Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:37 pm on 2 March 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 2:37, 2 March 2022

Well, I would dispute the impression that the question gives, I'm afraid, which is that this is a Wales-specific challenge. That doesn't make it any less of a challenge in Wales, but it does tell us something about the nature of the challenge, which is that there's a picture of a general decline, actually, in modern foreign languages right across the UK. So, I think it's an unhappy situation that all four parts of the UK have to wrestle with. I do think that the work that partners through the Global Futures programme have been doing has—. The focus of that has been to promote and to raise the profile of modern foreign languages in schools in Wales generally. We are working with Estyn, with the regional consortia, with universities, with Qualifications Wales, and, in that mix, there's a wealth of experience and resources in addition to support our schools in Wales. But I think one of the key opportunities for us, as we bring forward the new curriculum, and the reform to our qualifications, is to widen the choice available to our learners, and I think that extra flexibility we anticipate will help us in this challenge as well.