Written question asked by Gordon Prentice (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 November 2004. It was answered by Stephen Twigg (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 November 2004 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 steps he is taking to promote foreign language teaching in schools; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to promote foreign language teaching in schools; and if he will make a statement. [196457] Mr. Stephen Twigg: Since the publication of the National Languages Strategy in December 2002, we have made much progress with promoting Modern Foreign Languages in both primary and secondary schools. Nineteen local education authorities have taken up Key Stage 2 language pathfinder roles to develop ways of delivering primary languages; we are consulting on a draft framework for the teaching and learning of Key Stage 2 languages; we have recently committed £5 million to support primary language learning in 2005-06; and by the end of this year will have trained well over 1,000 new teachers with a modern foreign language specialism. A Framework to support the teaching, planning and learning of Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 3 was introduced into schools in 2003, and is already being used widely. A new voluntary assessment scheme to recognise and accredit individuals' language skills-- The Languages Ladder--is currently being piloted in three languages and will be made available to all schools in eight languages from September 2005. We are also seeking to increase the range of vocational and academic options that are available to young people who wish to learn a language at Key Stage 4.

Secondary information