Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans formally to recognise international high school exchanges.

The Government recognises that school links and exchanges can provide valuable opportunities to learn about other countries and to improve language skills. It is, however, for individual schools to decide whether or not they wish to participate in such exchanges.

For those who do, there are many opportunities available, for example through the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme, the Global Learning Programme, which is jointly funded by the Department for International Development and the British Council, and the EU’s Erasmus + programme. The British Council also offers an International School Award which enables schools to have their international work recognised.