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Supporting language teaching and learning in the regions

Goodbye from Comenius Network

1 April 2009

This week sees the official end of the Comenius Network, which has provided regional support for language teachers across England since 1992.

The network has provided an invaluable service, guaging the state of languages education in the regions, bringing together and supporting local authorities, schools, colleges and universities, and helping in the delivery of an extensive CPD programme.

The original six centres eventually grew to fourteen by 2004, and were subsequently reorganised within the nine Government regions thanks to a major injection of funding from the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

In the last year alone, the Network has been responsible for delivering 200 courses, seminars and conferences which have addressed the KS2 and KS3 Frameworks, transition, intercultural understanding, the new secondary curriculum, foreign language assistants, using ICT, literacy, singing, dancing, community languages, training for teachers of adults and many more.

Comenius Managers have played an invaluable role, using their contacts to disseminate national initiatives from CILT and other organisations. They are hugely knowledgeable, experienced and respected individuals representing local authorities and universities and their varied backgrounds have been a great asset to CILT’s work.

Peter Barron, Head of Regional Services at CILT said ‘The Comenius Managers are true experts in the world of languages education. Thanks to them, good practice, confident teaching and strong subject leadership are now much more widespread than they were. We all owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.’

CILT is gearing up for an exciting programme of CPD across the country in 2009-10 and is closely involved with all English local authorities in supporting the roll-out of the primary entitlement and the new KS3 Framework via its 80 primary Local Support Groups and other channels.

Links into Languages, a new DCSF-funded programme managed by a consortium of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS), the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and the Association for Languages Learning (ALL) begins work on 1 April.

For more information on CILT’s programme of CPD visit www.cilt.org.uk/cpd