Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to introduce a Ukrainian language GCSE.

Awarding Organisations (AOs) can produce a GCSE in any modern language. This decision would be informed by several factors, including the level of demand from schools and the proportion of the population in the UK speaking the language. There is no reason why a GCSE in Ukrainian could not be introduced, but it would be at the discretion of AOs to determine whether there was a strong case to do so.

There are currently 18 GCSEs in different modern languages produced and offered by AOs in England. The specification for these qualifications must meet the Department’s GCSE subject content requirements for modern languages, and be accredited by the independent qualifications regulator, Ofqual. The development and accreditation of a new GCSE would take at least two years.

Departmental officials have been working with AOs on creating an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in Ukrainian. Person Edexcel recently published new guidance on using the Level 3 (EPQ) in Ukrainian to help Ukrainian students work towards a qualification that can complement their studies in the UK.