7. Will the Minister make a statement on the teaching of foreign languages in Welsh schools? OAQ53533

We have invested over £2.5 million in our Global Futures plan, to enable learners to understand the importance of languages and the life-changing opportunities that they provide. I am aware of the challenges, and that is why, under Wales's new curriculum, learners will experience languages from an earlier age.

Thank you very much, Minister, for that. According to a BBC survey, Wales has seen a bigger decline in pupils learning foreign languages than in any other part of the United Kingdom. In the last five years, language GCSE entries in Wales fell by 29 per cent, compared to an 11 per cent drop in England, a 12 per cent drop in Northern Ireland and a 19 per cent fall in Scotland. The survey also found that more than a third of schools had dropped one or more languages at GCSE in the last five years. One of the reasons given by teachers for this decline is that the Welsh baccalaureate has added constraint to the school timetable so that foreign languages are squeezed out. Minister, what action will you take to reverse the serious decline in modern languages teaching in our Welsh schools?

The first thing to say is that those students who do take GCSEs in modern foreign languages and A-levels in modern foreign languages perform excellently, with really, really high pass rates at the very highest levels. Many of our MFL teachers have been recognised for their excellence.

It is true to say, though, that we have seen a decline in those students who are taking a GCSE. What the BBC report also went on to say was that it's not the fault of the Welsh bac; it is also because, they reported, that children are spending extra time in English, maths and science lessons and it's also because of a perception that passing a modern foreign language is a really tough thing to do and children are under the misconception that it is a hard GCSE to take. That's why we are taking the steps that we are to support our modern foreign language mentoring scheme, new digital resources for digital language learning on Hwb, as well as the transformative approach to the new curriculum, where children will be exposed to modern foreign languages in their primary career and they can begin to develop that love of language learning before they get to secondary school. And I'm sure you'd agree with me that that is an innovative approach to tackling what is indeed a challenging situation.