Education: Languages
Debate between Baroness Coussins and Baroness Garden of Frognal
Baroness Coussins
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare an interest as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages.
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My Lords, the Government welcome the report and are committed to the teaching of languages. The national curriculum, to be statutory from September 2014, includes a foreign language at key stage 2 for the first time. In higher education, we have supported the continued availability of language study through HEFCE’s strategically important and vulnerable subject funding. There is an increase in the number of students opting to study abroad. We will reflect on the report’s recommendations to ensure that we are doing all that we can to support growth.
Baroness Coussins
That is a positive reply, but I am not sure that it is quite enough to deal with the perhaps surprising finding of this report, which is the need for language skills at all levels of the labour market, not just for an internationally mobile elite. In 2011, 27% of admin and clerical vacancies went unfilled because of a lack of foreign language skills. Can the Minister say how the Government can work with employers to encourage them to be more proactive in managing their language needs for the sake of their own competitiveness, and for the employability of UK citizens?
Baroness Garden of Frognal
My reading of the figures from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills survey is that it reports a lack of skills in admin and clerical roles, but not quite to the extent that the noble Baroness has indicated. We share the concern about skills at all levels, from professional fluency right through to a basic knowledge of language, which can make a welcoming introduction to somebody coming in and can be a valuable ice-breaker.
In response to the Wilson review, the Government have announced set-up funding for the establishment of a national centre for universities and business. That will cover all aspects of HE business collaboration, which will of course include languages.
Schools White Paper
Debate between Baroness Coussins and Baroness Garden of Frognal(14 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Coussins
My Lords, I welcome the attention that the White Paper gives to the teaching of languages in schools; indeed, some of the press reports this morning describe the impact of the proposals as restoring a virtually compulsory GCSE in languages in schools. However, will the Minister also acknowledge that there could be a very important role for a mechanism such as the Language Ladder to make sure that children who are not up to GCSE can have language teaching on a virtually compulsory basis until they are 16, too? I have been speaking recently to special needs teachers who have told me that children in their class with conditions ranging from Down's syndrome through to autism are learning a modern language and that it is hugely enjoyable and hugely beneficial for them. So I would not like to see the virtually compulsory nature of language teaching restored in schools only for children who can do GCSE. I would like to see it available for everyone.
My second, brief question to the Minister is this. The importance of teaching is clearly the overarching theme of the White Paper. If languages are to be more important and more prominent in the curriculum, we will need more language teachers. Will he acknowledge the importance for the quality of language teachers of the year abroad they spend as part of their degree as language assistants? In that context, will he please give urgent consideration to restoring to the British Council that element of its funding that runs the language assistants programme? It is currently in suspension for undergraduates from England and Wales, even though those from Northern Ireland and Scotland are currently involved in their applications and their allocations. Without that year abroad as a language assistant—
Baroness Garden of Frognal
Could the noble Baroness draw her remarks to a close? We are out of time.