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DfE desperate for language teachers

This is from the gov.uk website. They are trying to increase the supply of ML teachers to enable schools to offer the Ebacc suite of subjects at GCSE. Look at what the site says:

"As a lead school, you can apply for up to £30,000 funding for teacher subject specialism training in MFL. This can help you address workforce challenges to support the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

The purpose of teacher subject specialism training for MFL is to provide school-led MFL subject specialism training to non-specialist teachers and MFL subject specialism training to specialist MFL teachers who:

- are not currently teaching MFL and may need refresher training to enable a move back into an MFL teaching role
- may be looking to teach a new language in addition to their language specialism

This will build capacity within the system to enable schools to address strategically workforce and deployment challenges to support delivery of the Ebacc and build the skills necessary to enable non-specialists to move into an MFL teaching role or upskill non-specialists already undertaking an MFL role.

The priority target groups for secondary MFL are:

- teachers not currently teaching MFL with post A level MFL qualifications;
- teachers not currently teaching MFL with good A level MFL qualifications;
- teachers not teaching MFL who are native/near native speakers;
- non-specialist teachers currently teaching MFL in addition to their specialist subject;
- specialist MFL teachers who are not currently teaching MFL and who need refresher training to enable a move back into an MFL role;
- specialist MFL teachers who have the capacity to teach a new language in addition to their language specialism".

So, it seems that the DfE consider an A-level in a modern language an adequate qualification to teach in secondary school. Being a native or near-native speaker is also fine. They are also happy for existing specialist teachers to mug up on another language.

Does this not smack of desperation? I thought the government expected teachers to have a 2.1 degree in their subject, not just A-level. Would they be just as happy to A-level mathematicians teaching secondary mathematics?

In short, they are willing to put anyone in front of pupils who can get by a bit with either limited pedagogical knowledge or mediocre language proficiency. This is their response to the "workforce challenge". Need one say more?

Here is the link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teacher-subject-specialism-training-funding-for-schools#modern-foreign-languages-mfl


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