DfE GCSE MFL proposals - urgent message from the APPG

 

It is great that over 800 people have signed the All Partly Paliamentary Group statement.

The APPG MFL calls on the DfE (a) to work with stakeholders to build a consensus on a way forward and (b) to delay any changes until this has taken place.

If you have signed, you will have received the message at the end of this post from the APPG.

It is essential that as many people as possible answer the consultation.  The DfE has chosen not to include bodies which represent language teachers in the preparation of its proposals, and has ignored representations from exam boards, indicating to what extent they value them, so the fact that so many high profile organsations have signed this, and the fact that both AQA and Edexcel have published statements criticising the proposals will not be enough to halt them.  Please get the message to as many teachers and school leaders as possible to  fill in the consultation .. a simple yes/no would be enough!

1. Complete the DfE consultation online:  Link here.  
2. Complete the OFQUAL consultation: Link here.  
3. If you wish to ask for a halt to the process, add your name to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) page here.  Link here.

Message from the APPG:

Subject: Important message from the APPG MFL

Dear colleague, thank you for supporting the APPG's statement on the MFL GCSE review, this is now registered.

Important follow-up message from the APPG to you as a teacher or school leader:

Please consider taking a few short minutes to respond to the Department for Education's consultation on the proposals before the deadline of 11.59pm this Weds 19 May (if you have not already done so) as the consultation is the official mechanism for feedback and schools' views are vital. 

• There are just 15 short questions and you can skip any you don't wish to answer
  
• You can answer each one with a simple 'yes' or 'no' if you wish
  
• The important thing is to send in a response, as the DfE is particularly attentive to the views of individual teachers and school leaders.

*Please go to the following website to respond (click on 'Give us your views'):

https://consult.education.gov.uk/ebacc-and-arts-and-humanities-team/gcse-mfl-subject-content-review/

For further info/guidance:

• PDF of the DfE's consultation questions: https://consult.education.gov.uk/ebacc-and-arts-and-humanities-team/gcse-mfl-subject-content-review/supporting_documents/GCSE%20MFL%20subject%20content%20consultation.pdf
  
• PDF of the DfE's MFL GCSE subject content review (6 pages + Annexes): https://consult.education.gov.uk/ebacc-and-arts-and-humanities-team/gcse-mfl-subject-content-review/supporting_documents/GCSE%20MFL%20subject%20content%20document.pdf
• Guidance from the Association for Language Learning which represents teachers with a range of views: http://www.all-london.org.uk/site/index.php/issues/2021-dfe-gcse-mfl-subject-content-review/
  

Many thanks and best wishes,

Sent by:

Secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages

Chair: Nia Griffith MP (Lab)

Co-Chair: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench)

Vice Chairs: Tonia Antoniazzi MP (Lab); Lord Dykes (Crossbench); Baroness Garden (Lib Dem); Lord Sherbourne (Con).

APPG MFL website: http://bit.ly/APPGMFLhome

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Philip Harding-Esch - MA Oxon, DipTrans IoL(ET)