British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
BBC STAR SAYS THE BRITISH ECONOMY IS THE REAL CASUALTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE DECLINE
Casualty actress Sunetra Sarker is backing a new scheme to help combat the decline in foreign language learning which is estimated to cost the UK economy £21 billion a year. Less than 50% of pupils now study a foreign language to GCSE level, and a third of university foreign language departments have closed in the last seven years.
The British Academy Schools Language Awards will go to fourteen schools across seven UK regions as part of the Academy’s new £5 million programme to reverse the national decline in foreign language and quantitative skills. English has historically been the most dominant international language, but now 75% of the world’s population don’t speak English.
Sunetra, who plays Dr Zoe Hanna in the long-running BBC medical drama, explains why she’s supporting the campaign.
‘Learning a language in secondary school enabled me to study French at university. I studied and worked in France for a year with my degree and had one of the best years of my life. The British Academy Schools Language Awards are a great initiative to promote the benefits of learning a foreign language to youngsters.’
The British Academy, the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences, in partnership with CfBT Educational Trust, will make awards of £4,000 to a range of school projects with the best ideas for advancing language skills and teaching, and using creative ways to motivate pupils.
There will be two prizes in each region – one for a mainstream secondary school and one to a community school – with an extra £4,000 prize going to the overall winner. The British Academy will announce the winners next autumn and Sunetra will present the awards at a ceremony in London.
Sunetra added:
‘I was born into an Indian family where Bengali was spoken a lot so I spoke two languages as a child. As an actress I have used my French at times and am so pleased to be able to understand some wonderful foreign films. Some things just can’t be translated! When we go on holiday, I encourage my son Noah to learn a few words of the language of the country we’re in. He’s only six, but I hope he’ll want to keep it up in the future.’
The British Academy’s Vice-President of Research and HE Policy, Professor Nigel Vincent, said:
‘The Academy recognises that the deficit in language skills across the UK has to be addressed at secondary school level. This decline is not only potentially damaging our future education system and economy, but is narrowing opportunities for our younger generation. Languages such as Arabic, Hindi and Mandarin are going to be vital if the UK is to play a key role in global trade and diplomacy. We are delighted to be working with CfBT Education Trust to encourage excellence in language teaching in schools and to motivate young people to pursue language learning.’
CfBT Education Trust is managing the award scheme on behalf of the British Academy. Kate Board, Head of Languages Strategy and Development, said:
‘We are delighted to be working with the British Academy on this exciting new award scheme which will do a great deal to motivate young people right across the country to learn new languages. We look forward to seeing the creative and imaginative projects that emerge.’
For more details and a registration form visit http://www.britac.ac.uk/policy/Languages_and_Quantitative_Skills.cfm
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To speak to Sunetra or a British Academy spokesperson or for further information, please contact: Jayne Phenton, Press and PR Manager: 0207 969 5263 /0774 704 6750 j.phenton@britac.ac.uk
EDITOR’S NOTES
• The British Academy was established by Royal Charter in 1902 and has been based in Carlton house Terrace in central London since 1998. It is the national body that champions and supports the humanities and social sciences. It aims to inspire, recognise and support excellence and high achievement across the UK and internationally. For more information, please visit http://www.britac.ac.uk
• CfBT Education Trust is a leading education consultancy and service organisation. Our object is to provide education for public benefit both in the UK and internationally. Established 40 years ago CfBT Education Trust now has an annual turnover exceeding £100 million and employs more than 2,300 staff worldwide who support educational reform, teach, advise, research and train. As a not-for-profit organisation we commit around £1million of our surpluses every year for practice-based educational research. CILT, the National Centre for Languages, merged with CfBT Education Trust in April 2011. Visit www.cfbt.com for more information.
• Languages & Quantitative Skills Programme
The British Academy has been awarded special Government funding to run a four year programme to support Languages and Quantitative Skills (L&QS). The £5m programme will cover a range of initiatives supporting languages and the use of rigorous, especially quantitative, methods across the humanities and social sciences.
• The British Academy Schools Language Awards will be given to projects that promote language learning, finding creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching and motivate students. Fourteen awards of £4,000 will be given to schools in seven regions – one in each region for a mainstream school and another to a community school – with an additional £4,000 prize for the overall winner. The regions are as follows:
North (North East, NorthWest, Yorkshire & Humber)
Midlands (East & West Midlands, East of England)
London
South East & South West
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland