Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to encourage people to study foreign languages.

The Department has introduced the English Baccalaureate performance measure, which includes languages and has seen the proportion of GCSE entries from pupils in state-funded schools in a modern foreign language (MFL) increase from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019. The reformed national curriculum now makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in Key Stage 2.

The Department is investing in a range of programmes to increase uptake of languages at GCSE. Our £4.8 million MFL Pedagogy Pilot commenced in December 2018, managed by the newly appointed MFL Centre for Excellence and run through nine school-led hubs, to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4. We have also launched a pilot project in MFL undergraduate mentoring for secondary school pupils to drive up participation in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.