Introduction

As the academic year draws to a close and reports are finalised, teachers often breathe a collective sigh of relief. It’s a natural moment of pause — but also an ideal opportunity to take stock of what truly made an impact in the classroom. Beyond assessments and exam results lies a deeper, more strategic task: conducting an end-of-year curriculum evaluation. Far from being a box-ticking exercise, this process can shape the quality of teaching and learning for the year ahead.

In Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), curriculum design plays a pivotal role in ensuring successful progression. Language acquisition is not linear — it’s gradual, cumulative, and hinges heavily on sequencing, recycling, and clarity of input. When the curriculum lacks coherence or overestimates what students can retain, even the best teaching practices struggle to deliver long-term gains.

That’s why stepping back at the end of the year to evaluate the curriculum isn’t just helpful — it’s essential. It gives departments the chance to analyse:

• Which topics or linguistic structures landed well, and which didn’t
• Whether students had sufficient exposure to high-frequency language
• If core knowledge was recycled often enough to secure retention
• Whether assessments truly aligned with what was taught

In this post, we’ll outline a clear, practical approach to end-of-year MFL curriculum evaluation — one that empowers departments to make evidence-informed decisions, refine sequencing, and ultimately build a stronger, more responsive curriculum for the year ahead.

1. Begin with Intent, Implementation, and Impact

A structured approach to curriculum evaluation should begin with three core questions:

Intent	Implementation	Impact
What did we plan to teach?	What was actually taught, and how?	What did students understand, retain, and apply?

Focus specifically on your department’s language functions, vocabulary domains, and grammar progression. Identify whether students have made measurable progress in their ability to understand, manipulate, and use language in increasingly independent ways.

2. Focus on Retention, Not Just Coverage

MFL learning depends on long-term memory more than simple exposure. Therefore, coverage alone is not a sufficient metric.

Consider:

• Can students recall and use vocabulary from earlier in the year?
• Have they progressed in fluency and grammatical range?
• Which areas of grammar or syntax require further consolidation?

You may wish to conduct a “What have you remembered?” recall task or an unprepared writing/speaking sample to assess spontaneous recall of previously taught material.

3. Use Evidence from Student Performance

Gather a range of data from across the year, such as:

• Assessment outcomes (including performance over time)
• Speaking and writing samples showing progression or gaps
• Patterns in errors that remain uncorrected or fossilised

This should be cross-referenced with your curriculum maps to determine whether your intended outcomes match what students can actually do.

4. Gather Targeted Student Feedback

Student voice can offer helpful insight — but it must be focused and structured. Ask students specific, curriculum-linked questions that can inform curriculum development, rather than general feedback on enjoyment or personality-driven responses.

Example: Year 7 End-of-Year MFL Questionnaire (Student Voice)

Question	Response Type
Which topic did you enjoy most this year?	Multiple choice + open text
Which topic did you find most difficult, and why?	Open text
What helped you remember new words best? (e.g., games, sentence builders, retrieval quizzes, speaking tasks)	Multiple choice
Which grammar point still feels difficult?	Open text
Did you feel confident speaking in class? Why or why not?	Likert scale + open text
What one change would help you learn better next year?	Open text

This kind of structured feedback allows the department to focus on what supports learning, what might need re-teaching, and how to refine delivery methods.

5. Hold a Department Debrief

Organise a collaborative session for teachers to reflect on the year’s teaching. Each team member should prepare:

• One success to share
• One persistent challenge
• One proposed change for next year

Use a shared document or whiteboard to collate insights. Patterns often emerge quickly, allowing the team to agree on shared priorities.

6. Evaluate Progression and Vocabulary Control

Review whether key vocabulary and structures were revisited across units in a coherent way. Consider whether the curriculum:

• Facilitated cumulative knowledge
• Supported structured and scaffolded output
• Controlled and recycled key lexical items

It may help to lay out your vocabulary lists, sentence builders, or grammar overviews by term to analyse progression across the year.

7. Ensure Assessment Matches Instruction

Evaluate the quality and alignment of assessment materials. Ask:

• Did assessments reflect what was actually taught?
• Were students over-assessed on unfamiliar language?
• Was there sufficient opportunity to demonstrate fluency, not just accuracy?

Review both formative and summative assessments to ensure they measured the intended learning, not simply task performance.

8. Prioritise Realistic Adjustments

Avoid attempting to rewrite the entire curriculum. Instead, identify 3–5 high-leverage adjustments for next year, for example:

• Reducing lexical overload in certain topics
• Increasing oral fluency practice
• Revisiting grammar points more systematically

Record these decisions in a format that is easily referenced when schemes of work are next updated.

9. Involve Receiving Teachers in the Evaluation

If different teachers take students at the next level, their input is critical. Ask them:

• What strengths do students bring from the current year?
• Are there common gaps that could have been addressed earlier?
• Does the curriculum sequencing make sense from their perspective?

This can be especially important at key transitions such as Year 6–7 or Year 9–10.

10. Write a Brief Evaluation Report

Conclude the process by drafting a short internal report. It should include:

• Key strengths of the curriculum this year
• Areas for improvement
• Priorities for next year
• Specific actions agreed upon

This record can inform departmental planning, CPD decisions, and future resource development.

Conclusion: Why This Process Matters

In a subject as interdependent and layered as MFL, an end-of-year curriculum evaluation is not optional — it is essential. Without it, departments risk repeating ineffective practices and overlooking successful ones.

Done well, curriculum review ensures the curriculum is a living document — responsive to evidence, informed by classroom experience, and driven by the goal of sustained language development. For both teachers and learners, this process is the bridge between one year’s efforts and the next year’s success.