Written question asked by Chris Skidmore (Conservative) on Monday, 25 October 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 27 October 2010. It was answered by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Monday, 8 November 2010 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Teachers: Languages

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many maintained mainstream secondary schools do not employ a teacher with a specialism in a modern foreign language.

Answer: Information on the qualifications and deployment of secondary school teachers in maintained schools in England is currently available from the Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS). The most recent survey was conducted in 2007; however, a reliable estimate of the number of schools who did not employ any teachers with a modern foreign language specialism is not possible from this data source due to a small sample size of 327 schools.In future this information will be available centrally from the new School Workforce Census. The census will collect annual information on the qualifications of all teachers in maintained secondary schools in England and the subjects that they are teaching. The first full collection of the census is scheduled for November 2010 and the findings are due to be published in April 2011.

Secondary information