01/12/09

Top businesses awarded for great work with schools

Leading UK businesses gathered at London’s Imagination Gallery last night to celebrate the outstanding work going on across the country to show young people the true value of languages at work. HSBC, British Airways and IBM were amongst those commended for the work they have been doing with school children to highlight the links between learning foreign languages and being successful in business

The initiatives are all part of the Business Language Champions (BLC) programme, which aims to address the decline in language take up at GCSE and beyond by showing young people how useful languages can be in a whole range of careers.

Widnes Vikings Rugby Club walked away with the prize for innovation, following the excellent work they have been doing with Wade Deacon High School in Cheshire. The club used the opening Co-Operative Championship game with Toulouse to motivate pupils to learn French, and clearly did a great job of it because the school received its highest ever percentage of A*-C grades.

From rugby to global banking: HSBC scooped the award for outstanding commitment for the work they have been doing with schools in London. Rosanna Hoseason, Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Hampton Community College, said: “The partnership has had a huge impact on students’ motivation for learning”, whilst HSBC’s Catherine Wilkinson and Kierith Dhaliwal said “the BLC project has become a core part of the wider community programme in the graduate community here at HSBC”.

British Airways, Gripple Ltd, Hal Jaffer of Hotel la Place and IBM were also highly commended, whilst Angela Maxwell, managing director of Acuwoman, received the BLC Ambassador award. Maxwell highlighted the importance of going into schools where young people barely move within a mile of their house, and inspiring them to broaden their horizons and their ambitions by taking on languages.

At the ceremony Kathryn Board, Chief Executive of CILT, the National Centre for Languages, said: “The Business Language Champions programme has been instrumental in raising awareness of how important languages are for employability. What needs to happen now is that more businesses follow the example of the organisations here tonight, not only to give school children more exposure to languages at work, but also to increase their own profile in the local area.”

Diana Johnson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools said: “I don’t think the work [of Business Language Champions] has ever been more important than it is now. Because of a shortage of people who can combine language skills with other practical skills in our country, most employers are relying more and more on recruiting from overseas. If our island wants to keep afloat in international waters and be able to compete in a global market, we need more people on our shores who are able to speak other languages.”

CILT is delivering the national government funded programme in partnership with the Regional Languages Networks, the Institute for Education Business Excellence (IEBE), Business in the Community, communications specialist Edcoms and Links into Languages. For more information on how you can get involved, visit www.cilt.org.uk/blc.