Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Pupils to Learn a Language in GCSE Shake-up

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Foreign languages will be made virtually compulsory up to the age of 16 under an overhaul of the education system being announced today.

A shake-up of league tables used to rate schools will force growing numbers of teenagers to take GCSEs in subjects such as French, German and Spanish.

The Coalition said the move would counter the "catastrophic decline" of languages witnessed under Labour following the decision to make them optional at 14.

Ministers say the reforms will also promote the study of other traditional subjects such as history, geography and science, which have fallen in popularity over the past 13 years. >>> Andrew Porter, Robert Winnett and Graeme Paton | Wednesday, November 24, 2010