HC Deb 23 October 1990 vol 178 c157W
32. Sir Hal Miller

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to ensure that young people have an effective grounding in a modern foreign language.

68. Mr. Hague

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what importance he places on langague learning.

Mr. Eggar

The Government are concerned to increase both the number of pupils continuing to study a modern foreign language until age 16 and beyond, and their standards of language competence. That is why the national curriculum includes a modern foreign language as a foundation subject to be studied by all pupils aged 11 to 16 in maintained secondary schools. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales will be publishing shortly their proposals for attainment targets and programmes of study for modern foreign languages in the national curriculum, together with the final report of the working group for modern foreign languages, on whose recommendations my right hon. Friends' proposals are based. We aim to start implementing the attainment targets and programmes of study in schools from autumn 1992.

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