The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have been commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to undertake a 3-year evaluation of four of the Department’s Language Programmes:
- Strategic Learning Networks (SLNs), National Priority Projects (NPPs) and Language Educators Online (LEO) [1]
- Language Assistants (LAs)
- The German Promotion Project (GPP)
- The UK-German Connection (UKGC)
The DfE’s Language Programmes support language provision in schools in England. These initiatives are designed to support the spread of best practice in language teaching, improve the KS2 – KS3 transition, and increase MFL exam entries especially at GCSE, and particularly amongst disadvantaged pupils.
The aim of the evaluation is to understand how schools are engaging with key programmes to support schools, teachers and pupils with language learning and teaching, how these programmes interact and any impacts for teachers and pupils, e.g. increased take-up of languages at GCSE. We would also like to understand what language teaching looks like at different schools. Your school may currently be participating in one or more of the language programmes. We have selected a range of schools in order to understand different language teaching approaches in a range of contexts. It is important to note that the research is NOT an evaluation of individual schools, staff, or delivery partners.
Where schools are engaging with one or more of the programmes, we are interested in how the programme is playing out, what is working well and what could be improved. These findings are important and are being fed back to DfE to inform how the programme is delivered going forward. The research began in January 2024 and will finish in October 2026.
Overview of the research
The evaluation will gather, synthesise, and triangulate evidence from a range of stakeholders to answer the research questions set by DfE. Different strands of the research focus on different Language Programmes or research questions so no school or individual would be expected to take part in all the evaluation activities. The evaluation activities include:
- Annual surveys of staff.
- Interviews with teachers at schools that are in SLNs or part of the SLN
- Interviews with German Expert Mentors (GEMS). Each year nine GEMs will be invited to participate in an interview. They do not need to be at a school that is participating in the evaluation.
- Longitudinal case studies at schools either delivering or working with a Language Hub. Six schools have been invited to be qualitative cases studies.
- Annual surveys of English Language Assistants (ELAs) and Modern Languages Assistants (MLAs) employed through the British Council’s programme. ELAs and MLAs will be contacted directly via email and not through a host school.
What is involved for schools?
Working closely with schools is key to the success of the evaluation. We appreciate that the school year is very busy for staff and students, and we are keen to work with your school to minimise burden as much as possible. There are three aspects of the research where the evaluation team would like to ask for the support of schools – the annual surveys of teachers and staff, interviews with teachers and case studies. All schools taking part in the evaluation will be invited to participate in at least one of the above activities.
Annual surveys with staff and students
Schools participating in the evaluation will be asked to identify and encourage language teachers and language assistants employed directly by the school to complete annual surveys. Schools will be asked to circulate the surveys to any staff involved in applying for, setting up or delivering the SLN and NPP. The surveys will be hosted online and can be access via a link sent to the lead in the SLN. The surveys will take around 15 minutes to complete. The surveys will explore current language teaching, feedback on any Language Programmes they engage with, confidence and students’ attitudes to language. Surveys responses are anonymous, although individuals can choose to provide their email address to volunteer for interviews.
Interviews with teachers
Schools that either are a SLN or are working with an SLN may be asked to facilitate an interview with a language teacher at their school. This is likely to be a departmental head/lead. The interview will be about 45-60 minutes long; the exact time and date to be determined in consultation with schools/teachers, so that we can find a time that works best for you. Interview topics will include your experiences of the SLN, NPP and LEO initiative to date, choices and decisions made about the languages offered by the school, and pedagogical approaches, any experience of Language Assistants; the quality and usefulness of CPD; pupil enthusiasm and engagement, and parent/carer support. In SLN schools, we would like to request support with identifying a lead teacher at one of the network schools who might be interested in participating in a teacher interview.
Case studies
Schools that are leading an SLN may be invited to become a case study. For the case study element, we would like to carry out a two-day visit to your school. The aim of the visits is to understand how your SLN, NPP, and language teaching more broadly, works at your school; or how your school engages with your SLN. We will not be evaluating or judging any aspects of teaching and learning in any way. The aim is to understand what the SLNs/NPPs, and language teaching more generally, look like in different schools.
The exact time of the visits will be determined in consultation with your school, so that we can find a time that works best for you. As part of the visit, we would like to interview the language department lead and a language assistant (if relevant), observe two language lessons, and conduct two focus groups of 4-6 students, one with those who have not yet made GCSE choices, and, if possible, two with those who have (either some who are continuing with languages, or who are not or a mix). All researchers will have enhanced DBS clearance. The evaluation team will be as flexible as possible, to fit around your schools’ needs and cause as little disruption as possible. We would also be interested in reaching out to one of your school’s primaries if involved in the SLN to ask if we could interview any language teachers or senior leaders about their language teaching and would be grateful for any advice you may have on which schools to contact.
What happens to the information I share?
Participation in all research activities is voluntary. We operate in line with data protection legislation (GDPR): we will store your personal data securely; we will not use your personal data for any purpose other than this research, and your personal data will be deleted from our records at the end of the project. For the purpose of data protection legislation, the DfE is the data controller for the personal data processed as part of the evaluation. Further information on how we will handle your data can be found in the privacy policy for the project.
Findings from the research will be published in a report in September 2026. Any quotes will be anonymised and individuals or schools will not be identifiable, unless we receive your permission, e.g. good practice examples. The evaluation team will also feed back findings to DfE through as part of their regular catch-up meetings.
Who do I contact if I have any questions?
The Institute for Employment Studies (IES):
Ceri Williams, Project Manager; Emma Pollard, Project Director: [email protected]
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
Emma Simpson: [email protected]
Laura Quick: [email protected]
Department for Education
Lindsey Coleman, Evaluation Manager: [email protected]
[1] The original evaluation included the Language Hubs (LH) led by the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE). However, in December 2024 the decision was made to discontinue the Language Hubs programme. The SLN, NPP and LEO programmes were introduced in 2025.