§ Mr. AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what new steps he will take to encourage the teaching of European languages, and in particular German, in Welsh schools.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsThe Education Reform Act prescribes that a modern foreign language will be one of the foundation subjects to be studied by all pupils aged 11 to 16. This will begin to come into effect in autumn 1990 when all pupils in the third key stage (that is aged 11 to 14) will be required to be taught a modern foreign language for a reasonable time. The Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales have proposed that all the official languages of the European Community, including German, should be recognised for this purpose. In the meantime a working group is to be set up by July 1989 to advise the Secretaries of State on attainment targets and programmes of study for modern foreign languages with a view to beginning to implement these in schools from autumn 1992.