Clarke launches plan to make languages compulsory in primary schools

Language learning in primary schools could be compulsory within four to five years under a government plan announced by the Secretary of State for Education yesterday.

Charles Clarke was speaking at the launch of a blueprint aimed at giving every seven-year-old the right to learn a language at school, by the end of the decade.

The move would bring Britain in line with the rest of Europe and pave the way for up to 2.4 million primary schoolchildren to start learning languages. But it also signalled the Government's desire to make the learning of languages voluntary for those aged 14 to 16, a move criticised by headteachers' leaders, who said it would send a message to pupils that language learning was "not that important".

Under the £10m-a-year plan, the Government will start to recruit up to 460 primary language teachers a year from 2003. They will be eligible for £4,000 "golden hellos" as teachers of subjects in which there are staff shortages and will be backed by an army of class-room assistants from foreign countries, adults who can speak languages or are involved with businesses or undergraduates learning languages at university.

Mr Clarke said these teachers would be given a short training course before entering the classroom under the supervision of a trained teacher.

A new system of qualifications will be introduced to give pupils and adults grades showing what they can achieve. Mr Clarke likened the system, which will run alongside traditional A-levels and GCSEs, to music grades and the cycling proficiency test.

He rejected suggestions that the blueprint should have introduced immediate compulsory language classes for primary school pupils, saying existing provision was "so far behind" it would be unworkable.

"I could imagine getting into compulsion at some stage," he said. "I could imagine if we're four or five years down the line of the strategy and we find some schools or groups standing out against foreign language learning, we could do that at that time."

He also defended the decision to allow youngsters to drop languages at 14, saying there was evidence that the subject had "alienated" them from the school curriculum.

The strategy was welcomed by most teachers' leaders. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "At last we have a radical plan that stands a chance of cracking the age-old English problem of teaching language skills."

But some queried whether teaching standards would be diluted by bringing in so many unqualified adults.

Gwen Evans, the deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Putting minimally trained native speakers into primary classes will do no one any favours.Children will get the message that languages are some kind of add-on."

And she described the plan to allow pupils to drop languages at 14 as "a disaster area in the making". Ms Evans said: "We need the Government to grasp this nettle now if Britain's young workers are to be able to compete with their peers in the rest of the European community."

* Mr Clarke opened the door for universities to be allowed to charge top-up fees yesterday. Speaking in London, the Education Secretary said: "I think there is a case for variable fees." His comments came as it was revealed that Downing Street was considering whether to cap university fees at about £4,000 a year – but allow them to introduce some level of discretion into charges.