The British Academy has launched a new report on languages provision in Further Education on Monday 30 January. The online launch is co-hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Further Education and Lifelong Learning.
The report can be accessed here.
The report points out that “The number of FE colleges with no provision at all in languages is substantial. There are ‘cold spots’ for languages in Higher Education in the north, east and southwest of England, particularly in universities with lower-than-average entry tariffs. […] Given that almost all students of FE live permanently within commutable distance of their FE college, most FE students in the UK do not have the option to learn a language as part of or alongside their studies or training”.
The lack of provision is linked to an absence of strategy regarding the place of languages in FE settings.
Recommendations building on the report, including the call for the creation of the Strategic Committee for Languages in Further Education to meet the need for a unifying voice, can be found here. The report also supports the need for a National Languages Strategy, as called for in recent years.