UK Labour Party Warns that Important Modern Languages Could be Lost

There is a decline in the number of students taking foreign language classes and UK’s Labour Party is alarmed that some of the modern languages that are vital to the economic future of the country could be lost.

This warning came in the wake of the announcement released by exam boards to drop Turkish and Portuguese qualifications. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary said that ministers should take immediate action so that these languages are not removed from school curriculum. The boards are not prevented from developing qualifications in any chosen language, according to the new government reforms.

Changes in the A-levels and GCSEs

The Labour Party said that the loss of qualifications in languages that are lesser-studied follows the reforms recommended by the government. The party focused on the recent announcements by AQA and OCR, two exam boards, where they listed the subjects to be offered at the GCSE and A-level, as well as those subjects that would be discontinued. Bengali, Modern Hebrew, Punjabi and Polish will be dropped by AQA. Dutch, Gujarati, Persian, Portuguese and Turkish would be removed from their list, according to OCR.

Mr. Hunt said the reforms instituted by the government proved chaotic to the country’s education system because the changes were made based on a political timetable. Effectively, it would also affect the entire school curriculum that is very much in need of reforms to prepare students for a global economic future.

The shadow education secretary also said that in this particular time the country needs to harness their soft power and entrepreneurial capital in the new emerging economies. But the actions of the government meant that fewer members of the younger generation would be able to take their A-levels in the aforementioned languages. He is urging Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary to take immediate action before the Parliament closes for the election campaign period.

Recognized need for language fluency

The Labour Party said that Nick Gibb, the education minister already agreed that for the future economic growth of the UK, fluency in various languages is important. He also noted that as many as 65 percent of businesses place a high value on language skills. The minister also recognized the fact that many UK companies demand more staff who are fluent in Turkish, Polish, Arabic and Mandarin, but also pointed out, as an example, that the Turkish GCSE and A-level takers have very low numbers.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Education revealed that there were already encouraging signs that the numbers will rise. She said that after the Ebacc league table measure introduction, there are more students taking the GCSEs, wherein a modern foreign language is included. She added that they would be raising their concerns regarding the non-traditional languages and request them to reconsider.

The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, Russell Hobby, concurred that it was short-sighted of the authorities to remove those lesser-studied languages. As an example, he said that should Turkey be a major export market in the near future, then the country will bemoan the loss of skills in the Turkish language, which would be very costly to replace.

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