Parents to be given the right to insist seven-year-olds are taught languages

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Mary Dejevsky: A British linguist is not a contradiction in terms

Every seven-year-old will have the right to learn a foreign language under a bold plan to improve the nation's linguistic skills to be unveiled by the Government today. The 10-year programme devised by the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, marks a dramatic shift in the way languages are taught in state schools.

Ministers have accepted many criticisms raised by the UK ambassadors of Germany, Spain and Italy, who complained of poor language teaching in an exclusive interview with The Independent yesterday.

About 200 places are to be reserved for French teachers on teacher-training courses next year, with the number of language places increasing until the pledge is met.

Ministers will, however, confirm plans to make languages optional after the age of 14 to allow pupils to take up vocational subjects and take up to two days a week off school to go on work experience.

The shift will be spelt out in a document published alongside the controversial Green Paper on the 14-to-19 curriculum this afternoon. Other proposals includecertificates for 16- and 18-year-olds to encourage them to mix and match academic and vocational qualifications and give employers a record of achievement.

The Green Paper will also introduce vocational GCSEs and A-levels in subjects such as manufacturing andtourism. Bright youngsters will be encouraged to take exams early, and a distinction award will be introduced at A-level to help universities to distinguish the cream of the applicants.

The document will admit that the present policy of introducing languages at 11 has been a mistake. Its foreword, leaked to The Independent, says: "There has been an assumption that because English is spoken in many parts of the world, there is no need for the English to progress in learning languages. It has led to a scale of national underperformance."

The decision to allow children to drop languages from the age of 14 was condemned yesterday by Graham Lane, the chairman of the Local Government Association's education committee. "It's like turning the clock back to the 19th century when Britain ruled the world."