Education Secretary guarantees the future of modern languages

Following the campaign led by Nick de Bois, Nicky Morgan has written to exam boards guaranteeing the future of ‘lesser taught language’ qualifications and committed to an immediate consultation if exam officials press ahead with plans to drop languages including Polish, Turkish, Gujarati, Bengali and Panjabi.

Conservative Candidate for Enfield North, Nick de Bois, has led the fight to save the GCSE and A Level examinations. He has been calling on exam officials to reverse the decision, previously securing a parliamentary debate on the issue, and has now gained the Education Secretary’s direct support. Instead of taking action, Labour figures have attempted to distort this issue for political gain.

Nick said, “The proposals to stop awarding GCSE and A Level by the exam bodies is short sighted and wrong – I am pleased the Education Secretary has backed our campaign and intervened with her full support to ensure the survival of the qualifications. In my follow-up meetings with exam boards I will be absolutely clear: change your plans and work with exams regulator Ofqual to secure the future of these qualifications, or the next Conservative Government will take action.”

Nicky Morgan wrote to the exam boards saying, “I am therefore calling on you to work with the regulator to secure the future of these qualifications and reverse your decision to cancel them. At the same time, I am making a clear commitment that the next Conservative Government will guarantee the future of GCSEs and A-levels in subjects like Polish, Gujarati, Panjabi, Bengali and Turkish. As such, if there is no further action from the exam boards and Ofqual on this matter, we intend to launch an immediate consultation, within the first month of a new Government, on how best to secure the future of these qualifications.”