Report on sustainability audit - Routes into Languages

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Routes into Languages

Report on sustainability audit Sarah Schechter, Renata Albuquerque, Elizabeth Andersen, Mary Brittain, Kerry Dobson, Angela Gallagher-Brett, Laurence Georgin, Nick Johnston, Mike Kelly, Ruth O’Rourke and Ameeta Richardson

February 2012

Routes into Languages has so far engaged with 2,016 schools 2,623 SLAs 228,652 pupils

Towards Sustainability (web version) Introduction This report constitutes an overview of Routes into Languages activity during the 4+ years of its existence, providing evidence of the wealth of achievements that have been made and would be lost if funding were to cease. It also highlights what could be built on if funding were to continue. It is based entirely on the recent in-depth audit carried out by all Routes consortia in England and is a summary of the audit. The audit was used in order to facilitate exploring ways of embedding language enrichment and outreach activities through building on good practice developed by Routes consortia and national networks, in collaboration with schools, colleges, businesses, professional bodies, local authorities and other partner organisations. In so doing, as outlined in our initial report, we make explicit and articulate, inter alia:     

The synergies between national, regional and local drivers; The contribution of Routes to the student experience and employability; The role of Routes in fair access and widening participation; The role of Routes in increasing uptake in language study; The opportunities for potential future development beyond the current Routes remit

The results are based on responses from 46 universities from all nine Routes into Languages consortia in England. The report examines the consortia and networks activity in seven areas:       

Widening participation Employability Student Language Ambassadors Modules Resource banks Funding Teacher CPD

It then affords consortia the opportunity to mention any factors outside these areas that are thought to be relevant to achievement and sustainability and finally to outline possible activity, should funding be extended to include CPD and primary school engagement. Since part of Routes success has lain in its flexibility and heterogeneity with an ability to respond to local needs and resources there is no typical consortium model. Information from the audit shows that there are a variety of different partnership models and collaborative arrangements. Strategic Drivers Part of the institutional impact of Routes can be measured by the extent to which the individual universities have succeeded in embedding their activities into the

institutional structure, aligning with strategic drivers, which in turn should mitigate towards sustainability: “The internationalisation of the university is one of the principle strategic drivers of the institution, which has increased its ratio of overseas students in recent years. This in turn has benefitted our work in the Region by enabling us to offer activities delivered by a vast and mixed array of SLAs. Routes is thus well placed to add to the internationalisation mission by influencing future intakes of undergraduate students” Routes East Midlands

There is considerable evidence that this is happening with Routes activity included in annual reports and Routes work overtly contributing to student employability: Students can collect points for the SLA hours and earn a Personal Skills Reward, which is recognized by many employers. Routes West Midlands

Widening Participation As shown in table 1 below, 18 consortia universities have already succeeded in orchestrating the inclusion of routes-related activity in their institutions’ access agreements or widening participation strategic assessments. There is a strong drive from Routes into Languages towards inclusion and many other partners are currently in negotiation with senior management teams to this end. There is an extremely high incidence of Routes activity being delivered as part of their institutions’ outreach activity (see table 2), with this partnership enhancing and enriching the offering. In fact, some Routes offices have been based within outreach, widening participation and/or AimHigher since the inception of the project, a few Routes offices have been moved there over the past four years, but with a strong drive from the Routes management team every Routes consortium has engaged with outreach.

Access Agreements/Widening Participation Strategic Assessments 9% 43% 48%

Table 1

Yes No Don't know

Routes activity included in institutional outreach? Yes

No

15%

85%

Table 2

As shown in table 3 below, a large number of universities (35) target their activities generally at schools in deprived areas, with low rates of progression to higher education and specifically at the widening participation cohort. There are universities who target both. Moreover, 14 universities while neither generally or specifically targeting those pupils, report regular engagement with them within their standard activity. The remaining 6 universities work on specific projects in partner schools as their main, or only, contribution to Routes activity.

