Consultation on ‘A’ level content

Just one week left to give your view on the proposed changes to content of ‘community’ language A and AS levels.

Did you take an A level in a mother-tongue or heritage language? Do you teach languages in mainstream or supplementary school? Are you raising bi-lingual children and would you like them to go further with their language acquisition?

Take a look at the specification for the new exams, let the Department for Education know your views. We fought hard to retain these exams, we have to stay involved in their redevelopment and delivery.

The draft content is designed specifically for AS and A levels in the following modern foreign languages: Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Greek, Modern Hebrew, Japanese, Panjabi, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish and Urdu. Specifications for these 12 languages must offer levels of demand and challenge which are broadly comparable to specifications for languages governed by the main content for modern foreign languages (French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian), published in 2015. The key difference is that students will not be required to demonstrate speaking skills in any of the 12 languages to which this consultation applies, in the light of particular challenges in assessing these skills, including difficulties in recruiting trained examiners with the specialist expertise.

In the absence of requirements for students to demonstrate speaking skills, it remains important to secure a level of demand and challenge which is broadly comparable to specifications for languages governed by the main modern foreign languages content (2015). We therefore propose that students will be required to apply language skills (listening, reading, and writing) in combination, responding to spoken and written sources addressing common subject matter. This offers a distinct level of challenge by asking students to apply three skills in response to suitably challenging material.

Click through below to read more …

 

Respond to the consultation here – it doesn’t take long but it is important. Show that you value these ‘A’ levels and you have pupils who will be taking them.

https://consult.education.gov.uk/qualifications-division/subject-content-for-languages-with/