Thelma Walker
Main Page: Thelma Walker (Labour - Colne Valley)Department Debates - View all Thelma Walker's debates with the Department for Education
(6 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Justine Greening
Either the Schools Minister or I will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.
Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)
Some 50% of schools and colleges, including Huddersfield New College in my constituency, have dropped modern foreign language subjects from their subject choices, citing funding as a reason. What is the Minister doing to reverse this trend?
Nick Gibb
The hon. Lady raises a very real concern, which is why the EBacc is such an important performance measure for schools. There was a significant drop in the numbers studying foreign languages due to the last Labour Government’s decision to end compulsion at key stage 4. Under this Government, the percentage of individuals taking a modern foreign language has increased from 40% to 47%, but we need to go further.