The government announced its National Languages Strategy today. The proposals outlined by the education secretary, Charles Clarke, include plans to extend the opportunity for primary school children to learn a foreign language.

The government is also aiming to recruit adults with language skills but with no formal teaching qualifications, to teach foreign languages in primary schools.

Forum Response: Association of Teachers Lecturers

Gwen Evans, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said: "The government's proposal to put minimally trained native speakers into primary classes will do no one any favours. Children will get the message that languages are some kind of add on and the luckless adults will be stuck in a career cul-de-sac with no prospect of promotion.

"Promises and possibilities for primary pupils apart, key stage 4 and onwards must still be seen as a disaster area in the making. We need the government to grasp this nettle now if Britain's young workers are to be able to compete with their peers in the rest of the European Community.

Forum Response: Professional Association of Teachers

PAT Senior Professional Officer Alison Johnston said: "This country has a poor reputation for success in modern languages, and one reason for this is that, for most pupils, language teaching starts too late. We need to take steps to rectify this. Children who are exposed to an additional language at primary school are less self-conscious than adolescents about trying to speak it, and those who succeed at, and enjoy, languages will continue with them throughout their secondary education. We are therefore in favour of specialist teaching of modern languages in primary schools, but have been concerned for some time that there are not enough appropriately trained teachers available to teach modern foreign languages at either primary or secondary level.

"Trained and accredited foreign language assistants should be able to play a significant role in primary schools in support of teachers. We recommend the implementation of a national policy on the use of language assistantsbetween schools.

"We should like to see high quality induction courses made available to assistants to familiarise them with the British system of education.

"There are clearly cost implications in the employment of language assistants. National funding provision should be available for the co-ordination of this initiative by schools and LEAs."