Working with the state sector
projects in Europe
France
Cambridge ESOL and the Académies
The initiative of various French Académies (local education authorities) has led to the widespread adoption of Cambridge ESOL exams in French state education.
The French Ministry of Education (Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche) and the Académies have made the improvement of foreign language teaching and learning in French state schools one of their priorities. The evaluation of language competence at different stages in line with the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is seen as key.
Five Académies have introduced subsidised examinations (Cambridge ESOL tests and those of their ALTE partners in German, Spanish and Italian). These are Reims, Rennes, Limoges, Nice and Orléans-Tours. Other Académies are evaluating the project.
State school children in middle schools (collèges) and high schools (lycées) are encouraged to take the language exams, partially or totally funded by the Conseils régionaux (regional governments) or Conseils généraux (departmental governments). The majority of these candidates take exams at B1 or B2 level, PET or FCE, though some also manage CAE at C1 level.
Germany
Assessment in State Schools
The German education system is characterised by a high degree of autonomy for each of the 16 German federations, with each federation responsible for its own curriculum and examinations system. External examinations are becoming increasingly popular in several of the federations, and Cambridge ESOL exams are among those being offered as an additional qualification for school pupils. Cambridge ESOL has worked with schools to train teaching staff as oral examiners, and in most cases the exams are taken in the pupils’ schools, and examined and invigilated by their teaching staff. The projects have been justified by the high average results achieved by pupils in the examinations. The ministries involved see the high pass rates as external confirmation of the standard of their education systems, and pupils gain a valuable additional qualification at the end of their school careers.
Baden-Württemberg: PET in Realschulen
In 2001 500 Realschüler in grade nine (aged around 14 years) took PET. Since then the education ministry has continued to recommend the qualifications and there has been a steady increase in candidature.
Bavaria: PET in Realschulen
Following on from the success of the project in Baden-Württemberg, the Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs in Bavaria implemented a similar project in their Realschulen, offering PET to Realschüler in grade 9 throughout the state of Bavaria. As in Baden-Württemberg the ministry continues to recommend that pupils take the PET test in grade 9.
Bavaria: CAE in Gymnasium
Following the success of the PET project, the Bavarian education ministry decided to extend the provision of external examinations to other school types and levels and decided to recommend CAE to advanced Gymnasium pupils.
North-Rhinewestfalia: PET and FCE
In 2004/05 PET and FCE were offered to school students in North-Rhinewestfalia. The project is continuing in 2005/06 and in addition to PET and FCE, CAE is being offered to very advanced pupils.
Italy
Progetto Pilota
The Italian Ministry of Education (MUIR) has launched a 4-year language training initiative for Primary school teachers, designed to encourage them to obtain a B1 certificate and enable them to teach English. The MUIR will finance courses of up to 380 hours, and will also finance the final language certification. It is estimated that as many as 60,000 Primary teachers will take advantage of the scheme by 2008.
Cambridge ESOL was one of three awarding bodies chosen to participate in the scheme, which is being organized on a regional basis through the local educational authorities (USR). Each USR has been offered placement tests free of charge; the Quick Placement Test (developed by Cambridge ESOL and provided courtesy of OUP) is being used to assess levels of reading, writing and speaking knowledge, while the KET speaking test is being used on request to assess speaking knowledge. Placement tests are being administered by authorized Cambridge ESOL centres. Subsequent to a placement test teachers are being offered special discounted fees (paid by their USR) for KET (as an interim certificate), PET and CELS. TKT has also been made available, with a limited number of modules being offered for free. It is estimated that the project will lead to up to 40,000 Primary teacher PET candidates in Italy over the next four years.
Progetto Lingue 2000
The Progetto Lingue 2000 (PL2000) was a language education innovation project of the Italian Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (MPI), now the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR).
The PL2000 project aimed to meet the communication and certification needs of students, as defined by the Council of Europe's Common European Framework. As part of the project, students in elementary and secondary education were given the opportunity to gain internationally recognised certificates in English, French, German or Spanish, with financial support from the state.
The Ministry emphasised that international certificates should provide 'added value'. Because the Cambridge ESOL exams are recognised internationally, they can be used not only as part of the Italian school system, but also for international purposes to aid mobility. To support the project, Cambridge ESOL established a local team of presenters across Italy , who ran over 150 seminars between January 2000 and June 2001 alone. Over 2,500 teachers per year were reached though the formal seminar programme and dedicated seminar material was developed to respond to the needs of Italian teachers. Although the project is now complete, the number of students taking Cambridge ESOL exams has remained constant as schools throughout Italy continue to prepare candidates for the exams.
Switzerland
External Examinations in the Swiss State Sector
Following a successful Cambridge ESOL pilot with a number of schools in the Basel area, an agreement was made in 1998 that external examinations could be integrated within the Swiss curriculum as part of the Berufsmatura (the leaving certificate of the commercial or professional schools) from several cantons in the German-speaking part of Switzerland . A target level of B2 on the Common European Framework was set, although provision was also made for B1 to be accepted as a stepping stone towards achieving B2. Cambridge ESOL was one of the examination boards whose certificates were allowed to be integrated.
In 2003, further reform within the Commercial School sector extended the involvement of Cambridge ESOL in the Swiss State Education Sector. The Reform means that students on the extended basic training profile in vocational schools for commercial business training are required to reach B1 on the CEF. BEC Preliminary has been accredited as an approved qualification for this purpose.
In support of the exams in the Swiss State Education Sector, Cambridge ESOL provides supplementary grade information to schools in certain areas, to enable the results to be used as part of the official school assessment system in combination with external assessment. In addition, Cambridge ESOL has focussed on providing specific materials and teacher support to respond to the needs of state sector institutions.
United Kingdom
Asset Languages
Asset Languages was developed by Cambridge ESOL and its sister organisation, OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) as part of a major contract to offer the assessment framework for the UK Government's National Languages Strategy. Asset Languages has added a new dimension to the way that language skills acquisition is recognised. Cambridge ESOL's expertise in language assessment and OCR's extensive delivery network in the UK have been central to delivering the recognition element of the Government's strategy.
Asset provides great flexibility for learners with the option of teacher and/or external assessment to enable them to monitor their progress. Learners are able to build their own skills profile as reading, writing, listening and speaking abilities are all assessed separately. Assessments are delivered on demand, in multiple testing windows throughout the year, through paper-based and computer-based media. In addition teacher assessment provides an informal means of gauging learners’ skills in class. In 2006/7 the assessments were available at four levels from beginners to advanced in 21 languages, including Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu and Somali. In 2007/8 another four languages will be added with an expectation that further languages will be added according to demand.
