Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an equality impact assessment was made before delaying the grant to CLEx about the impact on black, Asian, and minority ethnic language learners' access to national accreditation at (a) GCSE, and (b) A Level.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government understands the importance of all languages for the UK’s economic and diplomatic interests, as well as the many personal and social benefits learning another language can bring. This is why the study of languages is a statutory part of the national curriculum for pupils in key stages 2 and 3.
French, Spanish and German remain the most popular languages for pupils to study at school. The government provides resources and professional development for teachers in these languages through the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Hub programme, run by the National Centre for Excellence in Language Pedagogy.
An increasing number of pupils now choose to study Mandarin, and the government supports many of these pupils through the £12 million Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP). The MEP is the department’s flagship programme for the study of Mandarin, with the aim of providing a pipeline of fluent Mandarin speakers to meet the UK’s future economic and diplomatic needs. We are currently considering what steps might be taken to provide greater support for the study of other languages, including Arabic and Urdu.
Schools are free to offer any language which they feel best meets the needs of their pupils and the wider community. GCSEs and A levels are available in Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Turkish and Urdu. All these languages count towards the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) school performance measure, ensuring that most young people study a core of academic subjects at GCSE. The provision of these qualifications is ultimately a decision for awarding organisations. However, the department is supportive of ongoing opportunities to study these languages, signifying Britain's role as an outward-facing, vibrant country, enriched by the diversity of its people.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unique circumstances in 2021, the government made a grant available to support exam centres to meet costs associated with the additional demands of assessment for private candidates, including those taking community and heritage languages. The claims window opened on 29 November 2021 and closed on 10 January 2022. The department subsequently carried out quality assurance checks on the evidence provided by centres to ensure the accuracy of claims and payment allocations. The assurance checks that needed to be carried out always meant that payments would be made to centres at the end of the 2021/22 financial year. Centres that supplied the evidence required in the claims were due to be paid on 31 March 2022. This included a payment to the Community Language Examination Centre.
The grant was only available for teacher assessed grades produced in summer 2021, not to any other assessment period, due to the unique circumstances in 2021. It has helped centres to meet costs and will not have led to any exam entry reductions.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction in the numbers of pupils taking (1) GCSE, and (2) A Level, examinations in (a) community, or (b) heritage, languages not taught in mainstream state schools as a result of the delayed grant from the Department for Education to the Community Language Examination Centre (CLEx).
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government understands the importance of all languages for the UK’s economic and diplomatic interests, as well as the many personal and social benefits learning another language can bring. This is why the study of languages is a statutory part of the national curriculum for pupils in key stages 2 and 3.
French, Spanish and German remain the most popular languages for pupils to study at school. The government provides resources and professional development for teachers in these languages through the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Hub programme, run by the National Centre for Excellence in Language Pedagogy.
An increasing number of pupils now choose to study Mandarin, and the government supports many of these pupils through the £12 million Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP). The MEP is the department’s flagship programme for the study of Mandarin, with the aim of providing a pipeline of fluent Mandarin speakers to meet the UK’s future economic and diplomatic needs. We are currently considering what steps might be taken to provide greater support for the study of other languages, including Arabic and Urdu.
Schools are free to offer any language which they feel best meets the needs of their pupils and the wider community. GCSEs and A levels are available in Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Turkish and Urdu. All these languages count towards the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) school performance measure, ensuring that most young people study a core of academic subjects at GCSE. The provision of these qualifications is ultimately a decision for awarding organisations. However, the department is supportive of ongoing opportunities to study these languages, signifying Britain's role as an outward-facing, vibrant country, enriched by the diversity of its people.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unique circumstances in 2021, the government made a grant available to support exam centres to meet costs associated with the additional demands of assessment for private candidates, including those taking community and heritage languages. The claims window opened on 29 November 2021 and closed on 10 January 2022. The department subsequently carried out quality assurance checks on the evidence provided by centres to ensure the accuracy of claims and payment allocations. The assurance checks that needed to be carried out always meant that payments would be made to centres at the end of the 2021/22 financial year. Centres that supplied the evidence required in the claims were due to be paid on 31 March 2022. This included a payment to the Community Language Examination Centre.
The grant was only available for teacher assessed grades produced in summer 2021, not to any other assessment period, due to the unique circumstances in 2021. It has helped centres to meet costs and will not have led to any exam entry reductions.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Barran on 27 January (HL Deb col 434), of the (1) 41,000 placements under the Turing Scheme, and (2) 16,500 placements under Erasmus+ in 2020–21, how many were for (a) an academic year, (b) an academic term, and (c) six weeks or fewer.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Data on Erasmus+ is produced by the European Union. Mobility breakdowns across countries and activities can be found in EU annual reports and factsheets here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/resources-and-tools/statistics-and-factsheets and https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/factsheets/factsheet-uk-2020_en.html. According to this data, in academic year 2019/20, 16,596 students from UK higher education institutions participated in Erasmus+.
