The purpose of the study was to investigate the changes that have taken place in the administration of languages in NSW government secondary schools since the Whyndham Scheme was introduced in 1962. A qualitative approach was adopted and the writer's direct involvement in the teaching of languages was used to provide a conceptual framework for the study. It was found that educators in NSW were often of the opinion that there was no policy for languages. Thus, certain aspects of historical research methods had to be adopted to find the reason for practices pertaining to languages. It was also found that there were many approaches to policy analysis. This thesis generally analysed policy content, as outlined by Hogwood and Gunn (1986). In addition, the term 'policy' itself presented an area of ambiguity. Hodgkinson's (1981) model of administrative process proved increasingly useful to interpret and explain the practices relating to languages. The study also examined the policies for languages in the other states of Australia and overseas. This revealed that similar trends had occurred in languages policies throughout the western world. Policy formulation in the 1980s was directed at providing explicit policies that would encourage more pupils to study languages for longer in the secondary school.