<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">School subject review considers axing mandatory languages
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<cite class="">Tanya Chilcott </cite>
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<p><strong>
LANGUAGES could be dropped as a compulsory subject in state schools
in a move teachers warn would disadvantage Queensland children.
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<p>A review of mandatory languages in Years 6, 7 and 8 is also
considering whether the subject should be dropped in primary school,
after Education Queensland (EQ) recommended the subject start in Year 7,
once the year level moves into secondary.</p><p>In documents obtained under Right to Information, EQ says a Prep to Year 6 languages focus "is not recommended".</p><p>"Commencing
languages in Year 7 would allow for efficient focusing of curriculum
time in Junior Secondary," a Ministerial briefing note states.</p><p>"Consequently,
in Prep - Year 6 it would allow more time for schools to focus on EQ
core priorities as stated in United in our Pursuit of Excellence. A
second consideration is whether languages are mandated."</p>
<p>In the note Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek is warned of
problems sourcing language teachers in rural areas, with more than 1200
students learning the subject through Distance Education, and that some
school communities and parents are against it being mandatory.</p><p>Mr Langbroek said a review into the mandatory languages policy was under way.</p><p>Japanese is currently the most popular language in state schools, followed by German, French and Mandarin.</p>
<p>Modern
Language Teachers' Association of Queensland president Cynthia Dodd
said she believed Year 7 was too late to start languages because
students attitudes had hardened by then and research showed children
were more receptive to languages in the early years.</p><p>P&Cs Qld
CEO Peter Levett said research showed it was beneficial for students to
learn a language, although there were two schools of thought on whether
it made a difference if it started from Prep or not.</p><p><a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/school-subject-review-considers-axing-mandatory-languages/story-fnii5v70-1226691099731">http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/school-subject-review-considers-axing-mandatory-languages/story-fnii5v70-1226691099731</a><br>
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