Language Specialism
Moseley School has a specialism. It is a Specialist Language College. Yet in 2006 it hit rock bottom with only 15% of pupils passing five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths because of problems in the English Department. Following complaints to local councillors and Birmingham City Council, the then Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr. Les Lawrence arranged for a consultant to fly in from Scotland on a weekly basis to sort out problems in the English Language department. At the time the Chair of the Governing Body was an Assistant Head of School Effectiveness in the south of England! You could not make it up even if you tried. As a result of the intervention by the flying consultant from Scotland, GCSE results went up from 15% to 27% in 2007.
Seven years on and with a new Governing Body made up of education experts appointed by Birmingham City Council, a new Head Teacher, a new Senior Leadership Team and a new multi-million pound building akin to a university campus, only 38% of pupils passed five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths because of problems in the English department, yet again. This has been a recurring theme for nearly a decade.
What is the point of teaching foreign languages when the school is struggling to teach English to a satisfactorily level? Without a good grasp of English, children fail to access the rest of the curriculum properly.
The other point to consider is whether the Language Specialism is actually suitable for the children of Moseley School. Here are key extracts of the 2008 School Evaluation Plan:
1) Language College status suits schools diversity but requirement that >50% of KS4 students study two languages limits the proportion able to take a vocational option; those who do study two languages have a dramatic negative impact on the school's output measures.
2) Average total KS4 point score 329.5 BUT 300 for those taking a second language AND 433 for those not taking a second language.
3) Work continues at a national level (Head chairing SSAT Heads of Language Colleges) to address the issues of disadvantage to Language Colleges both from the relative level of difficulty of language exams and from lack of access to appropriate vocational courses to raise point scores and value-added.
4) The impact of languages on overall outcomes provides more of a challenge, severe grading making them more difficult than other subjects so that they pull down point scores and, as 100% of our students study for GCSE, results compare badly with schools where only the highest achievers take a language option, compounding the detriment to our whole school performance indicators.
5) Non second language students take a vocational option and achieve much higher point scores, value-added and 5A*-C.
6) This language issue complicates curriculum re-design; currently students who do not study two languages at KS4 dramatically out-perform those who do.
Who decides what specialism the school should have?
Have parents or the community ever been consulted about the language specialism?
Are parents aware of the high risks associated with language specialism?
Who chooses what languages a child will study at Moseley School? Pupil, parent or Inderpal Lotay the Builder (assuming his primary interest in Moseley School is the academic achievement of pupils at Moseley School and that he understands the significant drawbacks of the language specialism)?
How do pupils perform in the various languages taught at the school?
Has the school ever published its results in pupil attainment in the school's specialism since it acquired the language specialism?
Moseley School has a specialism. It is a Specialist Language College. Yet in 2006 it hit rock bottom with only 15% of pupils passing five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths because of problems in the English Department. Following complaints to local councillors and Birmingham City Council, the then Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr. Les Lawrence arranged for a consultant to fly in from Scotland on a weekly basis to sort out problems in the English Language department. At the time the Chair of the Governing Body was an Assistant Head of School Effectiveness in the south of England! You could not make it up even if you tried. As a result of the intervention by the flying consultant from Scotland, GCSE results went up from 15% to 27% in 2007.
Seven years on and with a new Governing Body made up of education experts appointed by Birmingham City Council, a new Head Teacher, a new Senior Leadership Team and a new multi-million pound building akin to a university campus, only 38% of pupils passed five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths because of problems in the English department, yet again. This has been a recurring theme for nearly a decade.
What is the point of teaching foreign languages when the school is struggling to teach English to a satisfactorily level? Without a good grasp of English, children fail to access the rest of the curriculum properly.
The other point to consider is whether the Language Specialism is actually suitable for the children of Moseley School. Here are key extracts of the 2008 School Evaluation Plan:
1) Language College status suits schools diversity but requirement that >50% of KS4 students study two languages limits the proportion able to take a vocational option; those who do study two languages have a dramatic negative impact on the school's output measures.
2) Average total KS4 point score 329.5 BUT 300 for those taking a second language AND 433 for those not taking a second language.
3) Work continues at a national level (Head chairing SSAT Heads of Language Colleges) to address the issues of disadvantage to Language Colleges both from the relative level of difficulty of language exams and from lack of access to appropriate vocational courses to raise point scores and value-added.
4) The impact of languages on overall outcomes provides more of a challenge, severe grading making them more difficult than other subjects so that they pull down point scores and, as 100% of our students study for GCSE, results compare badly with schools where only the highest achievers take a language option, compounding the detriment to our whole school performance indicators.
5) Non second language students take a vocational option and achieve much higher point scores, value-added and 5A*-C.
6) This language issue complicates curriculum re-design; currently students who do not study two languages at KS4 dramatically out-perform those who do.
Who decides what specialism the school should have?
Have parents or the community ever been consulted about the language specialism?
Are parents aware of the high risks associated with language specialism?
Who chooses what languages a child will study at Moseley School? Pupil, parent or Inderpal Lotay the Builder (assuming his primary interest in Moseley School is the academic achievement of pupils at Moseley School and that he understands the significant drawbacks of the language specialism)?
How do pupils perform in the various languages taught at the school?
Has the school ever published its results in pupil attainment in the school's specialism since it acquired the language specialism?