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WQ.45/2022
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND EDUCATION BY DEPUTY M. TADIER OF ST. BRELADE
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 31st JANUARY 2022
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 7th FEBRUARY 2022
Question
“Will the Minister advise –
- when and why the decision to remove foreign language assistants from schools was taken;
- what changes were made following the decision to remove language assistants;
- what savings, if any, have been made by the department from such changes; and
- in which schools, if any, language assistants are still currently used; the cost of this service and the total cost of using foreign language assistants before the decision to remove them was taken?”
Answer
- Secondary school foreign language assistants continue to be employed by the Department through the Alliance Francaise and direct through the school and are deployed to support GCSE and A level teaching in schools. The annual budget for deployed language assistants in secondary schools is currently: £137,805
- Primary French language assistants were employed through deployed funding of £40,000 per annum to Alliance Francaise until January 2020. Their work was suspended and furloughed during the Covid crisis and kept under review as part of the Education Funding Review. A final decision will be made this year.
- Secondary remains the same. Primary French is supported by the French Experience, a bespoke French programme offered to every primary school, employing 1.5 qualified teachers to teach the intensive programme in each school for 6 weeks in year 5, and offering booster sessions in year 6 to support transition to secondary school languages.
- The budget for secondary foreign language assistants is £137,805; no saving made.
The budget for primary foreign language assistants prior to interruption caused by COVID was £40,000. Currently the Department spend £108,000 pa on the French Experience (see point b above)
Secondary schools who access language assistants are: Le Rocquier, Hautlieu, Grainville, Haute Vallée, Les Quennevais, Jersey College for Girls and Victoria College.