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 value to language learning in secondary schools of foreign language classroom assistants.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the submission to the consultation on reforms to modern language GCSEs from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages will be recorded as one response, or reflect its endorsement by almost 100 organisations and 1,000 individuals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government intends to publish its response to the consultation before the end of this year.
The response of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Language (APPGML) to the government’s consultation on the revised GCSE modern foreign language subject content review will be recorded as one response. Individuals and organisations are always advised to respond directly to government consultations, rather than to be signatories of independent campaigns.
In addition, we know that a number of organisations and individuals who endorsed the APPGML statement also responded to the government consultation separately. By doing so, the government is able to consider responses systematically, including the responses of individuals and organisations to the specific questions in the consultation.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the responses to the consultation on proposed reforms to modern language GCSEs.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government intends to publish its response to the consultation before the end of this year.
The response of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Language (APPGML) to the government’s consultation on the revised GCSE modern foreign language subject content review will be recorded as one response. Individuals and organisations are always advised to respond directly to government consultations, rather than to be signatories of independent campaigns.
In addition, we know that a number of organisations and individuals who endorsed the APPGML statement also responded to the government consultation separately. By doing so, the government is able to consider responses systematically, including the responses of individuals and organisations to the specific questions in the consultation.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of supporting Modern Foreign Languages Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The annual funding of the existing Mandarin Excellence Programme committed by the department since the launch in 2016 is set out in the table below:
Financial year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total |
Funding | 0.93 | 1.47 | 2.63 | 1.35 | 2.97 | 9.35 |
The programme is led by the Institute of Education, University College London. It initially started with 14 schools and has now grown to 75 schools with over 6,300 pupils, and the increased funding over the period reflects this. The next phase of the programme and funding is due to be announced shortly and will start from September this year.
The funding of the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) Pedagogy Pilot Hubs by contract period, committed by the department, is set out in the table below:
Contract period | Dec 2018 | Dec 2020 | Dec 2021 | Total |
Funding | 2.17 | 1.45 | 1.17 | 4.79 |
The MFL Pedagogy Pilot is managed by the National Centre for Excellence for Languages Pedagogy (NCELP) and was launched in December 2018. In addition to the support provided to the 45 schools in the pilot programme, NCELP has also so far developed Key Stage 3 schemes of work, lesson plans and accompanying resources for French, German and Spanish, which are available free of charge through its resource portal for all teachers.
In the 4th year of the programme, NCELP will deliver free professional development courses on MFL curriculum design and pedagogy to over 1,350 teachers nationally and develop fully resourced schemes of work for Key Stage 4 that will align with the new GCSE in French, German and Spanish.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they contribute per annum to support the Mandarin Excellence Programme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The annual funding of the existing Mandarin Excellence Programme committed by the department since the launch in 2016 is set out in the table below:
Financial year | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total |
Funding | 0.93 | 1.47 | 2.63 | 1.35 | 2.97 | 9.35 |
The programme is led by the Institute of Education, University College London. It initially started with 14 schools and has now grown to 75 schools with over 6,300 pupils, and the increased funding over the period reflects this. The next phase of the programme and funding is due to be announced shortly and will start from September this year.
The funding of the Modern Foreign Language (MFL) Pedagogy Pilot Hubs by contract period, committed by the department, is set out in the table below:
Contract period | Dec 2018 | Dec 2020 | Dec 2021 | Total |
Funding | 2.17 | 1.45 | 1.17 | 4.79 |
The MFL Pedagogy Pilot is managed by the National Centre for Excellence for Languages Pedagogy (NCELP) and was launched in December 2018. In addition to the support provided to the 45 schools in the pilot programme, NCELP has also so far developed Key Stage 3 schemes of work, lesson plans and accompanying resources for French, German and Spanish, which are available free of charge through its resource portal for all teachers.
In the 4th year of the programme, NCELP will deliver free professional development courses on MFL curriculum design and pedagogy to over 1,350 teachers nationally and develop fully resourced schemes of work for Key Stage 4 that will align with the new GCSE in French, German and Spanish.
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 cost per annum of restoring the Language Teacher Training Scholarships.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department reviews the bursaries and scholarships offered for initial teacher training (ITT) before the start of each annual recruitment cycle. Factors such as historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need are considered. Being able to change the financial incentives offered for ITT provides flexibility in responding to the need to attract new teachers and ensures money is spent where it is needed most.
