Community schools who provide a variety of languages have been assured they will have continuing support from the Victorian Government. At the 9th National Community Languages Schools Conference held in Melbourne on Sunday 3 July, the government reiterated the importance of the role community languages schools play in delivering linguistic and cultural diversity and strengthening social inclusion.
Nicholas Kotsiras, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, told the conference the government is committed to language education and that he would do everything in his power to continue to support language schools. David Howes, general manger, Curriculum VCCA, talked about the national curriculum and support for all languages and Katherine Henderson, regional director, Western Metropolitan Region DEECD, spoke about the partnerships between mainstream school and community language schools.
The above speakers told over 400 community languages schools that they will endeavour to maintain these strong bonds. The Australian Federation of Ethnic Schools Association Council worked together with the participants to find a way to deliver strong linguistic and cultural maintenance programs to over 100,000 students studying 69 languages nationally.
