ASCL MFL Consultant Suzanne O’Farrell, together with Dr Jim Anderson, Goldsmiths, University of London, Bernardette Holmes MBE, Vice President CIOL Hon FCIL, and Dr Farah Nazir, Lecturer in Linguistics, Newcastle University, have produced guidance for mainstream secondary schools in supporting school communities to realise the value of bilingualism and to support mainstream schools in facilitating home language exam entries for their pupils.
The wealth of diverse home, heritage and community languages spoken in the UK has strategic significance for the country and personal meaning for the individuals and their communities.
In schools in England, one in five pupils are known to bring lived experience of at least one other language and culture to the classroom. Currently, there are over 360 languages spoken in school settings. In the global and interconnected society of today, the ability to communicate in more than one language and to be culturally aware represents a significant asset.
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(paper updated February 2024)