Concerns around educational inequity in public schools are on the minds of thousands of Canberra families, as thirteen public schools in the nation’s capital cut language classes. The decision to drop language lessons from the schools that are required to teach a language but don’t currently offer a language learning program is the result of the ongoing teacher shortage.
It is mandatory for public schools in the Australian Capital Territory ACT to offer one of the eight priority languages – Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean or Spanish – to students in years three to eight. Primary students should receive 60 minutes of instruction a week, with high school students expected to receive 150 minutes of language learning.
Language learning should be available in public schools
Most of the affected schools are in Tuggeranong in Canberra’s south – and that’s something the ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations describes as a concern.
“Learning a language in an ACT public school shouldn’t be a privilege — it shouldn’t depend on where you live,” said the council’s executive officer, Veronica Elliott.
“Unfortunately, not all ACT public school students have the opportunity to learn a language, they are missing out on this rich experience, which might have been their specialty,” she told EducationDaily. “If students can’t begin learning a language in primary school, it can’t be continued in high school and so there is a whole pathway they are missing out on.”
As our nation’s capital and host to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as numerous international diplomats, language education should have an important role in education, the reality, however, is that too many ACT public schools have a patchy language network, with a growing number of significant gaps.
Senior Education Directorate official Angela Spence said the number of schools forced to cut language teaching was “probably at the highest we’ve seen” — an issue directly linked to teacher availability.
“We have a national teacher shortage, which the ACT is not immune to,” she said. “But we also have a global shortage of teachers in language education.”
To combat the problem, the directorate is looking into other ways to offer language training, which don’t rely on having teachers in classrooms. These options include: a stronger partnership with the Canberra Academy of Languages; creating a hub school to deliver online programs; or engaging another external provider.
For primary students keen to continue their language learning in secondary school another language, the fact that some local high schools do not offer the same language program is another problem.
For example, although many primary schools in Belconnen teach French, the opportunities to continue learning the language in high school are extremely limited within ACT public schools.
Children travel to Yarralumla Primary from all over Canberra for its Italian bilingual program, but are then denied entry to its partner school, Alfred Deakin High.
“This can be the heartbreaking end of their journey as a bilingual Italian speaker,” a spokeswoman from the Yarralumla Parents and Citizens Association said. “Not all [Yarralumla school] families can access private tutoring or other Italian education.”
More training for teachers
The need to educate more language teachers was also critical.
Although the University of Canberra offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees as pathways for language teachers, the Australian Catholic University does not offer language specialisations in its Canberra-based courses.
Japanese is currently the most widely available language taught in ACT public schools, including Lake Tuggeranong College, where Chinese language lessons were recently cut.
“We’re really struggling to get staff, as well as students, in our Chinese program,” executive teacher Jenni Evans-Holder said. “Part of the problem is some of our local schools are struggling to get Chinese teachers, which means we just don’t have the students who are able to continue on with it in years 11 and 12.”
Ms Evans-Holder said benefits from learning a language as a child include improved critical thinking, enhanced literacy development and greater job prospects. She suggested helping native speakers explore professional pathways as language teachers, as well as offering more support to existing teachers to keep them in the system, could help address the teacher shortage.
“Learning a language at school, engages students in the richness of learning and appreciation of culture. It builds appreciation and support for cultural diversity which is strongly valued by ACT public school parents and carers, ACT Learning a language also boosts brain development, an experience all students should have access to,” Ms Elliott from the ACT Council of Parents and Carers Associations told EducationDaily.
“ACT Parents and carers want to see a range of innovative solutions to ensure every student has access to learn a language in their public school, including online delivery of language lessons, hybrid models of online and in-class learning, and the reallocation of resources to ensure equity. They want to see the range of languages expanded to include AUSLAN and local Aboriginal languages, like Ngunnawal.”
