Beyond School

School pupils who find their chosen language qualification is not offered in their school can study their NQ language course online for free with Edinburgh College. The following options are available:

National 5: French, German and Spanish.

Higher and Advanced Higher: French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Exam arrangements: Though enrolled with Edinburgh College, pupils still sit their exams at their own school (including the Adv Higher speaking exam).

These online courses can be accessed across Scotland and all Scottish school pupils qualify for a full fee waiver. See the online modern languages course flyer for more information.

Heriot-Watt University's Multilingual Debate is an annual event with two multilingual teams arguing for and against a motion of topical interest in a range of languages.

The Multilingual Debate stimulates an interest among young people in the international politics and social issues of the modern world whilst also setting language acquisition in a realistic context.

The audience is mainly made up of pupils coming from Scottish and English secondary schools, but also university undergraduate students considering entering the interpreting profession, as well as government and local authority representatives.

The university's SCHOLAR platform offers online courses for Scottish schools and colleges aligned to the SQA curriculum at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level.

The Heriot-Watt recruitment team also offers a range of services for teachers and careers advisers, aimed at supporting staff and pupils through every stage of the transition from school to university. For more information visit the school and college visits webpage.

The Open University's Young Applicants in Schools Scheme (YASS) gives S6 students in Scotland the unique opportunity to study a range of university level modules in school alongside their other studies. YASS is designed to bridge the gap between school and university, college or employment and helps motivated students stand out from the crowd. It encourages independent learning and builds confidence. Key skills like time management and accessing electronic resources are developed. Registration for YASS modules, which include a range of language options, is organised through the school.

The University of Strathclyde Language Ambassador Programme offers the opportunity to book in-person visits from student role models to promote modern languages to young people, and encourage them to choose languages as part of their high school curriculum. As role models, the ambassadors will share their experiences and their successes; they will also be honest about the challenges they faced studying a modern language.

To book an in-person visit please contact cedric.moreau@strath.ac.uk

The School of Modern Languages regularly hosts Languages Open Days, which have a range of activities on offer from language tasters in all 9 subjects (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Persian, Russian, Spanish and Comparative Literature) and mini lectures to games, songs and films.

Each year the faculty holds 'Meet & Mingle' networking events for schools in Scotland in close collaboration with current undergraduates: pupils are teamed up with language students of different years and given the chance to ask questions about language learning, university life, living abroad etc. while accompanying teachers meet with Modern Languages staff for a frank exchange of experiences at secondary and university level.

The School of Modern Languages also contributes to a range of summer schools and other outreach activities to support pupils and teachers. The School of Modern Languages welcomes enquiries from primary and secondary schools wishing to discuss visits or other forms of outreach activities. To discuss possible outreach events, please email modlangs@st-andrews.ac.uk

The university's Literature and Languages division supports schools by hosting pupil workshops and arranging for student Language Ambassadors to present the benefits of language learning and language study at university to secondary pupils. Find out more on their Working with Schools page. The French at Stirling blog also contains a range of posts from former language graduates outlining where their language studies have taken them.