TCL vision & pedagogy

Our vision is to provide all Victorian Catholic primary school students with a high quality whole school language learning program modelled after evidence-based research and best practice in language acquisition pedagogy which empowers schools and their communities to actively engage with language learning and realise their full potential as inclusive global citizens. 

Teachers as Co-Learners (TCL) is a highly innovative language teaching and learning approach grounded in both academic research and practical teaching applications offered to all Victorian Catholic primary schools. At its core, TCL provides high frequency language sessions delivered by classroom teachers, embedding effective literacy and language learning practices. 

We believe that every student deserves access to excellence in language learning programs, regardless of their geographical location or personal circumstances, empowering them to realise their full potential as active and engaged citizens of the world. In TCL, Languages is defined as a subject area which is highly valuable, visible and which is promoted throughout the school and its community. 

This whole school approach encourages and supports the use of communicative and functional language throughout the day beyond the classroom, and seeks opportunities to integrate language across various curriculum areas. TCL fosters the active participation of the whole school community in language learning, whilst increasing teacher understanding and mastery of language acquisition principles through a comprehensive and highly scaffolded program.

At a language learning level, we believe that:

• Learning Languages provides an opportunity to create confident, global communicators who can develop empathy and use languages as a resource to communicate with others 

• Frequent exposure to languages combats the forgetting curve and enhances effective learning     

• All languages are valued and contribute to intercultural understanding and global citizenship 

At a program level, we believe that:

• Classroom teachers are a core part of the TCL approach: they know their students best, which allows connections to be deepened as they share their co-learning journey together and model risk-taking to their students

• TCL provides an opportunity to extend student linguistic repertoires by following a principled and sequential curriculum that focuses on functional language and embeds literacy practices

At a school level, we believe that: 

• TCL is a whole school approach where all students, teachers and school communities are involved and empowered to be successful at learning Languages

• TCL provides an opportunity to positively influence attitudes and core beliefs about learning languages through students frequently experiencing success.

A PDF version of this document is available here.