Annual Report 2025 Entire Book - Flipbook - Page 143
Goal 4 - Moving Forward
A forthcoming consultation on a follow-on Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education
will be an opportunity to revisit a role for enterprise agencies in delivering messaging
around the importance of foreign languages to client companies. It may be useful in this
context to commission some research, in order to determine the value of language skills
and language learning for employers.
A more cross-sectoral approach to development and implementation of foreign languages
strategy should be adopted. The importance of language learning in the development of
future skills required by the workforce, such as intercultural competence, empathy, and
adaptability are so important in the context of global citizenship and need to be
acknowledged in the context of higher education and enterprise. Ireland needs global
citizens who are multilingual with strong intercultural competence, and who can navigate
diverse cultural contexts, and this message needs to be embedded beyond school. While
importing language skills from abroad has been used to plug skills shortages this does
little to enhance the linguistic or intercultural skills of the wider national workforce.
- PPLI ANNUAL REPORT 2025 -
143
