Schools: Languages Other Than English

I address my adjournment matter this evening to the Minister for Education. The action I seek from the minister is that he visit Glen Eira College and see firsthand the great work it is doing under the fine leadership of principal Lesley Lamb, council president Julie Staunton and council members.

I was extremely happy to hear the minister's announcement as a part of the 2011-12 budget that this government will support the expansion of programs for languages other than English (LOTE) in the school curriculum. I also note with great pleasure the minister's strong actions to defend the robust LOTE sector in the Victorian school system again the lowest common denominator approach being canvassed by the federal government's draft national curriculum.

The draft documents propose a number of language tuition hours that is well below the standard set by Victoria. We can rightly be proud of setting and meeting high standards in this state, and we will not be bullied by Canberra into lowering our standards.

There is little question that learning a language other than English is valuable to students. The benefits manifest themselves in so many ways. By learning a language, students gain the ability to live, study and work in another culture. This has lifelong benefits for students, enabling them to learn about other countries as well as opening up enormous opportunities for their professional careers. As well as the learning of an individual subject, learning a language across different disciplines such as literature and history greatly increases students' cognitive development and function. There have been a number of studies which have demonstrated the increased literacy levels that are achieved by introducing languages at an early age.

There are a number of schools in my electorate of Caulfield, and I would like to refer to Glen Eira College in particular. I would like the minister to visit Glen Eira College and find out firsthand about the great work the college is doing in the area of languages. The action I seek is that the minister visit Glen Eira College to meet with its principal, Lesley Lamb, and the staff and students of the college to witness firsthand how successful a program such as this can be and how its language program could be a model for other schools to implement as part of the LOTE program.

Glen Eira College is a great school doing some terrific things which I am sure the minister will benefit from seeing when he visits the school. It not only teaches language but it is also very impressive in the area of music, and its advanced curriculum extension program, which is its accelerated learning program, is a terrific program which I am sure the minister will be impressed with when he visits the school.

Minister Dixon's response-

Mr DIXON (Minister for Education) The member for Caulfield spoke about Glen Eira College. He has spoken a lot about the school, and in fact I know a fair bit about Glen Eira College. It has a very good name and is a great school.

I look forward to going out to visit the school. The member made a point about the incredible French language program. The Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship and I have a great belief, as does our government, in the importance of languages education. There is an exemplary French program at Glen Eira College. I really look forward to visiting the school and seeing how it works. There is a range of models out there, such as immersion programs.

There are also two primary schools in the member's electorate with good language programs: Caulfield Junior College, which has a tremendous Japanese program, and Caulfield Primary School, which also has a French program.

Learning a language other than English is very important for students not just academically -- it certainly helps them with their mother tongue -- but also for cultural understanding. It makes great economic sense and gives students who have another language tremendous employability in their future careers.

That is why we have made it such a high point of our policies and have announced funding for it in this year's budget. There will be further initiatives over the coming years. I am really excited about coming to visit the school to see the great job that it is doing and what we can learn from it that can be applied to other schools.