Beckham 'may boost Spanish learning'

Minister hopes Beckham - seen here in Tokyo - will pull in the crowds

An education minister hopes David Beckham's decision to learn Spanish will encourage children in England to do the same.

The Schools Minister, Stephen Twigg, said Spain was England's number one tourist destination and Spanish was the second most important European language for business.

But few teenagers study the language in school and the government has made the pursuit of any foreign language optional at GCSE level.

Instead it wants to expand foreign language teaching in primary schools, hoping this will children an early enthusiasm for the subject.

Mr Twigg thinks David Beckham's move to Spain to play for Real Madrid could help.

'Cool'

He told the Professional Association of Teachers annual conference in Harrogate that three quarters of GCSE students took a foreign language last year but only 8% studied Spanish.

The government wanted to see that proportion increase.

As Spain was the most-visited foreign country, it was a good idea to expand Anglo-Spanish links.

"That is going to be a little easier now that David Beckham has gone to Spain and announced that he is going to learn Spanish.

"He will be a very useful representative to young people about how it can be cool to learn Spanish."

In last year's GCSE exams there were 338,468 entries for French and 126,216 for German - but only 57,983 for Spanish.

Even some otherwise very good schools do not offer the subject.

Breakdown

Mr Twigg said the numbers of pupils following the three most-studied European languages varied widely in different parts of England.

The Department for Education and Skills will publish a breakdown of the national figures by local education authority area on Friday, he said.

Language specialists criticised the government's decision to make languages optional beyond the age of 14.

The government said it was simply bowing to the inevitable - with fewer and fewer teenagers choosing to study a foreign language.

Instead it says that by 2010, every primary pupil should have the chance to learn another language from the age of seven if they want to.

It is not clear that there will be enough qualified teachers.

"Stephen Twigg bends it more than Beckham," observed his Conservative shadow, Graham Brady.

He said it was remarkable that Mr Twigg had suddenly woken up to the issue of foreign languages.

"The government has yet to make any progress towards its pledge of providing language teaching in all primary schools, and it should certainly not rely on footballers to lead, when the government is yet to deliver."