Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reverse the decline in the number of secondary school students taking GCSE language courses.

The Department has a number of initiatives in place to promote the uptake of languages and to improve attainment. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure, which includes languages, 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 £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 nine 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.

Generous financial incentives are offered for languages teaching, including scholarships in modern foreign languages worth £28,000, and tax-free bursaries, typically worth up to £26,000.

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, which explains why studying a language, as part of the EBacc, broadens opportunities in both education and employment, and is available to view here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc.

In February, The Department drew attention to the benefits of studying a language among 13-14 year olds through a social media campaign.