Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address regional inequalities in the take-up of modern foreign languages at GCSE and A-level.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department has several measures in place which aim to help reduce regional variation in the uptake of languages at GCSE and A level. In our £4.8 million Modern Foreign Language (MFL) Pedagogy pilot programme, one of the nine lead schools is in an Opportunity Area and another is in the Opportunity North East area. The department also launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils. This project targets areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils and focuses on areas of low uptake.
Our new international school exchange programme is aimed at young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and areas. The department is also piloting a financial incentive to incentivise retention of MFL teachers in 25 local authorities that are most in need.
The proportion of pupils taking a language at GCSE declined after study of the subject was made non-compulsory at key stage 4 in 2004. 79% of pupils aged 15 in all schools took a language GCSE in 2000, but this had dropped to 43% of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2010. We have introduced the English Baccalaureate performance measure to halt this decline. Since 2010, the percentage of pupils in state-funded schools taking a language GCSE has increased from 40% in 2010 to 46% in 2018. The reformed national curriculum now makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in key stage 2.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to fund undergraduates taking a third year abroad, currently funded under the Erasmus Plus programme, after 2020.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government values international exchange and collaboration in education and training as part of its vision for a global Britain. Irrespective of the outcome of Article 50 negotiations with the European Union, the government wants UK and European countries to continue to give young people and students the chance to benefit from each other’s world-leading universities post-exit.
We are open to exploring participation in the Erasmus+ successor scheme (2021-27) though this will ultimately be subject to wider UK-EU negotiations on the future partnership. This is part of considering a wide range of options with regards to the future of international exchange and collaboration in education and training, including potential domestic alternatives.
While Erasmus+ is the largest mobility programme in which the UK participates, evidence suggests that around half of UK higher education outward mobilities take place outside of the Erasmus+ programme. It is clear other EU countries strongly value and benefit from the UK participating in Erasmus+, and we can expect our world-leading higher education providers to continue their strong track record of partnering with overseas institutions in all eventualities.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the level of difficulty in examinations and severe grading on the take-up of modern languages at GCSE and A-level.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Ofqual is the regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Ofqual is conducting a comprehensive review of grading standards in GCSE French, German and Spanish to see if there is a compelling case for an adjustment to grading standards in these subjects. Ofqual’s review will consider statistical evidence, contextual data including trends in the numbers taking these subjects, and the quality of students’ work through looking at how GCSE grades relate to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Ofqual is also gathering the views of subject experts and other stakeholders. Ofqual is due to report on this work in the autumn.
Ofqual has examined this issue in relation to grading standards in A level French, German and Spanish (and A level biology, chemistry and physics). Ofqual considered a significant body of evidence – published in 2018 in the form of 2 technical reports – and determined that there was not a compelling case to adjust grading standards in these qualifications. This can be found here and as attached:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inter-subject-comparability.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the reduction in the number of pupils taking a modern language GCSE as a result of their school compressing Key Stage 3 into two years and making languages optional after the age of 13.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Languages are now compulsory at key stage 2, and since the introduction of the English Baccalaureate in 2010, language take-up at GCSE has increased from 40% to 46% last year. Ofqual’s recent provisional data for the summer 2019 exam series showed that overall entries to modern foreign languages (MFL) summer GCSE exams increased by 4% compared to last year.
Under Ofsted’s new framework, which will be introduced in September, inspectors will be alert to signs of curriculum narrowing at key stage 3. If a school has a shortened key stage 3, inspectors will look to see that the school has made provisions to ensure that pupils still have the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects, commensurate with the national curriculum, in years 7-9.
The department is supporting schools to increase the number of pupils taking GCSEs in languages through several programmes. These include the £4.8 million MFL pedagogy programme, an undergraduate digi-mentoring scheme, the £10 million Mandarin Excellence Programme, and targeted communications activity at key points in the school year to encourage pupils to study languages.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages and the British Council, A national recovery programme for languages, published on 4 March.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government welcomes the All Party Parliamentary Group’s report. Languages are increasingly important to ensure future competitiveness in the global market.
The department’s strategy for languages includes the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure, which has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) increase from 40% in 2010 to 46% in 2018. The reformed national curriculum makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in key stage 2.
Our £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018. It is managed by the newly appointed MFL Centre for Excellence and is run through 9 school-led hubs, to improve uptake and attainment in languages at key stages 3 and 4. The department has launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to drive up participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.
Recruiting MFL teachers is also a priority. Generous financial incentives are offered for languages teaching, including scholarships in MFLs worth £28,000, and tax-free bursaries, typically worth up to £26,000. The government is working in partnership with Spain’s Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to deliver Spain’s Visiting Teachers Programme to provide schools with access to a pool of qualified teachers from Spain who are able to teach MFLs. For the 2019/20 academic year. This programme will be open to secondary schools and also (as a pilot) to primary schools. In addition to this, the Teacher Subject Specialism Training programme aims to improve the subject knowledge of non-specialist teachers and returning teachers in MFLs and increase the number of hours taught.
The department has also recently launched the new Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which will attract new teachers to all subjects, including MFLs.
