SCILT school/university liaison
SCILT runs a range of programmes to foster links between schools and universities. These programmes give university students the chance to engage with their younger peers, offering school learners insight and inspiration into where their language learning journey might take them and raising aspirations about the opportunities open to them beyond school. Students participating in these programmes can hone their leadership and employability skills and gain useful volunteering experience for future job applications and interviews.
Scotland's Languages Explorers Programme (SLEP) is a mentoring programme that has a proven track record in raising awareness amongst secondary age learners of the far-reaching benefits of language learning. SLEP consists of a short series of mentoring sessions led by university students with lived experiences of language learning and multiculturalism. It aims to win hearts and minds of young people by giving them time to explore the bigger picture of language learning with a trained, supportive student mentor. Similar schemes running in other home nations have led to an increase in the number of learners continuing with languages into higher levels of study.
From 2023-24 the programme consists of interactive online sessions led by student Language Ambassadors from universities across Scotland. These sessions are designed to promote languages to young people and to encourage them to choose languages as part of their learning experience by hearing directly from near-peer role models. Our Language Ambassadors are students of various languages on a range of degree programmes who are keen to share their experiences of learning languages and discovering new cultures with learners across the country. Discover more on our Language Ambassadors Programme webpage. Meanwhile book your place on the opening session launching 26 September 2023.
Moving forward with Languages
These workshops for Higher and Advanced Higher language learners are run in partnership between SCILT and language departments from universities across Scotland. This series of workshops, run throughout the autumn term, gives learners the chance to get tips, encouragement and support from lecturers which will help with course preparation now, and focus on the future, by finding out from current students what it’s like studying languages at university level.
Registrations for 2023-24 are now open.