Plans to overhaul the way languages are taught in NSW schools will see all primary school students being exposed to at least one language before they start high school, according to a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Despite more than 30 languages on offer in the state’s schools, less than 10 percent of students enrolled in the HSC studied one last year. Under the proposed plan, primary school teachers who are bilingual will be retrained as language teachers and schools will be encouranged to collaborate with community language providers to not only increase this number but to also meet the needs of the more than a quarter million students who speak a second language at home.

And the fact that the federal government wants 40% of year 12 students to be studying a language within the next 10 years, means that New South Wales is not alone in wanting to dramatically boost the interest in languages.