Commneting on the results of a YouGob survey to mark the launch of The Languages Gateway, which reveals public support for compulsory teaching of foreign languages in primary and secondary schools, James Bowen, assistant general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “There are huge and obvious benefits to learning a foreign language and there is some excellent language teaching in both primary and secondary schools.

“However, there is also a fundamental problem, namely the significant lack of foreign language teachers. The government’s own figures suggest that it is currently only on track to recruit around one third of the language teachers that are required. It is a crisis that needs addressing urgently if more pupils are to learn a language.”