Nick Gibb, the schools minister
Turkish GCSE and A level exams will run until at least 2018 as the government consults on the qualifications’ future.
The future of the qualifications had been in doubt ever since the OCR scrapped Turkish in February in response to government reforms, saying there was “low demand” for the subject.
The exams were due to be abolished in 2017, but the schools minister Nick Gibb announced last week that it would extend its timetable by a year to give exam boards more time to reform language exams like Turkish.
“All pupils should have the opportunity to study foreign languages as part of a core academic curriculum that prepares them for life in modern Britain. This should extend to community languages,” he said.
“There are some community languages which exam boards have said they need to discontinue at GCSE or A level, which is why we are now taking action and working with them and Ofqual to determine how these qualifications can continue.
“In an outward-facing country such as Britain, it is important that we have high-quality qualifications not just in French, German and Spanish but also in languages such as Polish, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati and Turkish.”
Although no permanent deal is in place, the OCR examination board has committed to working with the government to secure Turkish’s future as a GCSE and A level subject.
The announcement came after Britain’s two main political parties clashed over whether the Conservatives would keep its election pledge to retain the exams. .
Joan Ryan, the Labour MP for Enfield North, had said she had asked Education Secretary Nicky Morgan about the steps she would take to “end the uncertainty” but that these had not been addressed.
But the Conservative member for neighbouring Enfield Southgate, David Burrowes, insisted the promise to secure Turkish exams was being kept and said it was “time for politicians to stop playing party politics with modern languages”.