Page 5015 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
years the Foundation for Young Australians, the FYA, has done some very thought-provoking research on what the working world will look like for Australia’s next generation. It believes that the transition for young people between full-time education and full-time work is increasingly uncertain and that beneath the seemingly benign surface of Australia’s labour market there is a quiet revolution occurring.
Three global forces are rapidly changing the way we work: automation, globalisation and collaboration. Career pathways are not as linear as they used to be, with young people expected to have 17 jobs across five careers in their lifetime. How can we better prepare young people to navigate this uncertain and perhaps scary new world? The FYA also highlighted that jobs are closely related and more portable than previously thought. When a young person trains or works one job they acquire skills that will help them get 13 other jobs to reveal seven new clusters of work.
We know we are living in an increasingly global economy. We are a trade dependent nation and we rely on foreign investment, foreign trade, overseas students and overseas job opportunities. In fact, since the year 2000 Australia has doubled its earnings from foreign employment. Whilst once it was only the department of foreign affairs and the intelligence agencies that valued fluency in a second language, it is now a valued skill across a range of industries.
Here in the ACT we can proudly make claim to our multicultural and multilingual credentials. At the 2011 census 102,161 people or 24.2 per cent of Canberra residents reported that they had been born overseas. By the 2016 census that figure had risen to 26 per cent. Just under 45 per cent of all ACT residents have either one parent or both parents born overseas. Further census data shows that nearly 20 per cent of ACT residents reported speaking a language other than English at home.
The ACT Education Directorate apparently recognises the importance of languages insofar as it has published the 2017 languages pathway plan for Canberra public schools. This document tells us:
The Education Directorate strongly supports the teaching and learning of languages in Canberra public schools … Learning languages broadens students’ horizons in relation to personal, social, cultural and employment opportunities.
It goes on to quote the curriculum requirements in ACT public schools that all Canberra government schools provide a language program for a minimum specified time in one of eight priority languages: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Korean. There are also three primary schools offering a bilingual language program: Chinese at Mawson, French at Telopea and Italian at Yarralumla. These are excellent examples of quality language education and a testament to what can be achieved working with embassies and the community.
We also have 25 ACT government preschools offering a language program as participants in the early learning languages Australia or the ELLA program. ELLA is a digital, play-based language learning program for preschool children. This Australian government initiative inspires children by driving a genuine interest in a new language and a culture. There are nine languages to choose from: Arabic,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video