English is not enough to get by in the world [timesonline.co.uk]
- Published: 18 May 2010
Sir, Young people and the UK economy are certainly losing out badly because of a dismissive and shortsighted attitude to language teaching (“Schools are teaching pupils to be linguistic paupers of Europe”, May 15). Sadly, your report that a modern language will become a compulsory part of primary school education from 2011, is wrong. This was the plan, but the statutory authority to do it was one of the provisions in the Children, Schools and Families Bill abandoned by the political parties in the parliamentary “wash-up” process before the general election.
Languages after the age of 14 remain optional in more than three-quarters of state schools. More than 83 per cent don’t bother to set a benchmark for take-up and even the school’s self-assessment process for Ofsted inspections no longer includes a specific question on language teaching. GCSE entries are in decline, a third of university modern languages departments have closed in the past seven years, and employers are recruiting from overseas to meet their language needs because they cannot find what they want from UK- educated school-leavers or graduates.
Full Story: www.timesonline.co.uk
