Has the government finally made up its mind about the status of languages in Key Stage 4?
Members noticed a telling paragraph contained in the impact assessment document (page 8), which accompanies the recent DfE consultation on primary languages:
‘At Key Stage 4, we have concluded that we do not need to make foreign languages compulsory as recommended by the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum review, because the introduction of the English Baccalaureate performance measure has helped to deliver a significant increase in the take up of languages at GCSE without regulation.’
However, we understand that Ministers are saying that the inclusion of this paragraph was a mistake, and that no decision has yet been made on whether languages will return to compulsory status in Key Stage 4.
In the recent review of the national curriculum consultation (page 41), 60% of respondents said that languages should be compulsory in KS4 – more than any other optional subject except ICT, and a recent Eurobarometer survey showed that 72% of UK adults are convinced that everyone in the EU should be able to speak at least one language in addition to their mother tongue.