal and back pages if you are using this page.

2011: Scottish Government manifesto commitment In a nutshell...similarly we bend over backwards to motivate youngsters to learn some languages, whilst ignoring other languages that they already bring with them to school. Complete paradox! And a waste! We are rich in languages yet we talk of a deficit. Dr Terry Lamb, Westminster University For Scotland’s learners with Scotland’s educators

Questions? Ceistean? ¿Preguntas? Fragen? Domande? 问题 ? سوالات ? Speirins? This is an internal page in blue and can be duplicated to create additional pages. Always keep the heading and footer as shown. Use the corresponding blue internal and back pages if you are using this page.