Education: Foreign Languages

Baroness Bakewell Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Bakewell]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to arrest the decline in the number of foreign languages students in schools and universities.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, learning a language brings intellectual, cultural and economic benefits to individuals, employers, communities and, indeed, nations. The Government are committed to the teaching and learning of languages in schools. Indeed, from September 2014, primary schools will have to teach a foreign language at key stage 2. Thanks to the English baccalaureate, modern language GCSE entries have also reached their highest level this year, increasing by about 16%. We have also prioritised higher education funding for modern languages courses to ensure the continued availability of language study in higher education institutions.

[Baroness Bakewell (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. Before I press him further, perhaps I may offer my personal congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville. I look forward to receiving her post, and I hope she enjoys mine.

I very much welcome the move to have young children taught languages—I am sure that a great many of us do—but I wonder what will happen in the light of the present situation. The number of universities offering language degrees has fallen by 40% since 1998. With such a fall, what will happen to those young students when they grow up and find that there are not enough available language courses for them to study?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

Of course, the noble Baroness comes to this with a great deal of expertise from her position as president of Birkbeck. The Government have continued through the Higher Education Funding Council for England to treat modern foreign languages as strategically important and vulnerable, and have provided additional funding to ensure that adequate levels of provision remain. To give an example, £3.1 million of further funding for a new three-year student demand-raising programme has already been allocated. We are also encouraged by the recent figures on the Erasmus programme, which show that more than 14,000 students from the UK are now participating in programmes at other institutions across Europe.