Languages Education Working Party

Terms of reference

Through the Languages Education Working Party, all education jurisdictions and sectors will work collaboratively to implement and monitor the National Statement for Languages Education in Australian Schools and the National Plan for Languages Education in Australian Schools 2005-2008.

The specific role of the MCEETYA Languages Education Working Party is to:

• develop an annual operational plan which prioritises actions from the Plan, according to the available budget

• reach agreement on processes and structures for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the National Plan

• provide advice to DEST on its projects of national significance, from those identified in the National Plan

• seek additional funding for national projects from other sources.

The Working Party will:

• ensure that regular reports are forwarded to AESOC, and that members of AESOC are regularly appraised of strategic issues.

• negotiate with the Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce (PMRT) to formulate details of evaluation processes for the collection and analysis of student participation data and student achievement data; and for the evaluation of the implementation of the Plan as a whole.

• facilitate communication and consultation within individual jurisdictions and sectors and ensure that jurisdictional/sector perspectives and positions are taken into account.

• ensure that consultation occurs with key stakeholders including the Australian Federation of Modern Languages Teachers Associations (AFMLTA), the peak principals associations, parent associations, the tertiary sector, the Australian Federation of Ethnic Schools Associations (AFESA), and the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages (FATSIL).

• develop a communication strategy to ensure communication with all interested parties.

Communication with key stakeholders

The Working Party is committed to ensuring that communication channels and consultation mechanisms are in place with key stakeholders. To this end, a communication strategy has been developed. Communication channels include regular update reports:

Update Report June 2008

Update Report October 2007

Update Report August 2007

Update Report May 2007

Update Report February 2007

Update Report October 2006

Update Report May 2006

Projects of National Significance

The  Languages Education Working Party provides advice to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST)on projects of national significance to be funded under its School Languages Programme (SLP). Details of current national projects on the DEST website by clicking here.

Timeframe and reporting arrangements

To report to AESOC at least once a year.

Membership

Representatives from each State and Territory, the Australian Government, the National Catholic Education Commission and the Independent Schools Council of Australia. A membership list is available here.

Chair

Contact details