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Language campaign given push by local firm

Pete Vaughan, business development manager of Redditch-based storage and logistics company, Oakland International Ltd, is helping to highlight the need for language skills within business by going back to the classroom and encouraging pupils to broaden their future career prospects by increasing their language skills.

Visiting Arrow Vale Community High School in Redditch, Pete delivered a number of language-based presentations and activities to over eighty of the school’s Year 9 students. Providing an insight into career choices available and salaries obtainable by those with additional language skills.

Actively employing staff with linguistic skills to work with manufacturers and retailers worldwide, Oakland in 2007 acted as a Business Language Champion to St Augustine’s School in Redditch. Since then the school has seen a dramatic increase in the number of students studying a second language, with today double the number of students taking French GCSE than in 2006.

Arrow Vale, following the national trend, has seen a rapid decline in the number of students taking languages. Only 12 Year 10 students currently take GCSE French, compared to 66 in the previous year, with Pete hopeful that his input would help turn things around.

Said Pete: “Other countries recognisethe importance of additional languages and are proactively working to exploit this opportunity fully. The younger generation in Britain needs to recognise the importance of having more than one language to help support and assist their future employment development. I would urge all young people today to consider choosing a language as one of their GCSE options. As a local employer, Oakland is delighted to support the Business Language Champions initiative as it is a great way of getting the language message across that Britain needs to nurture language talent within our schools to increase students future employability within the international jobs market.”

The project is part of the Business Language Champions programme, which is co-ordinated by Regional Language Network West Midlands (RLN WM). It is designed to bridge the gap between school and the workplace and to reverse the recent decline in the take up of modern foreign languages. Well received and enjoyed by all, Sarah Noble, head of languages, said: “The sessions were extremely informative and it was useful for our students to see French as a skill for life and to appreciate that a second language is a desirable skill in the world of work”

Chris Everall, RLN manager, added: “With so much bad news in the press about the decline of languages, we are delighted that the Business Language Champions initiative is bringing businesses and schools together to highlight how important language skills are.”

When asked about the response he received from the students, Pete said: “I was absolutely delighted with the response from the students. Having the ability to speak more than one language is an immense asset and anything Oakland can do to help promote this fact, we are more than happy to do.”