Primary languages missing target

Almost a fifth of primary schools in England could miss a government target to offer language teaching by next year, a report says.

The National Foundation for Educational Research says overall language provision in primaries is increasing. There is a target for language lessons to be available for seven to 11 year olds by 2010 – with foreign languages set to become compulsory the following year.

Languages ceased to be compulsory for secondary pupils after the age of 14 in 2004. Instead the focus switched to increasing the number of younger pupils learning languages in primary school.

The report, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, was intended to establish what progress was being made in primary schools. It found that in 2008, 92% of primary schools were offering foreign languages in some form. This was a rise of 22 percentage points from 2006. It also found the vast majority of primary schools were “making good progress” towards offering the full entitlement.

However, the NFER researchers found up to 18% of primary schools will not be able to offer the opportunity to learn a language to any seven to 11 year old child. This non-statutory target was introduced as part of the National Languages Strategy last year. But a higher proportion of schools – 26% – may not be ready to implement languages as part of the compulsory curriculum in 2011. About 30% of schools were currently not offering this level of language learning to their pupils, the research found.

One of the main barriers the researchers found was lack of time to fit languages into lessons. Languages will become a compulsory in primary schools from 2011, following a review of the primary curriculum by Sir Jim Rose. Numbers of GCSE entries in languages have declined since they were no longer compulsory.

A separate study undertaken by Cambridge University has found that a majority of head teachers feel there is a lack of continuity between primary and secondary school language learning. Almost 50% of heads questioned for this research said a language should be compulsory after the age of 14 for most pupils.

Schools minister Diana Johnson said: “We know that when children start learning a language at an earlier age they can absorb more, build more confidence and become more passionate about language learning. “That is why we are making languages compulsory in primary schools from 2011 and will continue to ensure schools teach them until age 14.”