The Government recognise the importance of modern foreign language skills to employers to improve their competitiveness in the global economy. The approach taken by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in the light of the decline in adult participation rates in these subjects recognises the key role providers have in reversing this trend by stimulating demand and revitalising the curriculum to equip more adults and young people with modern language skills. To this end each local area is expected to have a core adult learning offer that reflects and responds to the spectrum of individual adult and employer needs.
In addition, the LSC also funds a range of learning opportunities for individual adults within its safeguarded budget for personal and community development (lifelong) learning. Courses to develop foreign language capability are also funded through this budget.
We will continue to give priority to provision for groups of individuals both in the workplace and in the community who are in greatest need of learning.
As part of the national teaching and learning change programme the Quality Improvement Agency on behalf of the Department has developed a suite of foreign language teaching resources which support teachers, tutors, trainers and managers to raise standards of practice and deliver learner success across the foreign language FE curriculum.
On the 16 June 2008 the latest in the suite of foreign language teaching materials, produced for the QIA by Cliffhanger Studios, won a Royal Television Society Award for Innovation in Education, beating off tough competition from the BBC.