Ulster Unionist MLA and Education spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA has challenged the Minister for Education to produce evidence that the primary modern language programme was not delivering. The scheme, where tutors went into primary schools to introduce pupils to foreign languages, has just had its funding removed.
Mr Kinahan said;
“The Minister for Education announced at the start of March that all funding for the Primary Modern Languages Programme would cease at the end of March. This was after his budget had been voted through by the DUP and Sinn Fein. It was also without any prior notice for the 100 Peripatetic Language tutors who had been delivering the programme, or any detailed discussion with the Education Committee who are meant to scrutinize the decision making of the Minister.
“This is no way to do government. I have challenged the Minister about the teaching of languages to primary school children at Question Time on the floor of the Assembly, and have been surprised by his response. More than just his normal line blaming everyone else for budget cuts, he has questioned the effectiveness of the programme, and suggested that it was not encouraging young people to go on to take modern languages later in their school career. He said, “Over the seven years that the programme has been running, we have actually seen a slight slippage in the number of young people taking GCSEs and A levels in modern languages.”
“How on earth can the Minister judge the programme based on numbers of pupils going on to study for GCSEs and A levels when the oldest pupils who were exposed to the language programme in Primary schools from 2007, would only now be in Year 10 (4th Form) at secondary school? The core programme was for p1 to p4 classes, it simply has not been in place long enough to be fully evaluated. I have placed another question at the Assembly asking the Minister to reveal his evidence base.
“The Minister goes on to suggest that individual schools have the option to continue to teach languages out of their own resources. At this stage, with the new financial year upon us and school budgets already planned, this is a completely unrealistic suggestion. I fear that in the immediate future there is unlikely to be any language provision at primary schools in Northern Ireland. In contrast, the teaching of modern foreign languages like French, Spanish and German in primary schools, is being prioritised in the rest of the United Kingdom. This whole area needs to be looked at again. We need a centrally organised programme which offers tutors a degree of job security and primary schools a reliable and committed resource for their pupils.”