HC Deb 23 June 1994 vol 245 c266W
Mrs. Curve

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many candidates sat GCSE in a modern foreign language in 1993; and in what languages.

Mr. Robin Squire

The number of candidates in England who sat GCSE in a modern language in 1993 was 402,700. The languages, in order of popularity, were French, German, Spanish, Urdu, Italian, Bengali, Russian, Chinese, Panjabi, Gujarati, modern Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, modern Hebrew, Portuguese, Hindi, Polish and other languages not listed individually. The other languages include Irish, Esperanto and Ukranian.

Mrs. Currie

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many candidates sat A-level in a modern foreign language in 1993; in what languages; and what were the figures five years earlier.

Mr. Robin Squire

The number of candidates in England who sat GCE A-level in a modern foreign language in 1993 was 38,570 of which 26,170 were from schools. The languages, in order of popularity, were French, German, Spanish, Urdu, Italian, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, modern Greek, Panjabi, Bengali, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, modern Hebrew, Dutch, Hindi and Danish.

No comparable figure is available for 1988, although 19,000 school leavers in 1987–88 sat a GCE A-level in a modern foreign language in that year.

Forward to