The quality of teaching modern languages in 13 secondary education departments inspected in 2005-06 was weak or adequate in six of them, good in six and only very good in one.
A “portrait of current practice”, issued by HMIE this week, sets out examples of good practice and areas for improvement, accompanied by the declaration: “Monolingualism is curable.” The number of S4 pupils taking modern languages showed a dip between 2004-05 and 2005-06.
The inspectorate has also published a “portrait” of modern studies this week, which concentrates on what more the subject can do to contribute to the four capacities in A Curriculum for Excellence.
Details next week.
