[lg policy] Scotland: Business leaders call for action on languages

[Harold Schiffman]

Business leaders call for action on languages
 <http://www.heraldscotland.com/andrew-denholm>
Andrew Denholm <http://www.heraldscotland.com/andrew-denholm>
Education Correspondent
  Wednesday 4 March 2015

BUSINESS leaders have called for greater efforts to be made to ensure the
survival of modern language learning in Scottish schools.

CBI Scotland, the Institute of Directors in Scotland and the Scottish
Chambers of Commerce said it was essential to the future competitiveness of
the Scottish economy that pupils were able to learn a range of languages.

The call comes after the Scottish Government came under fire from some of
the most powerful countries in Europe over its languages policy.

Representatives from Germany, Switzerland and Austria have written to Dr
Alastair Allan, the minister for learning, warning that current policies to
expand language learning may lead to the "ultimate demise" of German in
Scottish schools.

In January, Dr Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassador to Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, urged Scottish ministers to protect the Russian
Higher qualification, which is to be axed this year despite a sharp
increase in numbers sitting it.

Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said:
"If Scotland is to achieve a step change in the number and types of
businesses that operate on the international stage, then we need to look
seriously at the cultural and educational differences that foreign language
teaching can make to our aspiring business leaders of the future.

"Knowledge of foreign languages is important both from the perspective of
being able to communicate with businesses elsewhere in the world and also
from the standpoint of cultural awareness of how other nations and people
operate.

"If we are to make a real difference though, we should go further and
ensure that, for example, a foreign study is an essential component of all
higher education coursework."

David Watt, executive director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland,
said the predominance of English as an international language of computers
and commerce had made people "even more lazy" about learning a foreign
language.

"It is ironic that that is happening when one of Scotland's main priorities
is growing exports," he said.

"Business is about personal relationships because people do business with
other people and it is important that pupils have access to languages from
an early age because it can be much harder to pick up later in life."

A CBI spokesman added: "With the EU still our largest export market, it's
no surprise that German, French and Spanish language skills remain highly
prized by companies.

"It has been a worry to see foreign language study in our schools under
pressure with one in five schools having a persistently low-take up of
languages. The jury remains out as to whether recent Government initiatives
can help spur a resurgence in language learning.

"Young people considering their future subject choices should be made more
aware of the benefits to their careers that can come from studying a
foreign language."

Earlier this week The Herald revealed that representatives from Germany,
Switzerland and Austria had written to Dr Alastair Allan, the minister for
learning, warning that current policies to expand language learning may
lead to the "ultimate demise" of German in Scottish schools.

A joint paper from the three consulates highlights the SNP's aspiration to
adopt the European Union's 1+2 policy which would see all Scottish pupils
learning two languages in addition to their native tongue by the end of
primary school.

But it adds: "A review of the situation in 2014 leaves no doubt that
Scottish Government's ambitious targets for increasing language provision
have not been met as far as German is concerned. The uptake of German in
Scottish schools has not increased."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said German learning has an important
place in education.

She said: "We are investing £9 million over two years in our ambitious 1+2
policy., Overall the number of pupils learning languages at higher level in
Scotland is up eight per cent since 2010.

"We fully expect the range of languages to increase as 1+2 is implemented
across the country, and this will provide opportunities for German to
become more widely available as capacity is built within the system."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/education/business-leaders-call-for-action-on-languages.119676711


-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
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)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20150304/6a94f9c4/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list