ANGLS conference in Canberra

The 2019 conference of the Australian Network of Government Languages Schools (ANGLS) was held on Thursday 15 and Friday 16 August at Telopea Park School. It was hosted by the Canberra Academy of Languages (CAL), a not-for-profit organisation established in 2016 with the aim of providing expanded opportunities for language learning to complement existing programs offered in the ACT. 

The conference brought together educational leaders from government funded schools in Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory that offer language programs to over 25,000 students who cannot access their chosen languages at their own schools.

One of the things discussed at the conference was the undertaking by the federal government, announced on Friday 2 August 2019, to invest in language studies and to develop a national languages strategy to support language teaching and learning in Australia (see https://ministers.education.gov.au/tehan/investing-languages-studies-australia) 

Following the conference, ANGLS issued a media release that calls on all Australian governments to recognise the huge benefits of helping our students become truly global citizens by boosting the status of language learning both in word and in deed. 

"It is widely recognised  that in terms of both global and local imperatives, Australia needs to do better in fostering languages learning by students, and in strengthening existing multilingual capacities of students who do already have languages skills, in all Australian school systems"    

You can read the full ANGLS media release at: angls_media_release_2019-08-19.pdf.