There was cross-party reaction to the news that Turkish is to be dropped as a GCSE and A Level subject from 2017
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Nick de Bois
Conservative, Enfield North
“The decision to drop GCSE and A Level is baffling not least because the number of candidates achieving A Level (A-E) is higher than courses the exam body are keeping, namely German and Spanish.
“It’s a very short sighted decision that limits the ambition not just of the Turkish-origin community but all Britons with ambition to learn an important language. What the exam body should actually be doing is pro-actively seeking to grow the appeal of Turkish as a foreign language to a sustainable level.
“The case for learning Turkish is simple: Turkey is one of the identified growing economies in the world, and we will need fluent, well educated people to build our relationship with Turkey, to do business with Turkey and our exam bodies should understand that and invest in the future by keeping and growing this course not cutting it back.
“I have today (Tuesday) tabled parliamentary questions to the Department for Education and the Business Innovation and Skills department to urge them to address this matter as soon as possible.”
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Lynne Featherstone
Liberal Democrat, Hornsey and Wood Green
“The campaign to retain Turkish A Levels and GCSEs has my full support. It’s important that these options are open to all students who wish to develop their Turkish language skills.
“I will help the community make the case to keep the GCSE and A level courses by contacting OCR, and also raising the matter with ministers in the Department for Education.”
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Andy Love
Labour, Edmonton
“It seems an unusual move by the OCR to drop Turkish GCSE and A-levels when numbers show that the A-level, in particular, appears to have a better take up than Spanish or German, which will not be dropped.
“I would imagine that the qualification’s popularity will actually grow, given the numbers of second-generation Turkish-speakers in Edmonton and across London, and I’ll be writing to the OCR to seek a reversal of the decision.”
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