Education
Secretary Michael Gove will announce this week that children as young as five
will be expected to recite poetry, while there will also be a new focus on
spelling and grammar. Furthermore learning a foreign language will be
compulsory form the age of seven in England’s primary schools in an overhaul of
the national curriculum.
The
proposals come amid concerns over a decline in pupils taking foreign languages
at GCSE and the plans will be put out to public consultation later in the year,
ahead of a scheduled introduction in 2014.
In 2010,
43% of GCSE pupils were entered for a language, down from a peak of 75% in
2002.
The last
Labour government ended compulsory language study for children after the age of
14 in 2004.
Under Mr
Gove's plans, primary schools could offer lessons in Mandarin, Latin and Greek,
as well as French, German and Spanish.
There will
be debate around what is appropriate at different ages”
The
Department for Education said that where English teaching was concerned, the
aim was to ensure that pupils left primary school with high standards of
literacy.
'More rigorous'
However,
Michael Rosen, the children's writer and poet, expressed doubt about what he
called "government diktat".
The Department for Education said Mr Gove was determined
to make English teaching at primary schools "more rigorous" and was
publishing the draft programme of study now for informal consultation.
A spokesman
said: "Some will think aspects are too demanding, others that they are not
demanding enough, and there will be debate around what is appropriate at
different ages."
He added
that public opinion would be considered and the programme redrafted before
being put out to formal consultation later this year.
In May, a
study commissioned by the Scottish government said children in Scotland should
begin learning a second language as soon as they started school at the age of
five.
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