Written question asked by Jimmy Wray (Labour) on Thursday, 12 December 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 January 2003. It was answered by David Miliband (Labour) on Monday, 13 January 2003 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what choices first to third year pupils at secondary school and those at GCSE level have as to the languages they wish to learn; which languages are compulsory; and how long these are taught for.

Answer: Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what choices first to third year pupils at secondary school and those at GCSE level have as to the languages they wish to learn; which languages are compulsory; and how long these are taught for. [87368] Mr. Miliband: The National Curriculum currently states that secondary schools must offer, in key stages 3 and 4, one or more of the official working languages of the European Union. Only when they have met this condition may they offer non-EU languages. Within this requirement, it is for schools to decide which and how many languages they choose to offer. However, as we announced in our Languages Strategy, published on 18 December 2002, we intend to amend the statutory requirement at key stage 4 so that schools will no longer be required to teach modern foreign languages to all pupils. All schools will be required to ensure that they are available to any pupil wishing to study them.

Secondary information