There has been a steep drop in the number of pupils taking language GCSEs
(Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)The number of teenagers taking a GCSE language is so low that it is threatening the Government’s flagship English baccalaureate qualification, an education expert has warned.
The “Ebacc” recognises pupils who take a particular range of academic GCSE subjects including a language.
But provisional figures show the number of pupils taking language GCSE this year have either dropped or are not improving fast enough, knocking tens of thousands of students out of the running for the EBacc.
Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said that apart from Spanish, which is bucking the trend, the number of people taking languages is “paltry”. Only 40 per cent of secondary school pupils are studying a foreign language and “there is no sign” that is ever going to get better, he said.
Latest figures show just 36,000 teenagers in England took German GCSE this year, down from more than 37,000 last year.
There were just over 126,000 French GCSE entries this summer, which is a 0.4 per cent increase compared with last year, but still a huge decline compared with around 20 years ago when more than 340,000 people would regularly take the subject. In comparison, almost 750,000 students took maths GCSE this year.
The steep drop in the number of people taking language GCSEs started in 2004 when language GCSEs stopped being compulsory.
Professor Smithers said: “The reluctance of young people to study a foreign language has dashed the Government’s attempt to create a core key stage 4 curriculum of five subjects through the English baccalaureate. It set an ambitious target of 90 per cent of maintained secondary school pupils to be taking it by 2025, but so far it has got no higher than 40 per cent.”
He added: “Apart from Spanish, entries for the languages fell at A-level and provisional entries for GCSEs in England suggest there is no great revival of interest at this level either. I think EBacc is done for and will be quietly phased out.”
He predicted that Attainment 8, a different way of comparing the performance of schools, will be used instead of the EBacc because it allows for a wider range of subjects and does not depend on taking a language.
Overall top grades awarded to this year’s GCSE students are expected to fall following the return to exams after two years of teacher assessment.
Professor Smithers predicted there will be a slight narrowing of the girls’ lead over boys when results are released on Thursday. It comes after the biggest ever drop in top A-level grades last week. But results were still higher than in 2019, the last year exams were taken.
