Early day motion tabled by primary sponsor Graham Stuart (Conservative), on Wednesday, 20 January 2010, in the House of Commons. It is signed by 25 members in total.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AT GCSE

That this House is concerned that the number of state school children taking languages at GCSE has dropped by a third in seven years to just 362,500 in the summer of 2009; notes that at 31 state secondary schools last year not a single student passed a foreign language GCSE; believes that some schools, particularly in deprived areas, have reduced language teaching in favour of easier subjects in order to improve league table scores; further notes that many companies demand competency in at least one foreign language as a condition of employment; further believes that, as a result, children in deprived areas are placed at a disadvantage; welcomes the Government's plan to introduce compulsory foreign language education for seven to 11 year olds in 2011; and calls on the Government to reverse its decision in 2004 to make the study of foreign languages optional from the age of 14 years onwards.

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Secondary information

Type

Early day motion

Reference

672 

Session

2009-10

Other sponsors

Kelvin Hopkins

Humfrey Malins

David TC Davies

John Hemming

Daniel Kawczynski

Subjects

Schools

Link

View this Early day motion on www.parliament.uk