To give non-English-speaking children a leg-up, the government agreed last year that all pupils should be taught in their mother tongue for at least the first three years of primary school.

ECONOMIST: English is dangerously dominant

Many of the black elite, who send their children to English-speaking private schools or former white state schools, may accept English emerging as the sole national language.

ECONOMIST: English is dangerously dominant

Meanwhile, pupils from eight Scottish schools joined with the charities Oxfam, Save the Children and the English Speaking Union to raise concern that 72 million people across the world had no access to education, in a special debate at the Scottish Parliament.

BBC: Scottish exams shake-up announced

But while the labor force may absorb Spanish-only employees, an emerging debate among policy makers asks whether their children face additional challenges in English-speaking schools.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS