The university's School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages hosted a debate on languages at work on 23 May in Regent Street in London. The main contributors were involved in the original Inquiry and are now on the steering group for the Nuffield Languages Programme: Alan Moys, former secretary to the Inquiry, Professor Michael Kelly, University of Southampton and Hugh Morgan Williams, Chair of the Languages National Training Organisation.
 
The audience, drawn from a variety of institutions and from different sectors of education, were given presentations on the findings of the Inquiry, the employability of Modern Languages graduates, the place of languages in the Higher Education sector, and the competence and training in modern languages needed by employers. A debate and question-and-answer session followed, introduced by Professor Keith Phillips, Head of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages, and chaired by Dr Debra Kelly, Department of Modern Languages.
 
The debate centred on the mismatch between the public perception of the employability of Modern Languages graduates and the reality: they are in fact the second most successful group in finding graduate jobs after professional degrees such as medicine and law, and twice as successful as computing graduates. It also highlighted the need, in the words of Alan Moys, to "change the whole climate" and to change attitudes towards language learning in the UK.
 
In the discussion, the DfEE response to the findings of the Inquiry (which was damning in its assessment of language learning in this country and the subsequent consequences for the economy and trade and for the health of our multicultural society) was generally criticised for not going far enough, focusing as it does mainly on primary education. Teresa Tinsley of CILT (Centre for Information on Language Teaching), who are the UK co-ordinators of the European Year of Languages 2001, reiterated the importance of the spotlight on languages during this year to galvanise public support for better language learning from primary education through to adult learning.
 
The debate / question-and-answer session focused on the following main issues:

• the need to match employers' needs and modern language graduates' skills


• the challenge for the future of Modern Languages in Higher Education which requires collaboration between institutions


• the need for providers of language training to understand the fast-changing nature of business and to ensure the relevance of language courses


• the need to promote the message of the findings of the Inquiry and to "change the climate" of the UK with regard to language learning


• the need for modern languages to be a requirement for professional training (eg for lawyers) - which was not one of the Inquiry's recommendations, but which the Panel fully accepted


• the need for the government to take responsibility while not neglecting the onus on individuals and on the professions to recognise and value the need for language skills


• the need for high-quality role-models in all walks of life and the visibility of individuals using languages as part and parcel of their everyday activities


• the importance of motivating schoolchildren and of providing them with knowledge of the processes of language learning - one point being that an native English speaker does not necessarily know which language(s) will be most useful in later life

 
Email us your views on these issues now: nuflang@nuffieldfoundation.org