The black farce continues. Charles Clarke, Education Secretary, enthuses about international links (TES, November 12), yet during his brief tenure the teaching of modern foreign languages has suffered a catastrophic implosion which will need years to repair. Yes, there are opportunities for exciting languages in secondary schools: I have colleagues competent in Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Russian, for example. But what happens when those individuals move on? Yes, there are examples of excellent language teaching at primary level: but to imagine that such excellence can be rolled out across the board is just loopy.

The Go Global campaign smacks of those spurious “French studies” courses, conducted entirely in English, with which “low achievers” were fobbed off in the 70s. In place of the production of pate de foie gras we have the production of sports shoes. Is that internationalism or is that PSHE?

Philip D Delnon 79 Broomfield Road Swanscombe, Kent