Targeting and Engaging with Deprivation and Widening Participation Targeting schools in deprived areas

Targeting widening participation cohort

Engagement within standard activity

No WP engagement

11%

25% 20%

Table 3

44%

Consortia also report that within their achievement of meeting the widening participation agenda there has been a concomitant maintenance and revival of endangered subjects:

Feedback on a sustained intervention programme, targeted at schools located in socially deprived areas, which supports Year 9 pupils from the WP cohort: “It has been the most amazing project – Parkside going from their French option in danger of disappearing from the curriculum to a now healthy class size, plus discussions to add Spanish to the provision… Parkside now has 24 students about to enter Year 10 who have opted to study French. This is in stark contrast to the 6 who sat GCSE last year – who were pre-Routes into Languages Routes East Midlands (Teacher)

The audit collected detailed information, case studies and examples of good practice, including school engagement policies, targeting methodologies and details of Routes’ inclusion in university annual reports.

Employability As shown in table 4 below, nearly all Routes universities have activity linked to employability. The majority of universities focus on language-related career opportunities, often within presentations to progression cohorts, including the popular Routes into Languages “Why Study Languages?” talks. There were two universities that reported no employability engagement due to the fact that they work on specific projects in partner schools.

Employability Collaboration with careers department

16

Involvement of business networks

19

Involvement of professional bodies

10

Employer engagement through individual companies

23

Focus on language-related career opportunities

38 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Table 4 This represents a widespread involvement by each consortium in employability issues pertaining to languages.

“We have produced a film called ‘The Real World of Languages’. It promotes the value of language and cultural skills for careers to 14-19 year old students in schools and colleges. It focuses on the importance of languages for Media, Creative Arts, Leisure & Tourism, Health and Business and includes a series of lively interviews on location with businesses and schools. Participants include BA, BBC, Bouygues, Hotel la Place, Newham Language Shop, UKTI, VSI, a student, a school and a community college…It was produced in partnership with RLN and University Media, Art & Design students. This is one of our most requested workshops and is delivered by SLAs ” Routes London

Table 5 shows the level of engagement by Routes into Languages universities with businesses over the past year:

Number of businesses engaged with over the past year 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1-5

6-10

11-20

20+

Table 5 There is a significant level of engagement with businesses by Routes consortia, with a total of 200-300 businesses engaged with by 32 universities over the past year alone. These businesses provide a wealth of expertise and active involvement of staff in support of Routes activity. “We have produced a booklet & DVD ‘Languages at Work in the South West’ featuring local businesses, which value employers speaking foreign languages and language-related career opportunities.” Routes South West

The National Networks for Translation and Interpreting have a particular focus on employability and they organise large-scale careers events and conferences to raise the profile of the languages professions. They also collaborate closely with employers, including the European Commission and with a range of professional bodies.

Student Language Ambassadors Nearly all universities (41/46) include SLA activity with SLAs performing a wide range of functions within the consortia, including:

          

Mentoring Teaching Teaching support Giving presentations Engaging with businesses Administration Running workshops Creating and developing resources Event management Research Report-writing

SLAs bring an important extra dimension to Routes activity in many ways, but most markedly in the powerful message they bring to students of the importance of language in a way that the pupils find both accessible and comprehensible. “Our students really enjoyed the festival and it has certainly made them reflect on the many opportunities that learning a languages can bring. The Student Language Ambassadors were really enthusiastic about the choices they had made and gave some really good advice to our students on the day. A really positive language experience that has opened our eyes to the vast possibilities that speaking another language can offer.” Routes Yorkshire & Humber (Teacher)

Routes has developed some excellent models of good practice in developing the role of the language-focussed ambassador into the now-established SLA model and providing effective training and support. For some consortia SLAs constitute the core of their activity. The SLAs themselves come from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines with some universities focusing on recruiting SLAs from a WP background. There is growing evidence from universities that SLA activity has a positive impact on retention and employability figures. All of these factors further demonstrate the need for recognition of SLA activity by way of university accreditation. “As ambassadors we were able to develop really important communication, organization and presentation skills. The training we received at the start was also great … In terms of professional development, I’ve no doubt that the experience played a huge part in helping me to secure a fulltime job as Undergraduate Recruitment Co-ordinator… ” Routes South East (Graduate SLA)

