Languages entitlement

[Emma Dawson]

I'm wondering if anyone can help. I'm sure somewhere I have read/heard/seen that the entitlement for all KS2 children for languages should be 1 hour a week but I cannot find it anywhere. Have looked through the framework and all I can see is that all KS2 children have entitlement to learn a language; please help me to find where I've seen this. My headteacher wants to know so that we can sort out our strategy for next year.

Thanks

[Lorraine]

Emma
I too was under the impression Entitlement was one hour, not all in one block necessarily but if you refer back to previous discussions Entitlement- Jan Lendowski's reply, Runaway's reply on TES 10.5.09 the situation seems a little unclear. Then I don't think the Rose report mentions any specific time frame.
No doubt Jo will be able to tell you more or try googling Helen Myers replies on TES

[Jayne Jackson]

As Lorraine says, many aspects of the 'entitlement' are still unclear. However, as you point out, the Framework clearly mentions an allocation of no less than 60 minutes per week for language work - just in case you need to find this in black and white, refer to Part 2 of the Framework, Section 1 (Primary Language Learning) pg 9 and again Part 2, Section 2 (Co-ordinating Provision) pg 25.

Hope this helps.

[Jan Lewandowski]

Confusion about the terms is very common- you are not alone! It all revolves around the term `entitlement' which is a very nebulous concept. Children have had the `entitlement' for a while but it isn't necessarily being delivered yet! There is no `entitlement' to one hour p/w; this is a recommendation to which most schools subscribe if they are already teaching primary languages. The hour is an aspirationfor some schools, derived from maybe a half hour dedicated lesson and `bits' throughout the week. Even the Rose Report does not specify 1 hour; this has just become accepted practice.

Do contact your local PML consultant for further clarification if possible. I currently work for Cambridgeshire and we have tried to clarify this for our teachers. BTW, I'm Funambule on TES so was a party to this discussion. We absolutely need clarity in this; it is too open to misinterpretation.

[Emma Dawson]

Thank you, that's really helpful. I think for our school at the moment it is definitely an aspiration but neither myself or the head could find anywhere that said it the other day so we weren't quite sure if we'd imagined it. Thanks for clearing it up.