Languages 'essential for students'
- Published: 21 June 2005
STUDENTS should be taught more languages and from an earlier age, employers organisation IBEC claimed yesterday.
Recent reports to the Government have
highlighted the lack of variety in languages available to second-level
students, with three-quarters of those who chose a language subject for
last year's Leaving Certificate studying French.
IBEC's assistant director of enterprise Caroline Nash said foreign languages should be made compulsory for the country's 440,000 primary pupils. Latest OECD figures show they receive less tuition in foreign languages than those of other developed countries.
Ms Nash said the modern languages in Primary Schools programme,
currently running in almost 400 schools, should be made available in
every primary school.
The programme has been successfully introducing children to foreign languages at an early age.
Ms Nash also called for a wider range of languages to be made available to second level students, to better reflect the reality of modern global communications.
"Last year, only 4% of students who sat a foreign language paper took the Spanish exam, compared to 75% in French. Yet, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese."