The Routes Central team is now collecting student ambassador case studies with the support of the consortia. These will provide evidence of the impact of involvement in Routes on the students themselves. SLA testimonials are also openly available on the Routes and studying language websites www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk www.studyinglanguages.ac.uk

Modules 5 universities already have modules from which students can gain accreditation. A further 3 universities are working on developing one. Fourteen universities are

currently exploring the option or potential of offering other forms of accreditation or recognition to their students through Routes activity. “From September 2012, we will offer a student language ambassador module. Fifteen final-year language students will be able to gain academic accreditation for Routes style activity” Routes North East

There is a realisation on the part of universities that there is potential here as a way of meeting the requirements of the employability agenda. Routes is very proud of the fact that Routes partners have taken the lead in developing innovative modules or formal accreditation, which leave a tangible legacy of HEFCE’s investment in the project. For this to be taken further would require institutional support as well as further investment and endorsement from HEFCE.

Resource Banks There has been a wealth of material produced by Routes into Languages consortia over the past four years. It is freely available to all teachers (and pupils, where appropriate) and this, therefore, increases the reach of the programme beyond those who are directly involved, as was commented on in the Evaluation of the HEFCE SIVs programme (Curtis & Cartwright, 2011). The ethos of Routes has led to sharing of resources and ideas between consortia and this has been further supplemented by resources, resulting from the collaboration, relationships and networks instigated by Routes. Routes partners have been instrumental in facilitating the creation of the materials from all stakeholders, including businesses, teachers, academics, researchers, professionals, external organisations, students and pupils. The resource bank represents a huge legacy of the projects and reflects the fact that Routes has responded to regional needs. The materials have been tried and tested and proven to inspire and motivate pupils. The potential to do much more is there and there is still more to be done to train, develop and empower practitioners to take full advantage of the extensive bank of resources. “Those Score in French resources are absolutely fabulous! They are very well-made and come in very handy when it comes to putting a nice cross-curricular scheme of work. I can't wait to use them next term! Thank you very much again!” Routes South East (Teacher)

Funding Routes consortia have not been complacent and relied solely on core HEFCE funding for the programme. The value of HEFCE’s investment has been multiplied many times over through the efforts of consortia and their universities to secure investment and support and ensure that the funding has extended far beyond its initial value. So, whereas the Routes funding has provided the impetus for the activity, the scale of the commitment by the universities has far exceeded the initial HEFCE investment.

Teacher CPD For many consortia, CPD has not been a specific area of Routes activity, but many of them recognize the importance of linked in teacher CPD. 17 universities have engaged in some kind of CPD for teachers. Some of this has been incidental and some has been more targeted, following a perceived need for support. One consortium, Routes North-West, has a specific CPD focus. Other Routes partners expressed the fact that they would welcome the opportunity to offer teacher CPD as a part of their Routes remit. Many universities worked closely with Links into Languages with most of the Routes lead institutions also the lead HEI for Links. Over the past few years relationships and trust have been established and this could provide a useful catalyst for Routes to play a more significant role in developing and delivering focused CPD in direct response to the needs of teachers. “The Teacher Training strand of our project was awarded the European Award for Languages last year. The award is a Europe-wide initiative supported by the European Commission. We have now developed a toolkit and the teacher training framework is to be rolled out across the East and West Midlands, London and within the North West region… The feedback from the course participants was excellent and it is clear that this project has the potential to make a real difference nationally, in terms of building the UK capacity in world languages.” Routes North West

General (i)

Partnership and Collaboration

The survey revealed other ways, other than those already outlined, in which partner universities have tried to ensure sustainability, as well as evaluation reports, impact studies, quotes and additional case studies. There was also a desire to report on the wealth of partnerships that have been established and maintained by Routes networks, providing economies of scale in a noncompetitive environment. This collaborative culture contributes to increased uptake of languages and support to schools in achieving improved performance. These rich and diverse networks include: 

