Team says Welsh schools need to push languages more

Watchdog Estyn has concluded more needs to be done to stimulate the learning of foreign languages.

Estyn's chief inspector Dr Bill Maxwell exlained that there is evidence of "good practice" in Welsh secondary schools but went on to recommend further efforts be made.

"[However], more needs to be done at all levels to encourage both boys and girls to study a modern foreign language," he noted.

A report by a separate authority, the exam board Cambridge Assessment, has revealed that not as many high achieving students have been sitting languages exams.

In 2008, six per cent fewer of UK's brightest pupils opted to take GCSEs in languages, which the exam board claims was because they are now optional subjects.

The Welsh regulator also recently published its review of race equality policies and found that most schools were making an effort to better understand cultural diversity.

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