This is an in-person event at Europe House which will be live streamed online. You can watch the event online via our Facebook Live. If you’d like to attend in person, click the registration button above.
Click here for the link to watch via Facebook Live.
To mark the European Day of Languages, the EU Delegation to the UK, in partnership with the Aspen Institute UK, is hosting an insightful public event to celebrate European language learning across the country.
Millions of people in the UK speak a European language other than English, but with language subjects declining in schools across Britain, how can we boost young people’s language skills and nurture their European heritage? And, what other benefits can learning European languages bring?
From GCSEs to Saturday schools, this event will showcase language education across the UK and raise awareness of the value of learning European languages. It will also provide key insights and best practices for headteachers and teachers looking to encourage their students to learn European languages.
On the panel:
Joan Deslandes – Joan is the Head Teacher of Kingsford Community School, a co-educational secondary school with an International School status in Beckton, East London. She has three times been named as one of London’s 1000 most influential people in the Evening Standard and is amongst Debrett’s People of Today. In recognition of her exceptional commitment to equality, inclusivity and transformation in education, she was awarded with an OBE in the Queen’s 2017 Birthday Honours list.
Vicky Gough – Vicky is lead for Modern Languages in schools in the UK at the British Council. She has managed a number of programmes and activities that support the teaching and learning of languages in the UK, and bring an intercultural dimension to language learning. She has produced resources to introduce young people to other languages and cultures and to motivate young people to continue with languages to GCSE and beyond. She oversees the annual Language Trends research.
Bernardette Holmes – Bernadette is the Director of the National Consortium for Languages Education at the University College London. She has made major contributions to languages education in England through her work as a modern languages advocate, teacher, adviser, inspector, teacher trainer, researcher, curriculum and policy developer and author. She is an alumna of UCL (French with Classical and Medieval Latin) and IOE (PGCE in French and German with subsidiary studies in Sociology and Performing Arts), then known as the Institute of Education, University of London. She is Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Linguistics, Director of Speak to the Future, and consultant to the DfE for the development of the GCSE in British Sign Language.
Katarzyna Kowalczyk – Katarzyna is a trustee at the Polish Educational Society. She is a graduate in Polish studies and a translator. Katarzyna has lived in the UK for nearly 25 years and has been associated with education in the Polish emigré community for 15 years. She liaises with several examination committees, publishing houses and organisations supporting higher education.
Moderated by:
Professor Neil Kelly – Neil was until recently the British Academy’s Lead Fellow for Languages. He continues to be involved in the Academy’s ongoing policy work to promote the study of languages widely. He is Professor of French at the University of Oxford, having previously taught at other universities, where he was involved in outreach work to boost uptake of languages.