Football clubs



Embassies



Cultural centres



Businesses



Local authorities



Schools



Universities



Organisations



Campaign groups



Professional bodies



Award bodies

The collaborative model of universities working together in the consortia and networks and with schools and colleges in their regions is one of the most striking successes of the Routes programme (SQW Final Evaluation, 2011). Routes has brought people together for the good of the discipline (Curtis & Cartwright, 2011) and the programme is supporting both interdepartmental and institutional collaboration (Worton, 2009). The evaluation of the HEFCE SIVs programme found that a body of expert knowledge, which had not previously existed, was developing around outreach and collaboration in languages (Curtis & Cartwright, 2011). The model of collaboration with schools and colleges involves open access to large events and specific targeting of smaller numbers of schools and has been judged to be successful (SQW Final Evaluation Report, 2011). Collaboration has also enabled universities to call in help from universities in other regions to support outreach in areas close to regional boundaries, e.g. Buckinghamshire. This is often facilitated by the Routes central team. Networks and consortia have also developed strong relationships with a range of cultural institutes, EU institutions and other bodies who have supported the programme in various ways and this has increased value for money. A particular benefit of collaboration highlighted by SQW (2011) is that it has facilitated the availability of open, diverse and impartial Information, Advice and Guidance to learners. When universities are working together, learners are not being subjected to institutional hard sell. This benefit is likely to be of increasing importance in the new fees regime. Partnership working in Routes has also enabled language teachers in schools to pilot and develop innovative ideas, which can then be rolled out to a wider area, or indeed nationally. This is only possible because of the Routes infrastructure, e.g. FL Spelling Bee. Participants in the national FL Spelling Bee competition 2011 overwhelmingly agreed that it had made them think positively about languages (75%) and that it was a good way to learn (88%).

Routes has had a fundamental and sustained impact on teachers’ professional development. The opportunity to be involved in a project that links to other schools in the region provides, at the most obvious level, a chance for networking with new colleagues. More than this, if a teacher leads on a successful project in his/her own school, this represents a powerful opportunity to raise the profile of languages across the school. The job satisfaction and feeling of self-efficacy gained from this sort of activity have been shown time and again to be intrinsically motivating for the individual teacher and morale building for the languages department. A stage further, and those teachers who end up sharing their practice and experience of leading on such projects at regional or national levels with other teachers are able to display the sorts of skills and abilities in leadership that equip them well to take up new posts of responsibility, whether within their own schools or at new schools. The part that Routes plays in all this is crucial. Many excellent, creative ideas for inspiring pupils to work with languages beyond the classroom would remain in teachers’ minds, if it were not for the professional and logistical expertise and support that Routes provides, in the shape of its regional managers. It is quite simply, a brilliant collaborative partnership that works, and works for those for whom it is designed, the learners.” Routes East (Teacher)

Opportunities are also beginning to arise for the Routes collaborative network to initiate new and innovative forms of collaboration through additional project funding. For example, the JISC Community café project involved the central team at LLAS and Routes North West working together to develop resources with community language teachers. These teachers then, in turn, contributed to the 2012 why study languages calendar. Opportunities such as this are being actively sought by Routes partners and the central team.

(ii) Impact There is a growing body of evidence from a diverse range of sources indicating that Routes is achieving good progress in relation to its aims and objectives. Below are details of achievements in the areas of partnership and collaboration, students’ attitudes and confidence and uptake of language courses. (iii)

Attitudes and confidence

All regional consortia and networks carry out pre- and post-event/activity evaluations and these suggest that events are enjoyable and that they have a favourable influence on learners’ attitudes to languages (SQW, 2011). In addition, evidence from a diverse range of sources (including teachers and pupils in schools) indicates that Routes is having a longer-term positive impact on students’ motivation for, and interest in, studying languages, including in schools with low uptake (Routes central team National Pupil and Teacher Attitude Surveys, 2010; SQW Final Evaluation, 2011; HEFCE SIVS Evaluation Curtis & Cartwright, 2011; Worton, 2009; Routes regional teacher surveys in Yorks & Humber, North East, East Midlands). Opportunities offered by Routes to develop language skills outside the classroom are also helping to raise students’ confidence (Routes central team National Pupil and Teacher Attitude Surveys,

