Federal Member for Calwell Maria Vamvakinou has welcomed Acara‟s decision to include Modern Greek in the National Curriculum as a language for second language learners, rather than one pitched at background learners.
“This is an excellent outcome,” Ms Vamvakinou said.
“The different language classification is a significant one, and means that the Modern Greek Curriculum will now cater for the dominant cohort of learners in the current Australian context. Teachers will also have the flexibility to cater for learners of different backgrounds by making appropriate adjustments to the content.”
“The inclusion of Greek in the National Curriculum, and now its classification has come about as a result of a tremendous collective effort by all sectors of the community since 2010,” Ms Vamvakinou said.
“There have been challenges along the way, and more recently, the classification of Modern Greek in the curriculum was an important one to overcome.
“As the co-chair of the Federal Greek Ministerial Consultative Committee (fellow cochair is Member for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas), we knew this was a high priority issue that was going to be raised with Education Minister Peter Garrett at a meeting on November 27”.
The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority‟s (Acara‟s) decision will ensure the Modern Greek Language remains available to students of a non-Greek background, and will maximise Australia‟s extensive language capacity in a global context.
The final curriculum will be published as „F-10 Modern Greek‟ and Acara‟s website and communications will be updated to reflect this change.
In June 2010 a petition with almost 24,000 signatures was tabled in the House of Representatives calling on the government to ensure the inclusion of the Modern Greek Language. It was only the second petition concerning languages to ever to be presented to the Federal Parliament.
