Why Languages Matter, Improving Young People’s Opportunities

That the Parliament agrees that, in today’s globalised world, learning other languages is more important than ever and that it is in Scotland’s economic and cultural interests that young Scots are able to speak other languages; notes the report of the Languages Working Group and its recommendation that children should learn another language from primary 1; supports the Scottish Government’s far-sighted and ambitious aim to enable all young people to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue during their time at school, and welcomes the Scottish Government’s plans for a pilot project programme for 2012-13 to demonstrate how the aims of the 1+2 Barcelona model of language learning can be turned into a reality in Scotland over the course of two parliamentary sessions.