Foreign language teaching doubles in primary schools, say figures

The teaching of languages in England's primary schools has almost doubled, according to new figures.

Out today, the statistics reveal that the number of schools teaching a second language to children early on in their school life has risen from 44 per cent in 2002, to 84 per cent this year.

This comes a year after the government adopted recommendations from the Dearing Report that said all primary school children should be learning a foreign language by 2010.

Minister for schools Jim Knight said the "excellent news" indicated that Labour's target is very close to being met.

He added that in the coming years more teachers will be trained with a language specialism, adding to the 4,000 that have already undergone training.

A fall in the number of students taking a foreign language at GCSEs after it became optional has led to Cambridge University dropping its requirement for prospective students to hold this qualification.