Case Study

Introduction

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan supplementary school in Manchester has benefited from the introduction of the Asset Languages assessment scheme. Asset Languages (OCR) formally accredits pupils’ language competence in the 4 skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) using the ‘Can-do’ statements of the DCSF Languages Ladder. The school found that implementing this scheme has improved pupil motivation and allowed teachers to monitor progress more accurately by assessing skills separately, and parents have also become more interested in their child’s progress through the stages of the scheme.

Introducing the Asset Languages assessment scheme

The school first heard of the asssessment scheme after becoming involved in the ‘Our Languages’ project. The school was already using OCR for external testing of GCSE, and was very interested in implementing the Assessment Scheme in order to extend their provision of qualifications for those below GCSE level and for languages not covered by the existing GCSE options.

Initially, the scheme was introduced for use by teachers of Gujarati. The teachers were briefed with the project details and OCR sent the school teaching packs, to ensure that they were familiar with what the scheme entailed. All were eager to begin. As a pilot exercise, assessments were made of 4 children and the results sent to the Project Manager. The feedback from teachers, parents and the children themselves were all very positive. As a result, the scheme has now been extended to involve more children, and the school hopes to continue its use in the future.

Benefits of the scheme

There have been multiple benefits of using the assessment scheme. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is a Saturday school which runs language lessons for only 1 hour a week, so the format has allowed classes to become more structured; teachers are volunteers with no Qualified Teacher Status, and so progression through the scheme has allowed them to focus on teaching core language skills. Communications between teachers has also been more frequent and more purposeful than prior to the scheme’s introduction. Each teacher voluntarily chose to implement it, and all are delighted by the flexibility it allows and the greater scope for monitoring progress in the separate areas of language skills. Pupil motivation in Gujarati classes is very high, and parents feel that their children are making tangible progress.

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan hopes to continue to work with the ‘Our Languages’ project to gain further training and support with regards to the assessment scheme. It is also seeking to create networks with other supplementary schools who offer the same languages. Although currently the scheme cannot be used to assess Telagu, Malayalam, and Sanskrit, it is hoped that provision may be extended to these languages in the future and the school urges OCR and ‘Our Languages’ to consider doing so, in order that all its pupils can benefit from this excellent opportunity.

About the School