Let's Transform MFL

Any thoughts, @HmiWardle ? Lots of #mfltwitterati will want to know whether Ofsted stands by its Research Review, now that it has been so forensically unpicked and refuted by the very research community which the Review purports to represent. #ASCL2022

Good news! We’ve been accredited by Ofqual. The new GCSE French specification and sample assessment materials are available on our website ready for first teaching in September 2024. #GCSEFrench #MFLTwitterati

We are delighted to announce the launch of the 2023 edition of 'A German Classic'. This year's text is Franz Kafka's Der Heizer. All info here: ogn.ox.ac.uk/content/german… @OxfordGerman @HLaehnemann @MflTransform @ukgconnection @OxMML_Schools @GermanReading1 @MLOE75531215

ismla.co.uk/ismla-events/i… Grsat conference for teachers of Spanish- Sat 24th June in Manchester at @InstCervantes by @ismla_uk #mfltwitterati

Alongside @MMLL_Cambridge, @OxMML_Schools & @TranslationExch, I'm delighted to announce we have launched Think Like a Linguist. It's designed to harness expert knowledge at @Cambridge_Uni & @UniofOxford to change how students think about language learning: queens.ox.ac.uk/research-at-qu…

So presumably Ofsted & co would criticise Charles's language skills and whomever taught him because he didn't pronounce Familie correctly? Good example of the problem with the obsession with phonics.

Calling all MFL Trainees and ECTs! @ismla_uk and @ALL4language language teaching conference at @wschool on Sat 22nd April. Booking here: tinyurl.com/ISMLAALL Please share and retweet! #mfltwitterati #mfl #ect #edutwitter

@gianfrancocont9 @RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language I haven't seen details of any second contract or funding so don't know

@MflTransform @RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language So, to sum up: NCELP lost the tender. UCL got it. NCELP got a contract which is not related to the original mission but has to do with the new GCSE. Is that correct @MflTransform ?

NCELP has gone - but what is it's legacy? For a short time, it permeated all aspects of MFL policy: tunnel-vision Ofsted research review which was largely slated by academics, and a flawed new GCSE which reduces standards & threatens to undermine uptake. DfE needs to press pause.

@gianfrancocont9 @RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language Unless DfE decide to delay or pause their new GCSE. Given that we still haven't got final SAMs for French, let alone German or Spanish, and students will soon be in year 9... ...at best it makes a mockery of DfE's mantra about building knowledge over time.

@MflTransform @RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language It makes sense

@RachelHawkes60 @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language For example DfE might have to continue to commission NCELP to do various bits associated with the rollout of the new GCSE. Because this isn't DfE's GCSE, it's NCELP's GCSE and DfE doesn't have the capacity and capability in-house to do the specialist work.

@RachelHawkes60 @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language DfE could choose to fund University of York/a consortium to do something else. If it does, it will be interesting to see whether it does so via a competitive tendering process. People will be watching out for this, I suspect.

@gianfrancocont9 @natalie_eloise @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 If the new contract were for the same service as NCELP delivered, then NCELP staff would be entitled to continue their jobs under the new employer. Again, normal procurement practice.

@gianfrancocont9 @natalie_eloise @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 The Languages Hubs contract was the successor contract to NCELP. NCELP had its contract extended to dovetail with the awarding of the new contract. But the new contract has some different deliverables and outcomes. That's why NCELP staff aren't being TUPEd across to UCL.

@RachelHawkes60 @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language Speaking of the weirdly sacrosanct Pedsgogy Review (which was about as thorough as my approach to ironing school shirts), did anyone ever find out what the 25th commonly used verb was?!

@RachelHawkes60 @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language There are ways in which the Pedagogy Review can be interpreted. NCELP itself chose to dial up and dial down various aspects. I suspect the new provider will do the same. Anyone would.

@RachelHawkes60 @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language I also think this contract- £15m over several yrs- will outlive the dogma of the Ofsted research review. Who knows, it might even outlive Ofsted itself. Nothing is ever forever in education, nor in politics.

@MflTransform @gianfrancocont9 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language I think we will find there will be some of both - continuity and change. In terms of core CPD and resources, there will certainly be some continuity because this is DfE money, and the new GCSE and the Pedagogy Review align with current DfE policy.

@gianfrancocont9 @RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language There will be discontinuity. NCELP was commissioned on a different contract.. This is a nww contract with a diff service spec, different outcomes & different deliverables. A different provider will want to do things differently. That's how all public sector procurement works.

@RachelHawkes60 @JWood201 @MflTransform @CatMan49223300 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language So UCL continues your work. Is that what you mean?

@gianfrancocont9 @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 DfE commissioning teams may or may not have been feedback but ultimately any commissioning process is commercially sensitive. It's a key distinction between procurement (which is what this was) vs grant-giving.

@MflTransform @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 Yes. I was wonder if the NCELP ppl were briefed as to the specific criteria they failed to meet. I would have wanted to know if I were them. Wouldn’t you? After all the effort put in.

@gianfrancocont9 @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 It was a public tender and commissioning process like any other. There were weighted criteria and each bid will have received a score. Those criteria will have included cost and quality measures. Only one provider can win the tender.

@MflTransform @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 Anyone knows what rationale was given by the DfE for stopping funding NCELP?

Make sure you have all filled in the Language Trends survey! #mfltwitterati

@gianfrancocont9 @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 Indeed. I was struck by the extent to which the Ofsted research review forgot that language learning is a social and cultural process, not just a cognitive one. Pupils aren't blank vessels into which we mechanically inject words, grammar and phonics in some kind of perfect order

@MflTransform @CatMan49223300 @JWood201 @VEverettmfl @ALL4language @RachelHawkes60 Especially considering that, as Webb, Nation and many others say, relevance of the to-be-taught vocabulary is key in motivating learners to acquire it. Also NCELP recycle vocab through Quizlet, that has little listening and, of course, provides zero speaking opportunities