In the Sydney Morning Article “Bonus points plan to raise low levels of language study” discusses how the board of studies has made a proposal to develop an ATAR bonus point scheme for students who have studied a language.
Language teachers have accused the Board of Studies of “burying its head in the sand” for stopping short for making language compulsory in primary schools.
Also it has also been reports that the majority of HSC students studying a language fell to 8% this year, which is historic low. The board president, Tom Alegounarias, wants to “recognize the important of language acquisition in general intellectual activity.”
There are also discussions about making languages compulsory as a “key learning area” in NSW primary school. However the downfall is that learning a language would only fall into only one of the three aspects of the curriculum, alongside “language awareness” and “intercultural understanding”, with schools only having to provide two of the three strands. This shows that students will miss out on learning a language and other schools will choose different options by saving money they spent on employing a specialist language teacher.
The availability of qualified language teachers are lacking, particular in primary schools, as qualified teachers is the important factor influencing the teaching of languages. So that may be a downfall for going forward with the proposal.
There is also a proposal for teaching Aboriginal language, as well as making it into a HSC subject.
It also reviews the eligibility criteria for enrolling in HSC language courses at different levels such as beginner, continuer or heritage speaker. However there have been concerns that students who compete with those who speak a particular language at home, or have the language background may have an advantage as they have a greater level of proficient that they actually had.
I believe it is a good thing making language compulsory in primary schools, as it supports the view that Australia is multicultural. Also students may learn new skills from learning languages and enjoy learning about the culture and lifestyle of the language they are learning. However qualified teachers need to be available for this proposal to go forward. But on the other hand, it means there will be more jobs for language teachers.
Also there is a flaw for eligibility criteria for students enrolling into their background language, as background speakers would be unfair advantage over those beginner students who have no background knowledge about the particular language. So the schools or Board of Studies would need fair eligibility criteria.
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Hi Daisy, I strongly agree with you. As Australia is a multicultural country it is necessary for children to learn and understand other culture, lifestyle and languages. It is also good for them to have such skills to live better in Australia. And yes, this will benefits them with relations. For the fair eligibility of background speakers that you have mentioned, I think the Board of Studies has done well. I have done Chinese for Background Speakers for my HSC and it was hard for us as well, so if we want to get a higher make in that course we have to study hard for it just like in other subjects.
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