Page 46 - Languages Victoria December 2019
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Languages Victoria
Figure 3 - below: Secondary enrolments for the six most-studied languages, 2012–18 (DET, 2019, p. 44)
One of the challenges at the primary level is the time allocated to the teaching of languages. While DET recommend a minimum of 150 minutes, very few schools, and predominately bilingual schools met this criterion. Primary level programs range from 10 minutes to 240 minutes per week (for non-bilingual programs), with 86 percent of programs running for between 31 and 60 minute per week (Figure 4). An average, student receives 55 minutes per week of languages education. More recently, an increasing number of schools of incorporating Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) into their schools, whereby content is taught through the target language. For example, a kitchen garden program or an Art program in the target language. The annual report however, does not collect data on the use of this pedagogy at this stage.
Figure 4 - right: Enrolments in primary Languages programs, by minutes per week, 2018 (DET, 2019, p. 34)
One of the challenges for schools at the secondary level is the retention of students across the secondary level, with some
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Volume 23 Number 2
