This presentation will explore the position of modern languages in the schools sector in Wales and analyse UK and national initiatives in place to arrest the long-term decline in uptake of modern languages at GCSE. It will speculate on the role of the academy in supporting the language community in Wales and the UK; from individual university academics to learned societies to school-university outreach projects. In an era of Brexit, it will ask has the time come for universities and academics to adopt a more proactive approach to supporting languages. Should we move from advocate to activist? If so, who is a language activist and what can they do?
Claire Gorrara is Professor of French at Cardiff University and Chair of the University Council of Modern Languages. She is a member of the Welsh Government’s Global Futures Steering Group, Wales’ five-year strategy for modern languages. She is the Academic Lead for the MFL Student Mentoring Project funded by the Welsh Government. This project supports the uptake of MFL at GCSE in Welsh secondary schools. The project was recently selected by the Department for Education in England for adaptation and implementation in the Sheffield area as a pilot project. She is also the Academic Lead for Routes into Languages Cymru, a pan-Wales languages network promoting modern languages within the education sector and beyond.
Walter Presents to Yorkshire
Please remember to join us in the evening for our special event with Walter Iuzzolino – the curator of Walter Presents – who will talk about the ground-breaking channel’s vision for world drama, and be the first to see the first episode of their dazzling new show ‘The Mafia only Kills in Summer’.
