Annual Report 2023 Entire Book - Flipbook - Page 62
Goal 1 - Moving Forward
PPLI will continue to work with embassies to increase language upskilling and CPD opportunities for teachers.
We will also continue to make available language upskilling to teachers who are qualified in a language but are
not currently teaching it and to offer the language teacher registration shortfall funding scheme for teachers
missing credits to register with the Teaching Council. These will all add valuable capacity to the system. Pathways
for the provision of Initial Teacher Education programmes and bridging programmes to provide for the lesser
taught and new curricular languages will also need to be explored.
As the Department of Education continue to increase the numbers of Foreign Language Assistants, PPLI will
continue to provide resources and support to ensure the continued success and improvement in the scheme
and will work with the Department to explore innovative approaches to assist schools in remote areas with
securing an FLA for their students. Opportunities to leverage the complementary English Language Assistant
programme further as a means of building foreign languages capacity for the education sector and beyond
will also be investigated. The initial research in relation to this scheme would suggest that there is scope for
development of languages capacity and addition of capacity to the teaching profession in the context of this
programme with results suggesting that 42% of programme participants enter the teaching profession. Almost
all improved their level of competency in the language of the country they were sent to, and 62% said they
would be interested in helping to promote the benefits of learning foreign languages so mechanisms for
leveraging this capacity do need to be worked on.
Erasmus+ funding is a means of supporting student mobility in the context of school exchanges and is an
opportunity to bring languages to life providing for authentic language input and usage. Teacher mobility
programmes facilitated by Erasmus+ are an important means of CPD. PPLI will begin to move from provision of
the Funding for School Exchanges grant to encouraging schools to apply for Erasmus+ funding to support this
important activity and will encourage teachers to leverage grants for language upskilling.
There is good participation by teachers in Communities of Practice and PPLI has been responding to feedback
from teachers by facilitating more language and interest specific groups. Moving forward, collaboration with
stakeholders needs to reinforce the importance and value of networks for teachers’ professional development
and mechanisms for ensuring that these networks become self-sustaining will continue to be explored.
PPLI will continue to showcase exemplars of good practice in all languages and provide relevant resources and
tutorials on digital technologies to enhance quality in teaching and learning. AI now features significantly in
this context, and we are committed to exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a resource to support
MFL teaching and learning.
CLIL needs to be expanded and introduced in earlier years in post-primary schools, and as part of the
introduction of foreign languages in the primary curriculum. This would allow students to engage with the
target language in meaningful and content-rich contexts, accelerating language learning and leading to
improved language proficiency and fluency without negatively impacting on content learning. CLIL
methodology will also support EAL learners in accessing the curriculum which ensures a quality education for
them and reduces inequalities.
Collaboration with stakeholders that was so much part of 2023 both in the context of the strategy review
consultation and of the Languages Connect Summit needs to continue and increase in order to share and
disseminate good practice and in order to explore further areas for development.
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