HC Deb 04 July 1983 vol 45 c9W
Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what educational measures apart from the promotion of educational visits and exchanges he intends to adopt in schools as a means of promoting a European awareness amongst British schoolchildren which Her Majesty's Government committed themselves to in the solemn declaration of European union.

Mr. Brooke

The declaration requires the Government to promote, encourage or facilitate an improvement in the level of European awareness taking account of respective constitutional provisions. In the United Kingdom, it is primarily for the local education authorities and the schools to determine what further measures they might need to adopt to promote a European awareness among their pupils. The Department, together with HM Inspectorate, has encouraged them to consider this aspect of the curriculum and offered guidance on it by means of conferences, courses and publications, including for instance the guidance document "The School Curriculum" issued in 1981 and the recent consultative paper "Foreign Languages in the School Curriculum". The Department has also given support to the United Kingdom centre for European education.