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FEATURES Ready to roll? The government's proposals for the National Curriculum confirm its intention to make a foreign language compulsory in primary schools (Key Stage 2) from 2014, and set out some high expectations for pupil achievement.1 But how ready are primary schools to implement this policy? And how confident are they that they will be able to achieve it, given that the support previously provided through local authorities and national organisations such as CILT, the National Centre for Languages, has been withdrawn? A survey of primary schools, carried out during the autumn term of 2012, sought to find out. The survey was carried out by CfBT Education Trust, in conjunction with the Association for Language Learning (ALL) and the Independent Schools' Modern Languages Association (ISMLA), as a new element in the annual Language Trends survey of secondary schools,2 which began in 2002. It was the first time since 2008 that an attempt had been made to map the situation of languages in primary schools. Then, a survey on the implementation of the National Languages Strategy3 had shown that, following an intensive programme of training,4 92 percent of primary schools were teaching a foreign language. However, with the change of government, a review of the national curriculum and the withdrawal of funding for local authority support, there had been some evidence that this proportion had declined.5 In the 2012 survey, an encouraging 97 percent of respondents said they were offering pupils the opportunity to learn a foreign language. The sample of more than 700 primary schools in England was reasonably representative in terms of geographic location and pupil performance. 14 The Linguist JUNE/JULY PHOTOS: © ISTOCKPHOTO What does the new primary curriculum mean for languages, ask Kathryn Board and Teresa Tinsley However, the very high proportion saying that they teach a language may be an overestimation of the national picture because schools not teaching a language may have been less inclined to reply. Nonetheless, the high volume of responses clearly shows that languages are firmly on the agenda in primary schools and presents a promising picture in relation to the new National Curriculum requirements. A wide spectrum of practice More than 80 percent of respondents said that they are at least reasonably confident about teaching a foreign language and believe that their provision is sustainable. However, language teaching is still very new for some schools, and the survey revealed a wide spectrum of practice and a lack of consistency between schools in both their approach to language teaching and the outcomes they achieve. Some schools concentrate solely on oral skills and do not attempt to teach the written language. Some integrate language teaching with learning in other curriculum areas, while others are completely dependent on external providers. Some schools teach one language, others provide tasters of a range of languages. There is a small minority of schools where teachers do not believe that languages are a priority and fear that setting aside time for them would conflict with the need to improve literacy and communication skills in English. Schools typically allocate a very small amount of time to languages, with 30 minutes a week being most common. Although this tends to increase slightly as children get older, there is a clear mismatch between the expectations of the new National Curriculum and what current practice can deliver. Languages taught The new National Curriculum, currently the subject of public consultation, requires pupils to make substantial progress, by the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2), in one of seven named languages: French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Spanish, Latin and Ancient Greek. French was offered by nearly 75 percent of schools participating in the survey, and Spanish by 17 percent. Only 4 percent offered German, www.iol.org.uk