We invited Pascale Vitoux, an inspector in the Académie de Versailles, to attend the ASCL Conference for Strategic Leadership of Languages in London in October 2024. The event brought together a diverse programme of speakers, presenting approaches to help language education leaders increase participation and outcomes, access funded opportunities for languages, and establish inclusive language culture in schools. Here, Pascale shares her takeaways from the conference and how they might be applied in the French local context.
In October 2024, I was kindly invited by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the British Council to take part in a fantastic conference in London in October 2025. I was accompanied by my colleagues, Léa Viso, the head teacher of a comprehensive school in Sartrouville, and Sophie Ribeiro, the lead for English teaching programmes across Sartrouville schools.
Our project
Sartrouville is a city located about 10 miles from Paris in a western suburb. The area is urban with a rather high number of disadvantaged families. A new school campus is being built to open in September 2025, welcoming around 1 200 pupils from early years to high school. This project aims to provide levelling-up opportunities for disadvantaged pupils and promote a high-level curriculum in all fields, with a wider engagement in language learning for all pupils.
The British Council has been involved in the steering committee for this project, helping us define our objectives around bilingual education and explore ways of teaching subjects through English. It was as part of this ongoing collaboration that we were invited to attend the conference and exchange ideas with UK school leaders.
During the conference, we focused on the key subjects we are dealing with in our projects:
- How can we build a strong and long-lasting languages department?
- How can we retain language teachers?
- How can we build support for languages inside our local community, including school time and after-school time?
- What are the essential classroom materials and teaching resources?
- Where can we find opportunities for partnership programmes with British or European schools?
Creating opportunities
A recurring theme in the conference was that, in our globalised economy, language skills and intercultural understanding add value and widen opportunities for individuals, communities, and society. All participants agreed that the personal benefits are wide-ranging and enable learners to thrive intellectually, from learning words, grammar and different spelling and writing systems to building relationships and trust between people. “Languages could take your child further” is the motto of the current communication campaign that was presented.
Everybody agreed on the necessity to ensure language teaching and the continuation of language teaching after GCSE up to A level. Most children should be able to try 2 languages, were recruitment and money not an issue. It was interesting to note that 68% of parents in England agree learning a modern foreign language should be compulsory in secondary school and 70% believe their child understands the benefits of learning a second language.
Local community support
Network and collaboration are key to providing sustainable support to language teachers. Engagement from heads of department, senior leaders, teachers and learners is necessary to keep languages in our ethos and maximise partnership. As far as France is concerned, we can share teachers between high schools, secondary schools, and primary schools when possible. Hubs are also an interesting way to develop local networks to support language departments, with one or two lead schools heading the partnership and up to 7 secondary schools working together in a commitment to continuous improvement.
Modern Foreign Language teacher recruitment
When it comes to recruitment and retention of Modern Foreign Language teachers, we share with British schools the same challenges. Recognising the teacher as a learner is very important, and we should encourage teachers to develop all their professional skills throughout their teaching career. Though we do not have special funds, we can offer support through programmes to enhance teachers’ skills in teaching other subjects through a foreign language for example.
Culturally rich teaching and community engagement
During the conference, we heard about different projects and ideas to enhance learning, with culturally rich teaching that focuses on linking subjects together and celebrating local and global communities, for children to become global citizens.
We were very interested in meeting young students at the beginning of the day. Their ability to express themselves in different languages was impressive. They were all very enthusiastic, with a high level of knowledge and excellent pronunciation. The lessons in their notebooks started from the basics, with simple forms, subject, verb and adjective, building vocabulary and emphasising spontaneous spoken communication.
In the Celebrate Speaking online festival #celebratespeaking, a special day is organised to celebrate and appreciate home and community languages which must be treasured. In one example of supporting community and local heritage, a headteacher displayed a map of all the languages spoken in the local school.
We learnt how some schools have set up a new relationship with parents who are asked to say why their child is special at the beginning of Year 6. Instead of just giving information to parents, they are engaged in a real exchange.
We discovered new resources and language and cultural offers from the Goethe Institute with German Expert Mentors (GEM), free teaching materials, German Club, Road shows, German Days and the Gimagine award, a self-access e-learning platform with up to 80 hours of German combined with global skills (the Duke of Edinburgh award), and certification.
A chance to connect
We met amazing people ready to exchange ideas and help us with our programme! We believe that languages and intercultural agility can help to foster universal understanding and contribute to building a peaceful and harmonious world future, and this was a fantastic opportunity to come together and meet heads of school and languages departments as well as hub teachers. We will be happy to keep in touch and develop more professional links.