Two days ago we were asked to see David Blunkett at the Department for Education and Employment. He commended the work the Inquiry had done and said that his department would work with us in improving the language capability of our country. This is a very positive development and we welcome it. At the moment, there is no UK wide agenda for an early start to language learning. Too few pupils leave secondary school with adequate language skills.
Secondary school pupils all too often lack motivation or direction.
While more pupils now learn a language to age 16 than ever before, few emerge at 16 with an adequate level of operational competence. Nine out of ten children stop learning a language at the age of 16. This is an area where we have fallen way behind our competitors in Europe and in many other parts of the world. Higher education is trying to run an ambitious 21st century programme for languages but is hamstrung by outdated funding and by uncoordinated provision. On the one hand, recruitment of students to specialise in languages is in decline.