Speeches

Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students in English state schools took at least one GCSE in a foreign language at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2014-15; and whether her Department made an estimate of the number of students expected to take at least one GCSE in a foreign language under the planned 90 per cent English Baccalaureate target.

Nick Gibb

The number and percentage of pupils in English state-funded schools who were entered for a foreign language GCSE in the 2014/15 academic year is published as part of the key stage 4 school performance tables.[1]

To enter the EBacc, pupils must enter an approved qualification at key stage 4 in either an ancient or a modern foreign language. This means that when 90% of pupils are taking the EBacc, at least 90% of pupils will enter at least one language qualification.

[1] https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/download-data?currentstep=datatypes&regiontype=all&la=0&downloadYear=2014-2015&datatypes=ks4