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Less GCSE students choosing foreign languages

Posted on 1st July 2009

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Fewer state and private school pupils are choosing to study foreign languages at GCSE level, according to a study.

Some 47 per cent of students took an exam on the subjects in 2007, the lowest figure since the inauguration of the National Curriculum, Cambridge Assessment research found.

This compares with 1984 when 94 per cent of learners in the highest achievement group chose at least one modern tongue for their GCSEs.

Commenting on the data, senior research officer at the organisation Carmen L Vidal Rodeiro said it was "not totally unforeseen".

"If students are not exposed to and have no prior knowledge of languages at KS3, how can we expect them to make an informed choice at GCSE?"
Her colleague Bene't Steinberg added: "You wouldn't buy an ice cream maker if you'd never tried ice cream."

It was also discovered that Spanish is set to overtake German as the second most popular option after French.

Earlier this year the higher education funding council for England announced it was to launch a review of modern languages provisions. ADNFCR-921-ID-19246179-ADNFCR