SECONDARY school students should have to learn a second language as part of their GCSE studies, a St Brelade Deputy has said.
Deputy Montfort Tadier, a former Assistant Economic Development Minister with responsibility for culture, has called for the trend which has seen languages become optional at school to be reversed, as he believes being bilingual has numerous benefits.
The Jersey Curriculum Council is responsible for determining what languages are available to schools, with schools then choosing which languages to make available to their students over and above the core curriculum, based on pupil demand and the expertise of staff.
Deputy Tadier recently asked a written States question about which foreign languages are currently taught in lesson time, as well as Mandarin Chinese, which is offered at some schools.
A new language policy is set to be launched by the government next month.
Deputy Tadier said: ‘We need to have a proper debate as to whether or not a second language should be compulsory. Not having to do a GCSE in a second language is a problem.
‘I know there is a question of resources but studying a second language brings a lot of added benefits individually and collectively as a society.
‘There are lots of qualifications out there that schools should be looking to tap into.
‘It doesn’t just have to be students learning a new language for the first time. We should be encouraging those already fluent in certain languages to take further studies and qualifications in those areas.’
Deputy Tadier said that it is ‘not about forcing one language over the other’, but ‘reversing the trend which has seen languages become optional’.
He also believes that Portuguese should be offered during school time.
‘I find it strange that Portuguese is not offered during school time.
‘It is a significant language across the world and in Jersey, where a lot of people have it as their home language or as a secondary language,’ he said.
‘It is also funded through one of the Portuguese language foundations and I find it bizarre that it is not centrally funded.’
