Ms Vamvakinou said the support of language learning in schools would be of great benefit to Australia’s large multicultural community. As a former language teacher Ms Vamvakinou said: “Languages other than English have an important role in Australian society as we are a multilingual community. Our language capacity is one of our greatest strengths and must be reflected in our National Curriculum. Learning a second language provides us with a window into other cultures and ways of thinking, and is also of huge benefit to our overall education results, helping students in comprehension, critical analysis and other vital skills.”
The Shape of the National Curriculum Languages, released today, outlines how languages other than English will be taught in schools as the new curriculum is introduced. The shape paper is written on the assumption that all Australian students will learn a language in primary and secondary school. Ms Vamvakinou said the curriculum content will first be developed for Italian and Mandarin Chinese, adding that Arabic, Auslan, classical languages, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Spanish Turkish and Vietnamese would all be considered for development.
The shape paper also outlines our commitment to teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander languages in our schools, and a framework for this will be developed by the Australian Curriculum assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).
The paper can be viewed and downloaded at: http://www.acara.edu.au
