Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of changes to the National Curriculum on students wishing to study languages at university.

The government is committed to supporting the teaching of languages. Languages provide an insight into other cultures and open the door to travel and employment opportunities. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the department is refreshing the key stage 2 languages programme of study to strengthen expectations, boosting pupils’ progress in the subject, and supporting their transition into secondary school. We are also strengthening the key stage 3 languages curriculum to improve progression to GCSE.

In our response to the Review, we made a commitment to work with the sector to understand successful approaches to supporting the languages pipeline, starting at primary by reforming the curriculum, increasing take up at GCSE, and boosting demand at A level and degree level, to meet future social and economic needs. This includes learning from successful local models. We will support teachers to implement changes to the curriculum, through continued investment in the National Consortium for Languages Education, which provides high quality professional development and wraparound support for language teachers, with national reach.