A report evaluating the OWRI Student Language Ambassador Programme has been published. Building on the success of recent languages initiatives such as Routes into Languages and the Welsh MFL Student Mentoring Project, the Programme was designed to increase the number of students progressing in the study of a language from GCSE to A level in four regions across the UK, and was implemented by the Creative Multilingualism, Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals Transforming Societies, and Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community OWRI clusters, alongside their regional Routes partners.
Pupils participated in either the short programme, consisting of two classroom interventions led by undergraduate Ambassadors on the themes of Translation and Careers with Language as well as a visit to a university during which pupils were given a guided tour in the language, a language-learning taster session, and a taster lecture given by academic staff on a relevant topic; or the extended programme, in which those GCSE pupils who indicated they were less certain they would study a language at A level were offered an intensive mentoring programme in addition to the components of the short programme.
As Routes into Languages London had an existing student ambassadors programme, Language Acts and Routes London developed and conducted a separate mentoring study, details of which are forthcoming. All four OWRI clusters contributed to the funding of the OWRI Student Language Ambassador Programme Evaluation Report and are proud to announce its findings.
The report found that the programme led to a noticeable uptake in the number of pupils continuing a language at A level. While 14% of pupils on the 'short programme' chose to progress in their language study post-16 (an increase in the national progression rates ranging from 6% to 8% in French, German, and Spanish), the progression rate rose to 29% for pupils who benefitted from the mentoring on the 'extended programme'.
Read the full report here.