Written question asked by Denis MacShane (Independent (affiliation)) on Monday, 6 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 December 2010. It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Languages: GCSE

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on reinstating the teaching of a modern language as a compulsory GCSE subject.

Answer: The Government believes that learning a language is important to the social and economic future of the country and to help children understand the world in which they live. We will be announcing more details about a review of the National Curriculum shortly. This review will consider the status of languages at both primary and secondary level. We plan to consult a wide range of academics, teachers and other interested parties to ensure that our core curriculum can compare favourably with those of the highest performing countries in the world.On 6 September, in a speech at Westminster Academy, the Secretary of State announced an English Baccalaureate, to include a modern or ancient language as one of the core academic subjects that children should learn at GCSE level, along with English, maths, science and a humanity subject. Further detail was included in the White Paper ““The Importance of Teaching””, published on 22 November.

Secondary information