SoL involved in succesful bid to the DCSF for the Open School for Languages project
The School of Languages have been collaborating with a multi-media publishing company in a bid to the DCSF for a project called Open School for Languages. The bidding process and contract negotiations have been completed and SoL are members of the successful consortium. More information about the project is below.
Announcing Open School for Languages
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has commissioned some of the leading names in education and language teaching to develop Open School for Languages (OSfL), a new online language learning service, which aims to support initiatives to secure a renaissance of languages in secondary schools.
This £6 million investment is a direct response to the Dearing Review, which recommended a package of measures to ensure a more relevant and motivating experience in language learning and expanding training opportunities for secondary teachers.
OSfL aims to help more young people discover the relevance and value of languages by switching them on to language learning and providing them with opportunities to improve their language skills. The service will help teachers to engage young people with languages, raising their competence, increasing their participation and supporting the wider languages agenda.
The Open School will be developed during 2009 and launched in early 2010, offering a range of highly imaginative range of materials in different languages, with content designed to engage learners, both independently and in the classroom. The first materials to be launched will be for French, German, Spanish and Mandarin at KS3 with more materials to be added during 2010 and 2011. The service will also support new developments in the secondary languages curriculum.
Development of the service is being led by Lightbox Education, a division of RM, and a wide range of partners from the language world, including CILT, Cambridge University Language Centre and the University of Salford.
www.lightbox-ed.com
www.cilt.org.uk
www.langcen.cam.ac.uk
www.salford.ac.uk