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‘. . . the uptake of languages among school-age children remains very low by international standards. Australian young people spend less time studying languages than young people in all other OECD countries.’
Award presentation ceremony to acknowledge ‘Australia’s best kept secret’
One in six Australian children start school speaking two languages -- English and their home language but by the time they reach Year 12 most will have lost their home language and switched to English only.
Parents and community members have tried to stop this language loss by setting up classes on weekends and weeknights for children. Now more than 100,000 children across Australia attend these Community Languages Schools learning one of more than 60 languages. In NSW 33,000 students attend around 450 schools and are taught by about 2,000 teachers.
Lecturers from the University of Wollongong’s Faculty of Education in conjunction with the NSW Department of Education and Training recently organised training programs across NSW for parents and community members working in the schools
The programs covered areas such as child development, language acquisition and language teaching. Teachers are also observing classes in day schools and developing materials for children in their schools.
“Community Languages Schools are Australia’s best kept secret,’ said program organiser, Dr Ken Cruickshank.
“They have been running outside school hours in school halls and other places for more than 150 years staffed mainly by volunteer teachers. We are hoping that the training we are providing will make the teaching more effective as they are really trying hard to maintain such a valuable resource -- our languages.”
To acknowledge those who have successfully undertaken the community language training programs, certificates will be presented on September 1 at Strathfield Girls High School. Among those attending will be the NSW Director-General of Education, Michael Coutts-Trotter, and the University of Wollongong’s Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Patterson.
Dr Cruikshank said that teachers in Community Languages Schools were carrying on a long tradition achieving remarkable outcomes in difficult conditions.
“Their mainly voluntary work has meant that generations of young people have valued their language and cultural heritage and have gained fluency and understanding that might not have been otherwise possible.”
Research has shown that children with two languages have better cognitive thinking skills and other benefits are social and vocational. Almost 60 per cent of the world’s population is bilingual.
Dr Cruickshank said that although Australia was a multilingual country and there have been many government policies supporting languages study there has been a serious decline in recent years.
“Despite multiple attempts to provide for language study at various levels through policy and funding, the uptake of languages among school-age children remains very low by international standards. Australian young people spend less time studying languages than young people in all other OECD countries,” he said.
“Most worrying are the indications that maintenance of many home languages is under serious threat. Nearly 17% of Australians speak a language other than English at home, a figure rising to 31.4% in Sydney and 27.9% in Melbourne but this resource is not being developed as children progress through schooling,” Dr Cruickshank said.
Media please note: Community language school presentation of certificates will take place at Strathfield Girls High School, Sydney.
When: Tuesday 1 September from 5.30pm to 7.30pm
For further information contact Dr Ken Cruickshank on 0437 273 046 or (02) 9357 2775 (h).