Kathryn Board, CEO of CILT, the National Centre for Languages issued the following statement in advance of the ATL conference in March.

A motion being debated at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) conference is right to highlight training as a key issue for the continued success of primary languages. But it is mistaken to suggest that progress should be put on hold until specialists are available to carry out the work. Offering children the opportunity to learn a language while they are at primary school is too important for that.

Schools, local authorities and, above all, class teachers deserve enormous credit for achieving a situation where 92% of primary schools are teaching languages and, according to independent research, teachers are enthusiastic about the benefits for their pupils. They see languages as contributing to personal and social learning, cultural understanding, communication and literacy skills as well as attitudes to learning. Languages have an intrinsic value, but they also broaden and enrich the overall curriculum and, according to Ofsted, are most successful when links are made between subjects and class teachers are able to embed them in daily routines.

As we move towards statutory status for languages, specialist teachers will be important in ensuring quality and progression in language skills, and challenging children to achieve more, particularly in years 5 and 6, but class teachers have already shown how successful they can be in introducing a new language in ways which are integrated with their wider learning.

The new primary curriculum places languages within the area of Understanding English, Communication and Languages, making the point that learning a new language is part of the whole language development of the child. Whoever teaches languages needs a good understanding of what is being developed in children’s own literacy too and this involves the class teacher who, after all, is the specialist in this area.