Following the launch of the National Languages Strategy, the
DfES
established 19 Key Stage 2 languages Local Authority ‘Pathfinders’
to investigate the most effective ways of delivering and sustaining
the entitlement. These ran from September 2003 to July 2005.
Several organisations, including CILT, monitored and evaluated
their work:
DfES Evaluation of Key Stage 2 language
learning pathfinders
The University of Warwick was commissioned by the DCSF to carry
out an evaluation of these Pathfinders. You can access their
report, case studies from the project and the
original research brief at
Pathfinders DCSF Research gateway.
CILT survey of pathfinders
In 2006, CILT hosted a series of regional briefings in the nine
regions of England to discuss implementing the Key Stage 2
entitlement with Local Authorities. During these briefings it
became clear that different Local Authorities and regions were
using different strategies to develop primary languages.
As a result, CILT carried out a survey of the 19 DfES Local
Authority Pathfinders and an additional 12 Local Authorities
identified by Lid King, the National Director for Languages.
The aim was to build up a picture of the strategies employed by
different Local Authorities across the country who were already
well-established in their provision of primary languages in order
to provide others with valuable information to refer to when
working towards implementing the entitlement themselves.
Download:
Ofsted evaluation of
pathfinders
Ofsted also carried out a survey based on inspections in the
Pathfinder schools. Read Ofsted's report at Policy - Ofsted evaluations.