To ask the Minister of Education to detail his Department’s approach to promoting French, German and Spanish in (i) primary; and (ii) post-primary education.

Modern languages are not a statutory part of the curriculum at primary level here and it is a matter for primary schools to decide whether they wish to teach an additional language.

In order to protect frontline services and the Aggregated Schools Budget, it has been decided that the earmarked funding for the Primary Modern Languages Programme (PMLP), which provided tuition in Spanish, Irish and Polish, will cease with effect from 31 March 2015.

My Department is aware that many primary schools provide language tuition, including French, German and Spanish, outside of the PMLP and I hope that schools can continue to do so.

Modern languages are a statutory requirement at Key Stage 3 and a qualification choice at Key Stage 4 and Sixth form. Schools are now able to choose any of the languages of the 27 EU member states to meet the minimum requirement, as well as any other additional languages they wish. I am aware that French, Spanish and to a lesser extent German are some of the most popular languages chosen by students.