❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice addresses language education (LOTE) in regional schools, specifically regarding funding for the School of Distance Education (SIDE) and the impact of abandoning compulsory language instruction. The answer provides data on LOTE program access and enrolment trends.
AnsweredQoN 6281Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
In relation to the Government’s commitment to languages education in regional schools, I ask:
(a) how many regional primary schools access language teaching (LOTE) through the School of Distance Education (SIDE);
(b) will the Minister guarantee that there will be no funding cuts to SIDE language instruction, and if not, why not;
(c) when was the previous 1996 policy which made second-language instruction compulsory in Western Australian primary schools abandoned; and
(d) what have been the effects on the education experiences of Western Australian regional students since this policy was abandoned?
(a) how many regional primary schools access language teaching (LOTE) through the School of Distance Education (SIDE);
(b) will the Minister guarantee that there will be no funding cuts to SIDE language instruction, and if not, why not;
(c) when was the previous 1996 policy which made second-language instruction compulsory in Western Australian primary schools abandoned; and
(d) what have been the effects on the education experiences of Western Australian regional students since this policy was abandoned?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
1 November 2011
Responded by
Minister for Education
Response time
33 days
(a) The Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) deliver language (LOTE) programs to 43 rural schools.
(b) Any student in rural Western Australia who wishes to study a language through SIDE will continue to have full access to these programs, including any of the four languages (French, Indonesian, Italian and Japanese) offered through SIDE.
(c) The
LOTE 2000
policy (1995) which made language instruction compulsory in Western Australian primary schools from Years 4 to 7 was "abandoned" in 2004 by the previous Government and was built into the
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
(CAR) policy, introduced in 2005. Under the current CAR policy, languages (LOTE) are no longer specified as compulsory at any particular year of schooling.
(d) The Department of Education places a high value on the teaching and learning of languages and provides resources directly to schools for face to face delivery and through SIDE for electronic delivery of language learning.
Since the policy was amended in 2004/2005:
· access for regional students to the program has remained consistently at a high level;
· instructional time for regional students has increased by 20 minutes per week; and
· the percentage of regional students studying a language has declined from 51.6 per cent in 2005 to 40.5 per cent in 2011.
LOTE Enrolments and Total Student Enrolments for Regional Government Schools from 1996 to 2011 (Semester 2)
Year
LOTE
Students
% of regional students studying a language
1996
17 348
81 087
21.39
1997
23 624
82 656
28.58
1998
33 294
84 567
39.37
1999
38 788
85 756
45.23
2000
41 150
85 338
48.22
2001
42 494
82 503
51.51
2002
42 327
81 924
51.67
2003
42 992
81 255
52.91
2004
42 143
80 524
52.34
2005
40 859
79 219
51.58
2006
38 576
79 293
48.65
2007
38 741
78 400
49.41
2008
38 107
78 152
48.76
2009
36 181
78 306
46.20
2010
35 146
77 673
45.25
2011
31 666
78 232
40.48
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
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(b) Any student in rural Western Australia who wishes to study a language through SIDE will continue to have full access to these programs, including any of the four languages (French, Indonesian, Italian and Japanese) offered through SIDE.
(c) The
LOTE 2000
policy (1995) which made language instruction compulsory in Western Australian primary schools from Years 4 to 7 was "abandoned" in 2004 by the previous Government and was built into the
Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting
(CAR) policy, introduced in 2005. Under the current CAR policy, languages (LOTE) are no longer specified as compulsory at any particular year of schooling.
(d) The Department of Education places a high value on the teaching and learning of languages and provides resources directly to schools for face to face delivery and through SIDE for electronic delivery of language learning.
Since the policy was amended in 2004/2005:
· access for regional students to the program has remained consistently at a high level;
· instructional time for regional students has increased by 20 minutes per week; and
· the percentage of regional students studying a language has declined from 51.6 per cent in 2005 to 40.5 per cent in 2011.
LOTE Enrolments and Total Student Enrolments for Regional Government Schools from 1996 to 2011 (Semester 2)
Year
LOTE
Students
% of regional students studying a language
1996
17 348
81 087
21.39
1997
23 624
82 656
28.58
1998
33 294
84 567
39.37
1999
38 788
85 756
45.23
2000
41 150
85 338
48.22
2001
42 494
82 503
51.51
2002
42 327
81 924
51.67
2003
42 992
81 255
52.91
2004
42 143
80 524
52.34
2005
40 859
79 219
51.58
2006
38 576
79 293
48.65
2007
38 741
78 400
49.41
2008
38 107
78 152
48.76
2009
36 181
78 306
46.20
2010
35 146
77 673
45.25
2011
31 666
78 232
40.48
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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