Scotland plan to abolish national exams in Russian

[Simon Beattie]

Goodness.  What a shame Russian isn't taught any more in Scotland,
especially given the connections between Scotland and Russia over the
centuries.  Witness the National Library of Scotland's "The Caledonian
Phalanx: Scots in Russia".  I didn't see the exhibition (1987?), but I do
have the catalogue, which is very interesting.

Simon Beattie


Simon Beattie
Antiquarian books and music

84 The Broadway | Chesham | Buckinghamshire | HP5 1EG | UK

tel.  +44 (0)1494 784954 | mobile/voicemail  +44 (0)7717 707575 | e-mail
simon at simonbeattie.co.uk

VAT no.  GB 983 5355 83


-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of carr jennifer
Sent: 11 August 2010 13:44
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS] Scotland plan to abolish national exams in Russian

The SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) have just announced that they
will be abandoning exams in Russian from 2015.  This is catastrophic news
for all who hoped that (at least some) schools in Scotland would start
teaching Russian again - at the moment there are NONE, apart from a
scattering of extracurricular classes and a few weekend supplementary
schools for heritage pupils.
Schools will not introduce a subject which has no national examinations -
pupils could sit the English GCSE/GCE exams but that would be
administratively and pedagogically difficult for Scottish schools, where the
system is different in several respects to the English.
So this decision effectively signals the end of any hope of bringing back
Russian to mainstream schools in Scotland.

Any advice or support welcome!  Please send them to *
info at scotlandrussiaforum.org*, we will collect and use when writing to the
various powers that be.

More information:
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6053553<http://www.sqa.org.uk/sq
a/42238.2637.html>(TES
article last Friday, para 7)
 <http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/42238.2637.html>
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/42238.2637.html (SQA Modern Languages Progress
Report May 2010)
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/42543.2795.html (SQA Overview of qualifications in
the languages curriculum area, July 2010)

Jenny Carr, Scotland-Russia Forum
Scotland-Russia Institute, 9 South College St, Edinburgh EH8 9AA, UK
www.scotlandrussiaforum.org
jenny at scotlandrussiaforum.org

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