Report on LOTE in the diocese of Toowoomba

Abstract

The Diocese of Toowoomba has 26 primary schools and 9 secondary schools. Of the 26 primary schools, 10 are P-7, and 15 are 1-7. One offers both primary and secondary and goes from 1-10. Of the secondary schools, 4 are 8-12, while 5 schools are 8-10 (in one case, the school is on its way to becoming 8-12.) The primary schools are all systemic. Of the secondary schools, 5 are non-systemic diocesan colleges, 2 are systemic and 2 are order-owned. One of the diocesan colleges has a primary section (Years 5-7) attached to it. In 1993, there are altogether 2503 students studying LOTE at the primary level (approximately 48 percent of total primary roll). The Japanese language is the most popular - over 33 percent of primary students are studying this LOTE. This language is also offered at a variety of year levels: two schools offer it from Year 1 to 7, while another two offer it from Year 2 upwards. There has been a great expansion of LOTE in the primary schools in 1993: in 1992, only 13 schools offered a LOTE, 11 of them Japanese. At the secondary level, Japanese is once again the most popular LOTE but in all cases there is a substantial drop in numbers taking these LOTEs at the higher levels. The drop occurs between years 8 and 9, reflecting the practice in all schools of including a LOTE as one of the core subjects taken in year 8 usually for a semester. It may be that with the development of LOTE in the primary schools, a greater number of students might be motivated to carry on learning a LOTE beyond year 10. It remains to be seen whether such an assumption is warranted or whether there are other factors that determine the numbers that continue the study of LOTE up to year 12.