Education: Foreign Languages

Baroness Coussins Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Baroness Coussins (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages. Is the Minister aware that there is now very robust evidence to show that languages at GSCE and A-level are subject to unfair, harsh and erratic marking? This deters schools from encouraging students to choose languages, in case their position in the league tables is damaged. It also deters students from choosing languages, because they know that their chances of getting top grades and university offers might be reduced. Will the Minister undertake to meet urgently with Ofqual and the examination boards, in order to ensure that an equitable marking system can be guaranteed before the 2014 exams?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I can certainly say to the noble Baroness that I will take back her suggestion to the department. It is important for all of us across the House to underline the importance of languages. The new national curriculum, which has now been published, includes a statutory foreign language at key stage 2. We believe that this will encourage students to take up modern languages, and indeed encourage schools to offer them. As I said earlier, the English baccalaureate is already encouraging more young people to take a language at GCSE level. Let us not forget that it was in 2004 that a statutory undertaking to provide languages at schools was removed. We are trying to restore that, and ensure that this medium to long-term process is long lasting.