Under the Turing Scheme, providers successfully applied for funding to cover over 41,000 individual placements overseas across the academic year 2020/2021. This included over 28,000 in higher education, over 6,000 in further education and vocational education and training and over 5,000 in schools. Further information on eligibility is available in the programme guide here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/news/the-programme-guide-is-now-available/.
As the 41,000 placements in academic year 2020/21 relates to planned activity, and the type and duration of mobilities will vary under the Turing and Erasmus+ Schemes, an immediate direct comparison of the figures cannot be made. A fuller evaluation is being planned to accurately compare figures from both programmes.
Current eligible durations for activity are as follows:
To address the ongoing impact of COVID-19, universities, colleges and schools can adjust plans for activities taking place this academic year if needed. The Turing Scheme is offering flexibility to change the duration, destination and timing of placements. Turing Scheme projects, however, cannot be extended past 31 August 2022 in accordance with government spending requirements.
Due to the fact that many providers are changing plans for activities because of COVID-19, this will have an impact on the actual placements that take place. More data on durations will be published once the 2021/22 academic year concludes.
From successful applications for the first year of the Turing Scheme, over 150 destinations across the globe were included in plans for placements overseas. Over 60% of activity was planned to take place in countries outside of the EU. A detailed breakdown of each destination, including those outside the EU, can be found on the funding results page on the Turing Scheme website here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/project-community/funding-results/.
All destinations successfully applied for in higher education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Higher-Education-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in vocational education and training and further education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Further-Education-and-Vocational-Education-and-Training-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in Schools can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Turing-Scheme-Schools-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Barran on 27 January (HL Deb col 434), which countries outside the EU accounted for the 60 per cent of applications for the Turing Scheme in 2020–21.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Data on Erasmus+ is produced by the European Union. Mobility breakdowns across countries and activities can be found in EU annual reports and factsheets here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/resources-and-tools/statistics-and-factsheets and https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/factsheets/factsheet-uk-2020_en.html. According to this data, in academic year 2019/20, 16,596 students from UK higher education institutions participated in Erasmus+.
Under the Turing Scheme, providers successfully applied for funding to cover over 41,000 individual placements overseas across the academic year 2020/2021. This included over 28,000 in higher education, over 6,000 in further education and vocational education and training and over 5,000 in schools. Further information on eligibility is available in the programme guide here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/news/the-programme-guide-is-now-available/.
As the 41,000 placements in academic year 2020/21 relates to planned activity, and the type and duration of mobilities will vary under the Turing and Erasmus+ Schemes, an immediate direct comparison of the figures cannot be made. A fuller evaluation is being planned to accurately compare figures from both programmes.
Current eligible durations for activity are as follows:
To address the ongoing impact of COVID-19, universities, colleges and schools can adjust plans for activities taking place this academic year if needed. The Turing Scheme is offering flexibility to change the duration, destination and timing of placements. Turing Scheme projects, however, cannot be extended past 31 August 2022 in accordance with government spending requirements.
Due to the fact that many providers are changing plans for activities because of COVID-19, this will have an impact on the actual placements that take place. More data on durations will be published once the 2021/22 academic year concludes.
From successful applications for the first year of the Turing Scheme, over 150 destinations across the globe were included in plans for placements overseas. Over 60% of activity was planned to take place in countries outside of the EU. A detailed breakdown of each destination, including those outside the EU, can be found on the funding results page on the Turing Scheme website here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/project-community/funding-results/.
All destinations successfully applied for in higher education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Higher-Education-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in vocational education and training and further education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Further-Education-and-Vocational-Education-and-Training-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in Schools can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Turing-Scheme-Schools-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Barran on 27 January (HL Deb col 434), what was the breakdown for (1) the 16,500 applicants in 2019–20 for the Erasmus+ scheme, (2) the 41,000 applicants in 2020–21 for the Turing Scheme, between (a) undergraduates, (b) graduates, (c) school students, (d) apprentices, (e) youth workers, and (f) staff from educational institutions; and in each category for each scheme, how many students were disabled.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
Data on Erasmus+ is produced by the European Union. Mobility breakdowns across countries and activities can be found in EU annual reports and factsheets here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/resources-and-tools/statistics-and-factsheets and https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/factsheets/factsheet-uk-2020_en.html. According to this data, in academic year 2019/20, 16,596 students from UK higher education institutions participated in Erasmus+.
Under the Turing Scheme, providers successfully applied for funding to cover over 41,000 individual placements overseas across the academic year 2020/2021. This included over 28,000 in higher education, over 6,000 in further education and vocational education and training and over 5,000 in schools. Further information on eligibility is available in the programme guide here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/news/the-programme-guide-is-now-available/.