The financial incentives for trainee teachers starting ITT in the academic year 2022/23 will be announced this autumn. In advance of this, the Department will consider the need and potential impact of incentives for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) alongside the offer for all other subjects.
It is not possible to say what the cost of increasing the MFL bursary or restoring the MFL scholarship would be in future, as this is dependent on the number of eligible trainee teachers that are recruited. The Department publishes ITT census data each year showing the numbers of trainee teachers recruited, from which we can estimate the cost per annum. The published 2019/20 ITT census data shows approximately 1,145 MFL trainees were eligible for either a £26,000 bursary or £28,000 scholarship[1][2][3].
[1] Includes postgraduate MFL trainees with 1st, 2:1 and 2:2 degree classes only from the following routes only: Higher Education Institution, School Centred ITT and School Direct (fee-funded). Total excludes trainees whose degree classes are unknown.
[2] It is possible that some of these trainees may have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were in fact awarded a degree classification lower than a 2:2.
[3] A small minority of these trainees will also have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were ineligible for student finance.
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 cost of restoring the Modern Foreign Languages bursary to its pre-2020/21 level of £26,000 per student.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Department reviews the bursaries and scholarships offered for initial teacher training (ITT) before the start of each annual recruitment cycle. Factors such as historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need are considered. Being able to change the financial incentives offered for ITT provides flexibility in responding to the need to attract new teachers and ensures money is spent where it is needed most.
The financial incentives for trainee teachers starting ITT in the academic year 2022/23 will be announced this autumn. In advance of this, the Department will consider the need and potential impact of incentives for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) alongside the offer for all other subjects.
It is not possible to say what the cost of increasing the MFL bursary or restoring the MFL scholarship would be in future, as this is dependent on the number of eligible trainee teachers that are recruited. The Department publishes ITT census data each year showing the numbers of trainee teachers recruited, from which we can estimate the cost per annum. The published 2019/20 ITT census data shows approximately 1,145 MFL trainees were eligible for either a £26,000 bursary or £28,000 scholarship[1][2][3].
[1] Includes postgraduate MFL trainees with 1st, 2:1 and 2:2 degree classes only from the following routes only: Higher Education Institution, School Centred ITT and School Direct (fee-funded). Total excludes trainees whose degree classes are unknown.
[2] It is possible that some of these trainees may have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were in fact awarded a degree classification lower than a 2:2.
[3] A small minority of these trainees will also have been ineligible for a bursary or scholarship because they were ineligible for student finance.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost in each of the five years leading up to the UK's departure from the EU of the UK’s participation in the Erasmus and Erasmus+ programmes.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
While the UK was a member state of the EU, we did not make seperate contributions to individual EU programmes such as Erasmus+, but instead made an overall contribution to the EU budget which was then used to fund those programmes. It is therefore not possible to calculate a figure for the UK government’s direct contributions to Erasmus+.
However, an indicative UK contribution figure can be obtained by taking the total Erasmus+ payments made in each year and applying to it the UK’s funding share of the overall EU budget in that year.
Table 1 gives an indicative estimate of the UK’s Erasmus+ contributions between 2015 and 2019. The UK contributions estimate taken from table 1 in the attachment is included below.
Under Erasmus+, the UK already contributed significantly more than we got out in the form of receipts, and the only terms of offer for continued participation would have required an annual gross contribution of £600 million, or a net contribution in the region of £2 billion over the course of the programme.
The Turing Scheme goes further than Erasmus+ by being truly global. It also goes further in enabling more disadvantaged students to benefit from the opportunities of studying abroad, including by providing extra funding for disadvantaged students, and paying for extra costs for them, including travel costs.
Table 1: UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
UK Indicative Erasmus+ contributions in millions of pounds | 209 | 201 | 224 | 241 | 296 |
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost per annum of the Advanced Maths Premium scheme.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The Advanced Maths Premium was first paid in the 2019-20 academic year, when we allocated £10,630,200 to providers of 16-19 education. In the 2020-21 academic year, we allocated £14,059,800 of funding through the Advanced Maths Premium.
This information is available from 16-19 published allocations data at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2020-to-2021-academic-year and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-allocation-data-2019-to-2020-academic-year. This information can be calculated by totalling the allocations to individual providers in the Advanced Maths Premium column.
Asked by: Baroness Coussins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their response to the consultation on proposed reforms to GCSE examinations in French, Spanish and German.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Officials continue to analyse the responses to the consultation and, whilst we have not yet specified a date for publication, it is expected that the government’s response will be published shortly after this year’s school summer holiday.