HC Deb 13 March 1986 vol 93 cc537-8W
Mr. Holt

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students currently studying at colleges of education have a formal qualification in the Japanese or Chinese language.

Mr. Walden

This information is not collected centrally.

Mr. Holt

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any proposals to seek to increase the awareness of teaching Japanese, Chinese and other Asian languages in primary and secondary schools.

Mr. Chris Patten

The range of languages on offer in schools is an important issue and will be among those matters addressed in a forthcoming statement of policy on foreign languages in the school curriculum.

Mr. Holt

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many pupils have qualified with an O-level or A-level GCE in Japanese or Chinese in each of the past 10 years;

(2) how many pupils in 1985 entered the General Certificate of Educaion O-level and A-level examinations in Japanese or Chinese.

Mr. Chris Patten

The information requested is not available centrally for school pupils. The table gives, for the most recent five years for which information is

Grant Purpose Size of Grant in 1985–86 (£ million) How allocated
Education Support Grant To support specific activities in the interest of education in England and Wales. The activities are specified in the Education Support Grant Regulations. 27.5 LEAs are invited by Departmental circular to bid for grant support.

available, the numbers of graded results in Chinese and Japanese at GCE O and A-level achieved by all candidates entered for home examinations set by the English examination boards. The table also shows the numbers of entries for those examinations for the latest available year.

GCE O-level and A-level graded results in Chinese and Japanese Summer examinations
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
O-LEVEL
Chinese (Modern)
higher graded results* 1,597 1,278 1,049 1,145 1,236
all graded results† 1,796 1,388 1,172 1,268 1,362
entries 1,381
Chinese (Classical)
higher graded results 49 47 158
all graded results 49 48 177
entries 178
Japanese (Modern)
higher graded results 84 82 121 138 103
all graded results 84 84 129 144 104
entries 106
A-LEVEL
Chinese (Modern)
graded results ‡ 162 185 178 144 184
entries 196
Chinese (Classical)
graded results 3 2
entries 2
Japanese (Modern)
graded results 41 68 70 78 91
entries 94

Source: Survey of Examining Boards in England.

Notes:

* higher graded results are defined as O-level grades A-C.

† graded results are defined as O-level grades A-E.

‡ graded results are defined as A-level grades A-E.