The department continues to promote the value of language qualifications to students who are choosing their GCSEs and to their parents. A guidance leaflet for parents was recently published, and can be found attached, which explains why studying a language, as part of the EBacc, broadens opportunities in both education and employment. In February, the department drew attention to the benefits of studying a language among 13-14 year olds through a social media campaign.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the annual budgets for (1) maths hubs, (2) careers hubs, and (3) modern foreign languages hubs; and for how many years each type of hub will be funded.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The following table provides the budget for 35 maths hubs across England between 2016-17 and 2021-22.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
Maths hubs | £14 million | £19 million | £23 million | £30 million | £6 million | £9 million |
Since the start of the Teaching for Mastery programme in 2016 approximately 2,900 schools have taken part in the programme with a further 2,700 starting in the 2018/19 academic year.
The department announced on 3 August that there will be £4.8 million funding for the modern foreign languages (MFL) hubs programme, over the next four years. We expect that this will be broken down as follows:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
MFL hubs | £700,000 | £1.2 million | £1.2 million | £1.2 million | £500,000 |
The MFL hubs programme will pilot an approach to raising the standard of teaching in modern foreign languages by taking forward the recommendations made in the Teaching Schools Council Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review[1], which was led by head teacher and linguist Ian Bauckham.
By the end of the pilot, in 2023, at least 400 schools will have received direct support from the MFL hubs.
The government’s careers strategy committed £5 million of funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company to set up 20 new careers hubs across the country to test the model piloted in the North East to improve progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks, in addition to continuing to support the work of the original pilot hub in the North East. This will be broken down as follows:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Careers hubs | £2.6 million | £2.4 million |
In addition, 10 of the new careers hubs will also receive a share of £1.25 million to spend on careers activities spread across both years.
The hubs will start their work from September 2018 and are funded to run for two academic years until July 2020. The 20 new hubs and the expanded North East Hub will cover 700 schools and colleges in total.
[1] For further information regarding the work of this review please see the following webpage: https://www.tscouncil.org.uk/modern-foreign-languages-report/.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools are part of (1) maths hubs, (2) careers hubs, and (3) modern foreign languages hubs.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The following table provides the budget for 35 maths hubs across England between 2016-17 and 2021-22.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
Maths hubs | £14 million | £19 million | £23 million | £30 million | £6 million | £9 million |
Since the start of the Teaching for Mastery programme in 2016 approximately 2,900 schools have taken part in the programme with a further 2,700 starting in the 2018/19 academic year.
The department announced on 3 August that there will be £4.8 million funding for the modern foreign languages (MFL) hubs programme, over the next four years. We expect that this will be broken down as follows:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
MFL hubs | £700,000 | £1.2 million | £1.2 million | £1.2 million | £500,000 |
The MFL hubs programme will pilot an approach to raising the standard of teaching in modern foreign languages by taking forward the recommendations made in the Teaching Schools Council Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review[1], which was led by head teacher and linguist Ian Bauckham.
By the end of the pilot, in 2023, at least 400 schools will have received direct support from the MFL hubs.
The government’s careers strategy committed £5 million of funding for The Careers & Enterprise Company to set up 20 new careers hubs across the country to test the model piloted in the North East to improve progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks, in addition to continuing to support the work of the original pilot hub in the North East. This will be broken down as follows:
| 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Careers hubs | £2.6 million | £2.4 million |
In addition, 10 of the new careers hubs will also receive a share of £1.25 million to spend on careers activities spread across both years.
The hubs will start their work from September 2018 and are funded to run for two academic years until July 2020. The 20 new hubs and the expanded North East Hub will cover 700 schools and colleges in total.
[1] For further information regarding the work of this review please see the following webpage: https://www.tscouncil.org.uk/modern-foreign-languages-report/.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what is their target for the number of school pupils who will (1) study, and (2) achieve, the English Baccalaureate by 2022; what estimate they have made of the number of modern foreign language (MFL) teachers required to meet those targets; and what assessment they have made of the impact on the achievability of those targets of any current or future shortage in MFL teacher numbers
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government believes that the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) provides the right educational foundation for the majority of pupils. We want to see a significant increase in the proportion of pupils in mainstream secondary schools entering the EBacc combination of subjects at GCSE.
We will publish further detail about the EBacc policy in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of (1) the contribution of the Erasmus Plus programme to the supply chain of modern foreign language (MFL) teachers, and (2) the impact on the future supply chain of MFL teachers if the UK withdraws from the Erasmus Plus programme as a consequence of leaving the EU
Answered by Lord Nash
We have no data on numbers of Erasmus+ participants who go on to be modern foreign language (MFL) teachers. At a national level we are retaining and recruiting the teachers we need. We recognise, however, that the situation is challenging in certain subjects including MFL. Therefore we are offering up to £25,000 for MFL bursaries and
have expanded the prestigious scholarship scheme for 2017/18 entry by introducing scholarships in MFL.
We are funding subject specialism training in languages for non-specialist teachers who already have some language expertise, and for former language teachers returning to the subject. We have reviewed our approach on returners and developed a package of tailored classroom experience which seeks to increase the number of MFL returners and which will be piloted in the north-west and south-east. This will further complement the wider national package of advisor support available to returning MFL teachers.
We recognise the value of international exchange and collaboration in education and training, as part of our vision for the UK as a global nation. There may be European programmes – such as Erasmus+ – in which we might want to participate. We will consider this as part of the Brexit negotiation.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review published by the Teaching Schools Council on 18 November.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government is committed to increasing the proportion of the population gaining language qualifications. As a result of the English Baccalaureate, the number of students studying a language at GCSE has increased from 40% in 2010 to 49% in 2016.
Additionally, we want to improve the quality of language teaching. We welcome the Teaching Schools Council’s report on modern languages teaching practice in secondary schools and encourage schools and teachers to consider its recommendations in reviewing their current practice.