The British Council has launched a new campaign encouraging more schools to invest in overseas exchange trips.

It says that these excursions are essential in getting more youngsters to study languages and experience other cultures in their native environments.

Launched during International Education Week (November 17th-21st), the scheme is keen on bringing back exchange trips, which have dwindled in recent years.

Once a popular and well-invested part of school life, only 39 per cent of schools now still run so-called traditional schemes. These involve staying with a host family and studying at a local school.

Interestingly, 30 per cent of local authority maintained schools run exchange programmes, compared to 70 per cent of independent schools.

Only 27 per cent of secondary schools deliver other exchange trips that involve, for example, students staying in hotels.

Schools that used to run these programmes but no longer do cited concerns over safety and taking pupils out of term-time as the two main reasons for putting these schemes on hold.

"For many of us, that first school exchange trip was a real ‘light bulb moment’ that got us excited about learning a language and understanding another culture," said Vicky Gough, schools adviser at the British Council.

"It’s a shame that these exchanges have fallen victim to things like safety concerns – which can actually be easily remedied with the right steps. As we seek to tackle a national language crisis and a lack of international skills among young people entering the world of work, reviving school exchanges is vital – and we’ll do everything we can to help schools make this possible."

In other language-related news, a leading voice in education has called on subject specialists to be more creative in their teaching methods.

Bernice McCabe, headmistress of North London Collegiate School and director of the Prince's Teaching Institute, said language professionals need to look beyond "functional phrasebook competence".