Partnerships of Portuguese MFL in England: the initiatives of the Camões Institute against the background of the statutory entitlement to MFL at Key Stage 2 (original) (raw)

Abstract

As recently as November 2013 the Languages for the future report commissioned by the British Council stressed the need to promote the development of foreign language skills in the UK and identified those languages of strategic relevance in terms of economic, diplomatic and cultural import. Generally, policy-orientated reports accentuate the idea that a more robust MFL learning approach is needed in terms of range of languages and target population and go in line with governmental efforts to raise the profile of modern foreign language (MFL) learning in England, namely the introduction of the statutory entitlement to MFL at Key Stage 2 (ages 5 to 11). The recent developments in MFL education, culminating with the introduction of MFL learning as a statutory subject, have prompted foreign cultural institutes, organisations such as the Goethe Institut, the Instituto Cervantes, the Institut Français and the Instituto Camões, to create schemes to promote the learning of foreign languages in primary schools. The Camões Institute for Cooperation and Language is, in its latest institutional incarnation, an organisation that operates under the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in matters relating to cooperation, foreign aid, and external language policy. In 2009 the Camões Institute inherited the network of primary and secondary education teachers working with the Portuguese-speaking diaspora in a number of countries in Europe, Africa, and North America, which was up until then under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The administrative change corresponded to a shift of policy as the explicit objective was now to use the network as a means to enhance the cultural, economic, and geostrategic importance of the Portuguese language. Within this context the Instituto Camões has in recent years developed a series of initiatives. Centrally, it supported the release of materials for young learners and created a qualification scheme for children and teenagers. At a local level it offers taster lessons and sponsors experiences of primary Portuguese MFL learning. The Coordenação do Ensino Português do Reino Unido, the UK branch of the Camões Institute, has partnered with two English schools and a London-based school maintained by a foreign government to provide instruction in Portuguese as a foreign language for their primary pupils. A review of the the steps towards the introduction of primary MFL in England in terms of regulatory frameworks and state-of-affairs reports will provide the background against which to consider the activities of foreign cultural institutes geared towards the promotion of primary MFL learning. Our aim is to focus on the initiatives of the Instituto Camões in England by examining its rationale within the context of the institutional culture of the organisation, and to investigate an experience of primary MFL learning supported by the Instituto Camões in partnership with two London schools. Lastly, in order to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the initiative within the English context we report on an interview with the teachers involved.

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