§ Commander Donaldsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the teaching of modern languages.
§ Mr. NobleThere has recently been a welcome growth of interest in the possibilities of a new approach to modern language teaching in both schools and further education centres. My Department is in close touch with a number of important experiments now being undertaken in various parts of the country, involving the introduction of a modern language in the primary school, the inclusion of a language in the secondary course of non-academic pupils, and the use of language laboratories and other teaching aids. I am anxious to encourage these developments in every practicable way. I am considering in particular, as an alternative to the present examination in modern languages on the Ordinary grade of the66W Scottish Certificate of Education, a new form of examination, largely concerned with proficiency in the use and understanding of the spoken word. On completion of preliminary studies now in hand, I intend to appoint a representative working party to frame detailed proposals for such an examination in the light of various pilot experiments.