Denis is also Assistant Principal of the Victorian School of Languages, based in Melbourne. The school, which is government funded, coordinates state-wide provision for the teaching of 44 community languages in 35 centres, and also has a distance learning section. Kathy, accompanied by Sue Balmer during the week and Sue Braybrook on Saturday, visited the school’s head office and 4 local centres based in secondary schools, including maintained, independent and Catholic schools. Denis also arranged visits to 5 primary and secondary schools to see immersion teaching and some equivalent of sixth form work.

The school describes its work as, ‘the provision of language programs for students in years 1-12 who do not have access to the study of those languages in their mainstream schools in all sectors.’ The classes take place at the end of the school day or on Saturday morning, in sessions that are supervised by an administrative team in each centre and by an area manager. Staff members are paid hourly and classes last for 3 hours per week with a break.

Among the benefits of language study, the school identifies ‘a sense of cultural identity resulting in heightened self confidence and self-esteem' and ‘improved performance across the curriculum.' Participation contributes towards the entry score for certain tertiary courses. Courses in years 1–10 are based on the Curriculum and Standards Framework, ensuring that students cover the same curriculum as ‘normal’ language classes.

The model of provision for community languages in Victoria originated with a handful of classes in one centre to teach Japanese and Italian in the 1930s. Since then it has grown in parallel with the changing nature of the Victorian population, and now has over 15,000 students. The School of Languages organises a full programme of professional development events for teachers of language and subject coordinators from all schools (21 events during October and November 2004). Examples of themes include ‘Fun with Asian dance’ (suitable for primary and secondary Asian language teachers), ‘Cooking with LOTE’[1], ‘Teaching mixed ability and age classes’, ICT sessions, thinking skills, ‘LOTE through drama’ and ‘vocabulary building block program’. It also develops original teaching materials, online courses for students in isolated areas, and cultural activities for students and their parents.

Our impression on visiting the centres was of a thoroughly professional but cheerful operation, with large numbers of pupils of all ages (predominantly of primary age). When we arrived at one for the start of the Saturday morning session, all the staff members were gathered for a briefing before moving to their classes. At another, young children were learning the time in German, seated on the classroom floor, and teenage learners were enjoying a lively sign language lesson with visitors from the deaf community.

In our view this model of provision has notable strengths, especially when compared to the quality of community languages provision in the UK: