Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The study of languages is compulsory under the national curriculum at key stages 2 and 3 for all maintained schools, and will become compulsory in academies, subject to the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The government continues to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education, which is developing a new model of language support for schools and online continuing professional development for teachers that will support high-quality language teaching. This programme is designed to have national reach, ensuring that all schools can benefit regardless of their location.

​To further support languages education, the department is offering a £26,000 tax-free bursary for trainee language teachers starting courses in 2025, or alternatively, a £28,000 tax-free scholarship for those training to teach French, German, or Spanish. Additionally, Oak National Academy is developing modern foreign languages lesson resources for key stages 2 to 4, to be fully released by autumn 2025, helping teachers deliver high-quality lessons and reduce planning time.

In England, languages are included in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) at Key Stage 4. Since September 2019, Ofsted’s new inspection framework has placed a renewed focus on all pupils benefiting from a broad, balanced, and ambitious curriculum. Since the introduction of the EBacc performance measure in 2010, the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) has increased from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019.

The Department’s £2.41 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot, run by the National Centre of Excellence in Languages Pedagogy, commenced in December 2018 with a mission to improve language curriculum design and pedagogy. The Centre has developed an open database which includes schemes of work and resources. It also runs a pilot network of 18 specialist teachers in nine lead schools, each working with four local hub schools, as well as with a wider network of a further 90 schools. The aim of this collaborative network of MFL teachers and schools is to raise standards of language teaching through the sharing of resources and good practice. In May 2020, the programme was extended to December 2021, receiving an additional £1.45 million funding.

The Department has introduced the English Baccalaureate performance measure, which includes languages and has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) increase from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019. The reformed national curriculum now makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in Key Stage 2.

The Department is investing in a range of programmes to increase uptake of languages at GCSE. Our £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018, managed by the newly appointed MFL Centre for Excellence and run through nine school-led hubs, to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4. We have also launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to drive up participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.

Foreign language expertise and training within the Army is prioritised based on role and requirement. Priority is focused on the Specialised Infantry group (announced in Strategic Defence Security Review 15) and Brigades with an operational defence engagement requirement. At present, there are over 12,000 Army personnel recorded as holding language qualifications.

The Army is currently considering low-level (and higher level) language and cultural capability, as part of wider land environment defence engagement doctrine.

A range of measures is taken to actively promote the opportunities which the RAF can offer to individuals who have foreign language skills. These include Specialist Recruitment Teams attending academies and universities; running a bursary scheme for RAF linguist undergraduates; awarding a monetary incentive where a recruit has a pre-existing language of interest. Additionally, serving personnel may be eligible for financial awards for maintaining and utilising specialist language skills. In accordance with RAF policy for all personnel, linguists must serve at least 36 months after the completion of professional language training.

There are approximately 850 Service personnel across the Ministry of Defence (MOD) trained in some 40 different languages. It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown because of the strategic and operational sensitivities surrounding them. The MOD's language requirements are met from a Departmental pool of Armed Forces and civilian personnel; the Department regularly reviews its future requirements for linguists and trains its personnel accordingly.

77th Brigade does not specifically select personnel for language capability. However, personnel within the brigade hold 59 'standard level profile' (GCSE - to master's degree level) qualifications in languages including Dari, Pashtu, Russian and Urdu. Some personnel hold more than one of these qualifications.

Since September 2014, maintained primary schools in England have been required to teach a modern or ancient foreign language to pupils at key stage 2 (covering the ages 7 to 11).

The Government took action in 2010 to halt the decline in the number of school children taking language GCSEs by introducing the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). This has had a positive effect on the take up of languages in schools, with a rise in the proportion of the cohort in state funded schools entered for a modern foreign language from 40% of pupils in 2010 to a provisional figure of 49% in 2015.

As part of the Government’s commitment to increase the numbers of pupils taking the EBacc, all but a small minority of pupils who started secondary school this September will be expected to study a language to GCSE level. We are consulting on these proposals. To attract further applicants for initial teacher training (ITT), we have increased bursaries for secondary languages ITT trainees for 2016/17.