As the 41,000 placements in academic year 2020/21 relates to planned activity, and the type and duration of mobilities will vary under the Turing and Erasmus+ Schemes, an immediate direct comparison of the figures cannot be made. A fuller evaluation is being planned to accurately compare figures from both programmes.
Current eligible durations for activity are as follows:
To address the ongoing impact of COVID-19, universities, colleges and schools can adjust plans for activities taking place this academic year if needed. The Turing Scheme is offering flexibility to change the duration, destination and timing of placements. Turing Scheme projects, however, cannot be extended past 31 August 2022 in accordance with government spending requirements.
Due to the fact that many providers are changing plans for activities because of COVID-19, this will have an impact on the actual placements that take place. More data on durations will be published once the 2021/22 academic year concludes.
From successful applications for the first year of the Turing Scheme, over 150 destinations across the globe were included in plans for placements overseas. Over 60% of activity was planned to take place in countries outside of the EU. A detailed breakdown of each destination, including those outside the EU, can be found on the funding results page on the Turing Scheme website here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/project-community/funding-results/.
All destinations successfully applied for in higher education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Higher-Education-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in vocational education and training and further education can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Further-Education-and-Vocational-Education-and-Training-Turing-Scheme-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
All destinations successfully applied for in Schools can be found here: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Proposed-Destinations-of-Funded-Turing-Scheme-Schools-Participants-in-2021.pdf.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether claims for the Private Candidate Support Grant may be made retrospectively.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The online claims service for the Private Candidate Support Grant was launched on 29 November 2021. The claims form and accompanying guidance can be found here: https://form.education.gov.uk/service/exam-funding.
Centres can make retrospective claims of £200 per entry to meet the costs associated with the additional demands of assessment for private candidates this year.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish details of the Private Candidate Support Grant for approved examination centres, including when the online claims service will go live.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The online claims service for the Private Candidate Support Grant was launched on 29 November 2021. The claims form and accompanying guidance can be found here: https://form.education.gov.uk/service/exam-funding.
Centres can make retrospective claims of £200 per entry to meet the costs associated with the additional demands of assessment for private candidates this year.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many primary schools in England are not teaching a foreign language at Key Stage 2.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
All maintained schools are required to follow the national curriculum, which includes teaching any modern or ancient foreign language at key stage 2. Academies are expected to teach a curriculum which is similar in breadth and ambition as the national curriculum.
The department does not collect data on all schools on the teaching of individual subjects in primary schools, and this includes languages. Similarly, Ofsted does not inspect each individual subject in its inspections but would look at whether schools are teaching a broad, balanced, and well-sequenced curriculum.
Any concerns that a maintained school may not be complying with the requirement to teach languages at key stage 2 should, in the first instance, be raised via the school’s complaints procedure. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department for Education’s school complaints unit.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor the delivery of the national curriculum requirement that a foreign language be taught at Key Stage 2.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
All maintained schools are required to follow the national curriculum, which includes teaching any modern or ancient foreign language at key stage 2. Academies are expected to teach a curriculum which is similar in breadth and ambition as the national curriculum.
The department does not collect data on all schools on the teaching of individual subjects in primary schools, and this includes languages. Similarly, Ofsted does not inspect each individual subject in its inspections but would look at whether schools are teaching a broad, balanced, and well-sequenced curriculum.
Any concerns that a maintained school may not be complying with the requirement to teach languages at key stage 2 should, in the first instance, be raised via the school’s complaints procedure. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department for Education’s school complaints unit.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on (1) language learning in UK schools, and (2) the teaching of English in schools overseas, of the removal from the tiered visa regime for unpaid student internships.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
We continue to welcome talented individuals from overseas to teach or train to teach in the UK, including through the Language Assistants Programme (LAP). The programme is owned by the Department for Education and delivered by the British Council.
Over 150 UK institutions hosted language assistants last year. Annual evaluation reported that language assistants made a significant impact on attainment and learning outcomes for pupils, including improved exam grades, improved cultural awareness, improved standards in listening and speaking, and improved confidence in using the language.
In addition, as part of the LAP, around 2,500 UK students are able travel to 15 destinations to support the teaching of English, through paid teaching placements around the world. UK students rated their experience positively, with improved teaching and language skills.
The Government Authorised Exchange (GAE) scheme also provides individuals with opportunities to come to the UK for a short time for work experience, training, to complete an Overseas Government Language Programme, and for research or a fellowship. Students are also permitted to undertake a work placement as part of a course on the student route, provided the work placement is an integrated and assessed part of the course of study. The Appendix GAE lists all the schemes available and more information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-government-authorised-exchange-schemes.