Pilot project schools, Bradford Local Authority

Why was Arabic chosen?

A pilot initiative was proposed to Bradford primary schools by the Local Authority in the summer of 2008 to explore the possibility of introducing Arabic as the main foreign language.

Some schools in Bradford have close to 100% of children from a Muslim background, largely from Mirpuri, Panjabi. Bangla or Urdu-speaking homes. Some children have had access to Qu'ranic Arabic (or Urdu) through classes at their mosque, for example, but very few, if any, come from Arabic-speaking homes.

Arabic was seen as an attractive language to teach to these children, with its status as an international language of communication, but also offering cultural links with the local community. The LA was clear to schools that the proposal was to teach Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in keeping with the aims of the primary languages initiative, rather than the classical language in the Qu'ran.

Participating schools liaised with parents to ensure their support for the proposal. The response has been very positive. Reasons given include:

• knowledge of MSA will help their children's career prospects
• the initiative will bring home and school life closer
• knowledge of MSA will ease access to Qu'ranic Arabic in their children's mosque studies
• learning MSA will help children to learn about the culture of the Middle East
• children will be able to communicate when taking part in Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)

How does the curriculum model work?

The LA issued a proposal to all schools in the area, including the following:

• Setting up of a pilot group of schools using a two year Language Learning Skills approach (Years 3 and 4) with one agreed target language (Arabic)
• Use by schools of the Investigating Languages scheme to develop the Language Learning Strategies and Knowledge About Language strands of the KS2 Framework in 20-30 mn sessions per week (or as part of a thematic curriculum) in Years 3 and 4 to allow time to develop the resources needed to teach Arabic in Years 5 and 6
• Teaching of a shorter additional session per week in Years 3 and 4 to apply these skills to Arabic
• Provision by the LA of KS2 Framework training for all staff within the pilot group
• Support from the LA to quality assure and facilitate the sharing of resources within the wider network of schools

Six schools expressed an interest in becoming involved in the pilot to varying degrees in the first year. A head teachers' meeting was held, an outline of the LA's proposed support programme was issued and a project outline and remit was drawn up and shared with participating schools.

The funding for this initiative is drawn from the Standards Fund supporting primary language learning provision and has been maximised through collaboration with the Cohesion and Diversity team within Bradford LA.

Each interested school has been given the flexibility to tailor the proposed model to its own needs and circumstances. Not all schools have a majority Muslim background learner profile. Some schools have allocated slightly more time to the language sessions, others slightly less.

One school is teaching only Arabic, without following the Investigating Languages scheme. Another is teaching French as the language within the curriculum and offering a 45 minutes after-school Arabic lesson in this first year of the pilot. This is now taught during the school day as part of the curriculum in Years 3 and 4. Another is teaching Year 3 Arabic with a strong cross-curricular link to art; the school also teaches French in Year 3, though a small group of pupils study Urdu instead. Another school teaches French, but a small group learns Arabic instead with a bilingual TA. This school now teaches Arabic in Years 3 to 6 and uses Investigating Languages. Some French is taught in upper KS2 but the predominant language is Arabic. Participating schools are:

• Atlas Primary School
• Bryon Primary School
• Copthorne Primary School
• Eastwood Primary School
• Horton Park Primary School
• Lister Primary School

Resources and training

The LA forged a strategic relationship with the Bradford Arabic Supplementary School to take advantage of the skills and experience of its teachers. As these teachers do not have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and detailed knowledge of the English education system and principles, the LA offered in return a programme of training and support to develop the teachers to take on this new role in mainstream schools. The LA had a written agreement with the supplementary school to provide renumeration for teaching and training hours during the project's first year. In the second year, the LA promoted primary schools numerating the supplementary school directly.

Also taking part in the training are Arabic teachers at a local secondary school, an Arabic-speaking TA from one of the primary schools and a Foreign Language Assistant from Oman (through the British Council) who are also involved in teaching the Arabic lessons.

The primary class teachers are encouraged to learn Arabic alongside the children and are invited to attend the training sessions.

Training has largely taken place on a Saturday and includes the following elements:

• KS2 Framework strands, objectives and pedagogical principles
• Focus on Intercultural Understanding to offer children a wider perspective on their own culture
• Teaching activities from the KS2 Framework and Primary Languages Training Zone
• Introduction to the Investigating Languages scheme
• Joint planning for teaching from Investigating Languages

As well as support in resources preparation, the LA is currently dedicating significant time to the development of the Arabic teachers, visiting each primary school and observing lessons every two or three weeks.

Where next?

A draft Scheme of Work for Year 3 has been developed, but as a working document it is being revised as the pilot progresses. Inidividual learner progress is tracked on recording sheets.

The pilot schools are keen to explore possibilities within the Intercultural Understanding strand of the KS2 Framework further, as well as the implications of Arabic as a non-Roman script language and Years 5 and 6 literacy objectives.

Some use has also been made of the Curriculum Guide for Arabic (CILT) and resources and support from the Arabic Teachers' Network (SSAT). The LA is supporting and coordinating the development of high quality curriculum resources as an outcome of the project, which will be shared as widely as possible.

The LA facilitates termly meetings of participating schools' leadership teams to ensure the pilot structures continue to meet the needs of the schools. There are plans to take advantage of a two-way classroom training facility at Byron primary school to support the pilot in due course. Schools and some of the children learning Arabic shared their work at the Bradford KS2/3 Languages conference in June 2009.

The LA also hopes to encourage take-up of Arabic as a language taught at KS3 as the project progresses; there are currently only two secondary schools which offer Arabic within the curriculum, though several offer the possibility of taking a GCSE examination.

Meetings between primary school language coordinators and KS3 languages teachers are planned, taking advantage of current clusters created through the KS3 Strategic Learning Networks in the absence of an existing school clusters structure.

October 2009