< Bernardette Holmes MBE, Director, National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE, at UCL IOE) Honorary Professor
Dr Judith Rifeser, Associate Professor in Education; Director of Strategic Learning Futures (NCLE, at UCL IOE) >
As the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE) – the DfE’s flagship programme for languages – prepares to launch its free, innovative, national CPD Platform for languages teachers, Director and Honorary Professor Bernardette Holmes MBE and Associate Professor Dr Judith Rifeser, who conceptualised and led the design of the e-learning platform, explain the principles that guide the NCLE’s work.
In a nutshell: what is Principled Practice?
BH & JR: Put simply, Principled Practice defines the reference points that determine what we teach, how we teach and why we teach in a particular way.
Sounds great – but how does a teacher use Principled Practice in the languages classroom?
Every learner is a language learner, but they don’t all learn in the same way. Principled Practice helps us take full account of the context in which we teach and provides us with the best available evidence to support our learners and adapt our teaching.
We can develop our understanding about how learners learn: how they memorise language, how they use language with increasing independence, how to make meaning and communicate, and how to develop cultural awareness through language learning.
NCLE is collaborating with leading national and international experts to develop our e-learning platform aiming to support languages teachers in their development at any stage of their career.
Here comes the science bit!
Taking account of cognitive load theory and prior learning helps us as teachers as we develop phonology, vocabulary and grammar along with cultural knowledge. The platform will allow you to find out more about scaffolding, sequencing and the spiral curriculum.
“Principled Practice helps us take full account of the context in which we teach.”
Isn’t language learning about people?
Language learning is a socio-cultural process. Language is something you inhabit. It’s about identity formation and motivation, affecting how we feel as well as how we think.
Why should I engage with this?
With the new GCSE specification, it’s important for teachers to feel supported in making judicious, informed decisions about what to add or amend in their curriculum without changing their entire scheme of learning.
We invite teachers to engage with us for their professional learning, strengthening agency in their practice and taking part in a national renewal in languages education, everyone working together.
How can I access training or support on this?
The NCLE, funded by the DfE, is launching a brand new, free online CPD platform hosted by UCL-Institute of Education. It will offer bite-sized modules allowing languages teachers to curate their own space for professional development and self-reflection to develop great teaching – join our mailing list to find out more.
Join NCLE’s mailing list today and be first to know when the NCLE CPD Platform is launched and about all other NCLE opportunities.
- NCLE has assembled a brilliant team of languages teachers and researchers in languages education across England and beyond, who are writing, contributing to and advising on the creation of the NCLE languages CPD platform, launching later this year.
- Interested in German? NCLE’s GEMs (German Expert Mentors) will coach and mentor your German teachers, providing resources, support and upskilling – for free and available now!
- Do you know about our Language Hubs? Join the NCLE and be part of a national community of practice led by UCL-Institute of Education, in partnership with the Goethe-Institut London and the British Council, working with national partners including ALL, the Bell Foundation, ASCL, NALA and the Chartered College of Teaching.
