Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster students’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable students to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping students to study and work in other countries.

Through studying a GCSE in a modern foreign language, students should develop their ability and ambition to communicate in speech and writing with speakers of the language for authentic purposes and about subjects which are meaningful and interesting to them. The study of a modern foreign language at GCSE should also broaden students’ horizons, encourage them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world.