So? What’s the issue with MFL? Starting with Curriculum
Having worked in UK schools for a fair amount of time, I know everyone sees an ‘issue’ with MFL. High staff turnover, sometimes having to ask non-specialists to teach to fill the curriculum slots, which can even lead to SLT reducing curriculum time. This in turn leads to students feeling frustrated with their progress and in turn the MFL box is left unticked on their GCSE options form. And then there’s A Level.
This all sounds incredibly negative, and some may say rightly so, but is there another way? I absolutely loved my career in teaching and despite the odd lesson that didn’t go as I wanted (yes, this does happen throughout a career!)I never felt like my job was fruitless, and I saw many young people gain confidence, skills and excellent results in MFL.
It can be done! I am a big fan of Conti and have implemented a blended method in previous curriculums to great effect, so recently started reading his opinion of this on his LanguageGym website.
I have been reading Rebuilding a Struggling MFL Department: What to Know, What to Do, and Where to Begin
I will add my thoughts on the breakdown of this on my blog over the next few weeks, and (surprise surprise) I find what Conti says here incredibly useful and somewhat motivational for us in the MFL business. As always, he breaks down the ‘to dos’ into chunks that make it all seem a little less negative, and a little less daunting!
Conti starts with : 1. Prioritise Curriculum Clarity and Simplicity.
As a previous leader in MFL, I could not agree more. Too often I’ve seen curriculums that are over-complex - the writer started off with lots of ideas and was unable to decide which ones would work perhaps? For me, the most important is to ensure clarity with your staff before trying to deliver to the students. Do staff really know why they’re teaching examples of the passé compose to year 8 French when talking about holidays then next term ‘forgetting’ all of that to teach them about ideal home and imperfect tense? Then in Year 10 expecting students to remember the tense they saw for a term two years prior? This can cause low engagement and motivation for students, but also for staff. ‘Why can’t students remember what I taught them?’ ‘Am I doing it wrong?’
There is another way. With a carefully planned and articulated curriculum which consistently builds in retrieval and prior knowledge, not only can the all-important results improve, but so can engagement, motivation and morale, for both students and teachers alike.
When planning the curriculum, I have a holistic view. I take what is needed at GCSE but also what is important in the context of the school, the pupils. I then strip it back to the essential, so students have time to really understand what they need to.
Do I want to talk about the local area, something relevant to my students? Of course. Do I need to factor in that many of my pupils will not have visited Spain? Of course. Do I need to spend 17 lessons on various obscure past participles in different contexts? Probably not.
A curriculum is not a scheme of work. It’s a sequential overview of the key learning topics. The scheme of work is the detail. They work together. Having an overview of topics and sequences is step one, then the scheme of work is step two.
How do you plan your curriculums? Do you? Or do you follow someone else’s?
Click here to download my FREE pdf ‘5 Steps to Create a Competent Curriculum’
