Baroness Coussins said that "every child in the 21st century" will require a modern foreign language teaching. I believe that every child in the 21st century will require some level of competency in a foreign language every bit as much as they would need science, maths and IT skills. Only six percent of the global population of native English speakers and 75 percent speak English at all. Three-quarters of the multi-language, and they are the ones who will get the best jobs, the most successful running a business, make more friends and influence more people. UK Employers increasingly are forced to recruit school leavers because of our own foreign and graduates simply do not have the language skills they need.
Schools that allow students to drop languages at age 14 – and that most public schools – our young people a huge loss by preventing them from obtaining one of the best skills will enhance their future employment. Only seven percent of Lesson time for children aged 12-14 years spent on the language, which puts the UK with a league table of 39 developed countries, with Ireland and Estonia and behind Indonesia and Mexico. English is very important, but not enough. It declined even as the language of the Internet, while the web material in China has multiplied fourfold in the last decade. I would ask the minister in a brief debate today to take advantage of the upcoming review of the national curriculum to launch a national recovery program for modern languages.
Languages ladder should be used to restore the language compulsory up to age 16. If governments are serious about plug 'large gap' coalition between state and independent schools, the language would be a good place to start. They also need to revive a plan to make the language of the basic school curriculum, which is a victim of pre-election wash-up. And finally, they need to takemeasures to strengthen the status of modern languages as 'strategically important and vulnerable' subjects at university level. Language departments face severe cuts in several universities as they should, in addition to STEM subjects, in the heart of strategic investments.
is co-chair of the APPG on the language and modern crossbench. Throughout the remainder, ePolitix. com will focus on a different theme each week policy. This week we feature articles with a focus on peer education. This article was first displayed on October 28, 2010 ahead of Baroness Coussins question 'for a brief debate about the importance of teaching modern languages.
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