| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
UC Education Plus has been working hard to get schools ready for a major change in the New Zealand curriculum. The curriculum sets out that it will be expected that all schools will offer a second language to Year 7 to 10 pupils.
Education Plus provides professional development to South Island teachers north of the Waitaki River and Haast. Joanne Guthrie and Sarah Perkins, learning language advisors at Education Plus, travel throughout the region to help schools develop the skills and resources to teach the languages that they would like to offer.
“For us as advisers, and the language teachers we work with, it is exciting to see this new learning area established,” said Ms Perkins.
“Learning a new language benefits all students and gives students a better understanding of their first language. Exploring language helps students to gain skills and confidence. It’s great seeing students gain confidence by being better communicators,” she said.
The new curriculum change came about after much consultation with education experts, school communities, teachers and students who identified learning a second language as being an important part of a broad education. In other parts of the world, learning another language is seen as an integral component of a rich and balanced curriculum, Ms Guthrie said.
“The old comment that New Zealand’s isolation means that there is no immediate need to learn another language doesn’t apply any more,” said Ms Guthrie. “In our increasingly connected global community there is more of a need to be culturally aware. Employers are looking for people who have an intercultural understanding, and being able to communicate in another language will ensure our students have marketable skills in a world where being monolingual is a disadvantage.
“We need a learning environment which enables all our students to attain high standards and develop appropriate personal qualities. We need a workforce which has an international and multicultural perspective.”
More than 80 per cent of schools in the region are already offering a language programme to Year 7 to 10 pupils, so those schools are already well equipped to implement the new curriculum. For those schools without a language programme in place, the Ministry of Education has developed a new set of resources. The Learning Language Series includes multimedia, audio, CD and print resources to facilitate learning a new language.
To support this new curriculum initiative the Ministry of Education also provides funding for a number of awards for teachers and students. These include Language Immersion Awards which allow teachers and secondary school students to experience language and cultural learning in a country where the language is spoken.
For further information please contact:
Jane Lucas
Communications Officer
University of Canterbury
Ph (03)364 2987 ext 6072
jane.lucas@canterbury.ac.nz