Children in UK primary schools will have greater opportunity to learn a foreign language from an early age if the scheme takes off. The proposal picks up on one of the recommendations in the Nuffield Languages Report, that "the government should declare a firm commitment to early language learning for all children and invest in the long-term policies necessary for pupils to learn a new language from age 7".
 
Labour's election manifesto identified the expansion of language teaching in primary schools as one of its priorities for the new Parliament. Although there are no plans to add a language to the national curriculum below the age of 11, ministers want to provide opportunities in the three quarters of primaries where there is no provision at present. Some doubts have been raised as to how schools will be able to find suitably qualified teachers to deliver languages in the primary curriculum. However, the German Ambassador has promised assistance through teacher exchanges and the help of specialist language advisors. Meanwhile, it is thought that an existing exchange scheme between France and England could be extended and the model adopted with Spain.
 
The Ambassadors' plan is to ask 20 of the specialist language colleges to develop a curriculum in their local primary schools in an initial pilot project which, if successful, would be expanded next year. There are more than 100 language colleges who could participate in a second phase. All three embassies will attend a meeting at the Department for Education and Skills, along with representatives of the 20 pilot schools. If the government approves the scheme, it will be their first major initiative in the European Year of Languages.
 
The German Ambassador to London, Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz said: "This could be the beginning of a very promising partnership to give our kids a flying start in a more and more globalised jobs market. But it is not purely utilitarian: we believe that languages are an essential part of a rounded education."
 
Professor Michael Kelly, a member of the original Nuffield Languages Inquiry and now on the Languages Programme steering group, was very supportive of this initiative. Speaking at the French Ambassador's Residence on 13 July, on the occasion of the Fête Nationale celebrations, he expressed concern at the increasing number of university language departments which are now under threat of closure and was glad to see that the Inquiry's recommendations were slowly beginning to bear fruit.