Why you matter. Why languages matter. And what we must do together.

NCLE Director and Honorary Professor Bernardette Holmes MBE joined NCLE Consortium Partners Vicky Gough from the British Council, and Andrea Pfeil from the Goethe-Institut, to open ALL’s Language World conference with a rallying call to all languages teachers and their Headteachers.

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Languages, intercultural understanding, and communication between peoples, have never been more important than they are today.

In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, by automation, and by rapid global changes, we cherish what it is to be human, and we do that through our languages.  Every child is a linguist, every child has the right to languages education.

We must address three major opportunities for our times:

1. How do we teach a new language in a multilingual context? By valuing all our languages, building on their funds of knowledge and nurturing positive attitudes towards multilingualism.  And for those who have fewer opportunities to connect with others and to travel abroad, it is even more important that they should experience life through another language and cultural lens. We do not start with a blank slate, we build out from English, the language of the family, the community, the world around them and make connections across languages, across cultures, across borders.
2. How do we strengthen primary languages and improve transition?  We will shortly have a new programme of study that will help us define language learning from seven to fourteen with fresh opportunities for all.
3. How do we provide a bright future for languages following the removal of the EBacc? We make an even stronger case for languages as transformative, breaking barriers to opportunity, and adding value to every sector and every stage of life. 

This is the gift we can bring to so many young people across our country.

We must avoid talk of crisis and focus on creating a new narrative of opportunity.

The transferable skills and intercultural agility that language learning builds in young people are not optional extras, but essential core skills.

NCLE’s message to you: Get involved. Get connected. Make the case.

‘Every day you step into your classroom as a languages teacher: You matter. The work you do matters.  Languages matter! Languages connect us to other people. That is the fundamental reason we learn them. Language learning brings us closer together, helping us to foster universal understanding in the hope of more peaceful world.

– Bernardette Holmes,MBE, NCLE Director

Opportunities available now:

Encourage your Head of Department and Headteacher to attend ASCL’s Conference for Strategic Leadership of Languages taking place on 16 June 2026 (9.30am – 3.15pm) in Birmingham, in partnership with NCLE: https://www.ascl.org.uk/professional-development/Events/ASCL-Conference-for-Strategic-Leadership-of-Langua