British Council response to All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages ‘Brexit and Languages: A checklist for Government negotiators and officials’
Mark Herbert, Head of Schools Programmes at the British Council, said: “Language skills matter to the UK now more than ever so we need to ensure that opportunities for our young people to acquire these vital skills are maintained.
“Learning a language isn’t just a rewarding way to connect with another culture but boosts individual job prospects as well as business and trade opportunities for the UK. It would be a huge loss for the country if future generations were denied the chance to take part in schemes such as Erasmus+ and Language Assistants which help them to live and work with their counterparts around the globe, learning a language in the process.”
For more information, please contact Kristen McNicoll in the British Council Press Office on 0207 389 4967 or kristen.mcnicoll@britishcouncil.org
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications.
Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the UK government.