News articles on Diplomas and work-related language courses

• £23 million boost to rural plans to support the diploma announced
  Ministers announce a £23 million cash injection to help rural areas support the Diplomas. More employers have signed up to support the new subject-based Diplomas in Science, Humanities and Languages. (30/06/08)
• Chair of the Development Partnership for the Diploma in Languages announced
  Dr Terry Lamb, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Sheffield; governor of CILT, the National Centre for Languages, is the newly announced Chair of the Diploma Development Partnership for the new Languages Diploma.
  Read the DCSF press release | QCA Diploma info | Diplomas and languages
• How including languages is helping to create an innovative Diploma curriculum - CILT's monthly FE News article.
  Awareness of languages in the Diplomas is growing and institutions are now beginning to think about how they might use this new development to expand languages within the curriculum. Read the full article to find out how the College of North East London is one of the institutions blazing a trail in terms of developing languages for the new Diplomas. (20/02/08)
• Tariff rating that will be applied to the new Diplomas announced
  The value of the Government's new Diplomas as a progression route enabling pupils to get into universities and colleges was confirmed today by both UCAS and the QCA. (18/12/07)
• Yorkshire fabric company named top Business Language Champion (pdf, 137 KB)
  Camira Fabrics with King James' High School in Huddersfield have been named Business Language Champion Partnership of the Year 2006-2007. The prize, awarded for inspiring students and demonstrating the real life relevance of language skills, was announced at the National Education Business Partnership Network annual conference in London on Monday 3 December.
• Jim Knight AoC Speech on 14 to 19 Reform & Diplomas
  'This isn’t about chaining young people to their desks, but giving young people the choice to do what’s right for them – whether that’s in the classroom, a lab, an office or a workshop. But we need a new way of learning to do that.' (22/11/07)
  
• Enterprise Week - 12-18 November 2007 - Enterprise Week is a UK-wide week of activities inspiring young people to be enterprising - to make their ideas happen.
• CILT's project Languages Work has produced four new free factsheets in order to raise awareness of the true value of languages in the workplace and beyond. The new titles are:
  1. Building skills: Languages for the built environment
  2. Engineering success: Languages for engineering
  3. Making sense: a career in translation or interpreting
  4. Use it or lose it: any language skill is an asset for life
  Visit the Languages Work factsheets page to download the factsheets as pdfs. You can also order hard copies from the online shop for free.
• The DCSF announces an additional diploma in languages. From 2011 there will be three additional diplomas in science, languages and the humanities in order to increase the options for 14 to 19 year olds. It was also confirmed that an A level review scheduled for 2008 will now be postponed and that a first review of 14 to 19 qualifications will instead take place in 2013. (23/10/07)
  CILT press release (pdf 21 KB)| DCSF news item | Languages in the diplomas
• Languages mean business - CILT's monthly FE news article. The significance on the FE sector of a debate in Brussels on 21 September, which for the first time at European level brought together over 300 employers, public agents and members of the education sector from across the European Union. (08/10/07)
• 'Don't give up languages', employers urge teenagers (pdf 155 KB)
  CILT’s Employers’ Advisory Group, the only national forum for languages in the workplace, met today, the European Day of Languages, and issued a statement about teenagers learning languages. (26/09/07)
• GCSE languages - are employers really to blame? - CILT's monthly FE news article. Do UK employers really undervalue language skills? (09/9/07)
• Including languages in the Diplomas is a positive step - CILT's monthly FE News article. What is the place of languages in the Diplomas, the new qualifications for 14 to 19-year olds? (11/7/07)
• Modern Foreign Languages in a vocational context report
  For an overview of vocational language learning in Further Education within England, you can download the report carried out by Carol Collins and Maggie Greenwood on behalf the LSDA.
• Moving languages on in further and adult education - CILT's monthly FE news article. Adult Learners’ Week (19-25 May) will see a variety of activities and as a supporter of the week CILT will be providing ideas for motivating adults to engage in language learning. (14/5/07)
• Applying new thinking to language learning - CILT's monthly FE news article. The College of North East London (CONEL) expands its offer of vocationally-related language courses in preparation for the new 14 to 19 Diplomas. (11/4/07)
• Diploma news from the Sector Skills Development Agency
  More skills for construction sector as nearly 4,000 construction and the built environment diploma places are made available across the Country.
  (03/4/07)
• English just isn't enough - FE news article. The importance of highlighting to students the practical benefits of language skills in the workplace. (12/2/07)
• New campaign demonstrates the need for work-related language skills (pdf, 157KB)
  Teenagers are to see how languages fit into specific job sectors through a new range of resources from the Languages Work campaign. Lord Dearing expressed a need for strong promotion of the case for learning languages in his interim consultation report and the new material will help schools make the case that languages will be important to students in their future lives. (23/01/07)

Go to the new free Languages Work resources

• Research study shows link between language skills and export success
  CILT, along with its research partner, InterAct International, have now completed their research into the Effects on the European Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise. The report has been submitted to the European Commission and is expected to be published later this year.(25/1/07)
• Employers must 'articulate their views' - CILT's monthly FE news article.
  The significance of the Dearing review for languages in further education. (08/1/07)
• Colleges hit by language decline - Read about one Principal's concern for languages in Further Education.
• What would CILT do if it were in charge of funding for languages in further education? - Sharon Czudak, CILT's 14 to 19 Language Teaching Adviser for FE, explains how CILT would structure language provision in further education.