<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Two thirds of councils delivering second language lessons in primary one</h1>
<div class="">Written by <span class="">Jenni Davidson</span> on 12 February 2016 in <span class="">News</span></div>
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<div class=""> <div class=""><p>Primary
one pupils in 21 Scottish local authority areas will be getting lessons
in a second language by the end of this school year</p>
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<div class="" rel="schema:image og:image rdfs:seeAlso"><img class="" src="https://www.holyrood.com/sites/www.holyrood.com/files/styles/original_-_local_version/entityshare/4456%3Fitok%3DC-gGEzTW" alt="School children" title="School children"></div>
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<p>Almost two thirds of local authorities will be delivering second language lessons in primary 1 by the end of this school year.</p>
<p>Pupils in 21 out of the 32 local authority areas are being taught a
second language in the first year of primary school, according to the
Scottish Government.</p>
<p>The Scottish Government introduced a 1+2 languages policy in 2011 –
meaning every primary school pupil will start learning a second language
in P1 and a third at the latest by P5, which they’ll continue until the
end of S3.</p>
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<p>All councils are expected to meet the 1+2 languages commitment by 2020.</p>
<p>Local authorities and the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC)
expressed concerns about the cost of implementation and the training
needed for primary teachers to deliver the lessons when it was proposed.</p>
<p>In March last year the Scottish Government announced an extra £7.2m funding to support the initiative.</p>
<p>Minister for Learning, Dr Alasdair Allan, met young people speaking
French, Spanish and Gaelic on a visit to Edinbarnet Primary School in
West Dunbartonshire yesterday.</p>
<p>He said: “In today’s global, multi-cultural world it is more
important than ever that young people have the opportunity to learn
languages from an early age, to equip them with skills and competencies
for the globalised economy.</p>
<p>“We want to ensure the enthusiasm for languages starts at an early
stage in a child’s education. Here at Edinbarnet, it’s great to see that
happening in P1, at a time when a majority of councils are now meeting
the commitment.</p>
<p>The 1+2 model of language learning follows an EU policy that all
European citizens should master two languages in addition to their
mother tongue.</p>
<p>The 2015 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSA) results show 89 per
cent of people in Scotland think that learning a language other than
English in school from the age of five is important.</p><p><a href="https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/two-thirds-councils-delivering-second-language-lessons-primary-one">https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/two-thirds-councils-delivering-second-language-lessons-primary-one</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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