Written question asked by Barry Sheerman (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 12 May 2006. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Monday, 15 May 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Foreign Language Teaching

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to promote co-operation in foreign language teaching between secondary and primary schools.

Answer: Many secondary schools support language learning in primary schools by sharing teacher expertise, resource and use of facilities. In April 2006 the Department provided additional funding of £30,000 to every existing Specialist Language College and suggested a proportion of the funding be used to support the development and delivery of language learning programmes in primary schools. In addition £49.5 million will be distributed among all local authorities during the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to support the implementation of languages at Key Stage 2. The Department suggested part of this funding could be used to develop links between primary and secondary schools to support programmes. In October 2005 the Department launched the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages which contains guidance for schools on progression of language learning within Key Stage 2 and into Key Stage 3.

Secondary information