FYI - I can't send the attachments to the German Studies list , but just so you know how I've responded.
Elizabeth
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Dear Jessica
I won't repeat the points Germanist colleagues have been making to you about the position of German and Modern languages in general at university as I am in agreement with them. However, I am attaching some detail that you might find helpful for supporting the points you make. The statistics are drawn from the National Centre for Languages (CiLT) website. The GCSE data I have attached only go up to 2007 - there will no doubt be an update on the website. The CilT site is a great resource for facts and figures about languages (http://www.cilt.org.uk/home.aspx).
It might be of interest to you to know that Germanists are very fortunate in the support they receive from German cultural agencies to promote the study of German - the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the Goethe Institut, the UK-German Connection ( a bilateral project which has been developed and established in collaboration between the UK and German governments, the British Council, the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst and the Goethe-Institut to increase contacts and understanding between young people in the UK and Germany. The German Embassy is launching an exciting programme of events this autumn to promote German language and culture.
The points made about the employability of languages graduates have already been made. Anecdotally, to support the point about the national need for German - at Newcastle we have been approached by an international firm, with an important base in Newcastle, asking how they might be able to help us with boosting recruitment to degrees in German because they are desperate to employ native speakers of English with a command of German. Germany is, of course, the major trading partner for Britain ... I think there is an awareness now of the shortage of native speakers of English as interpreters (I attach an article from the Education Guardian earlier this year).
Some reflections on why recruitment to German is being squeezed in the schools
- French is still dominant as the first foreign language and this will be perpetuated with the introduction of foreign languages into the primary curriculum
- Spanish has become very popular and is therefore squeezing German. The reasons for this popularity are a mixture of familiarity with Spain as a holiday destination, the perception of Spanish as a world language with Latin America, the popularity of Latin American culture.
- the perception that modern languages are "difficult" subjects and that it is more difficult to achieve high grades in them. Some schools therefore steer away from them because of the negative effect on their porition in league tables of success.
With best wishes
Elizabeth
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Dr Elizabeth A Andersen
Head of School
School of Modern Languages
Newcastle University
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
NE1 7RU
Tel: (+44) 0191 222 7526
FAX: (+44) 0191 222 5442
Director of NE Routes into Languages Consortium www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/northeast
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