2010) and confidence is recognized in MFL research as an important variable in uptake of languages. Articles on several Routes projects have now appeared in peer-reviewed journals and all these indicate a positive impact on attitudes, including improvements in awareness of languages of the wider world (COLT Community Languages, Score in French and E-mentoring -Handley, 2011; McCall, 2011a; 2011b). There are several more peer-review publications in the pipeline. (iv)

Uptake of languages

Measuring the impact of Routes on uptake has been more problematic. However, there are also positive indications that engagement with Routes is influencing uptake at GCSE and on postgraduate translating and interpreting courses. Higher Education statistics show significant increases in applications to postgraduate translating and interpreting courses since the inception of Routes. These are reported in detail in SQW, Final Evaluation, 2011. With regard to GCSE, in the National Attitude surveys conducted by the central team, 16% of 101 teachers in 94 schools stated that increased uptake at GCSE was the main impact of Routes (even though they had not been specifically asked about uptake). In the Language Trends survey 2010, 5% of teachers reported that engagement with Routes had led to an increase in uptake (CILT/ALL/ISMLA, 2010). Tracing impact research conducted by Routes North West has shown significant increases in GCSE uptake following engagement with Language Enrichment events when compared with students’ original intentions expressed in pre-event questionnaires (Handley, 2011; SQW, 2011). The SQW Final Evaluation in 2011 recommended that the Routes central team should play a role in collecting and analyzing impact data on a national basis. This is currently underway for 2011-2012 using standardized evaluation forms. There are also some indications of an impact on undergraduates’ and postgraduates’ perceptions of their employability (as a result of engagement with Routes). The National Networks have worked hard to raise awareness of employability issues. Also, evidence collected from undergraduate e-mentors suggests they believe themselves to have developed useful skills for their CVs and enhanced communication skills (McCall, 2011b). As stated previously, the Routes central team is now working with the regional consortia to develop student ambassador case studies. These will gather data on students’ perceptions of the transferable skills they develop through their Routes Extra, supporting information on the above with reports, quotes etc. is available at www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/impact

The Future Many consortia universities report the desire to engage with teacher CPD and extend their activity to primary schools as a direct development of what has been achieved already.

Conclusion This report reflects the wealth of activity that has been produced and the legacy that has been created since the beginning of the Routes into Languages project. There is the potential to build on this and achieve much more, although this is of course dependent on the level of funding. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the universities in the Routes into Languages network in England who provided detailed information for this report and the Routes into Languages Sustainability Working Group. References Canning, J., Gallagher-Brett, A., Tartarini, F. & McGuinness, H. (2010) Routes into Languages: Report on Teacher and Pupil Attitude Surveys. Southampton: Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Attitude%20survey %20november%202011%20website%20version%20FINAL.pdf CILT/ALL/ISMLA (2010) Language Trends http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/research_and_statistics/language_trends_surveys /secondary/2010.aspx Curtis & Cartwright Consulting (2011) Evaluation of HEFCE’s Programme of Support for Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rereports/year/2011/evaluationofhefcesprogra mmeofsupportforsivs/ Handley, S. (2011) Promoting community language learning in the United Kingdom, Language Learning Journal, 39 (2), 149-162. McCall, I. (2011) Score in French: motivating boys with football at Key Stage 3, Language Learning Journal, 39 (1), 5-18. McCall, I. (2011b) My UniSpace: applying e-mentoring to language learning, Language Learning Journal, 39 (3), 313-328. SQW (2011) Evaluation of Routes into Languages: Final Report https://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/impact Worton, M. (2009) Review of Modern Foreign Languages provision in higher education in England - http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2009/200941/