English Baccalaureate brings languages bouncing back

French, German and Spanish GCSE entries soar after years of decline
22 August 2013

The number of pupils taking language GCSEs has soared after the introduction of the English Baccalaureate.

Today’s exam results reveal a dramatic increase in those taking traditional languages such as French, German and Spanish, after years of decline. Spanish GCSE entries were up by a quarter, while French rose by 15.5 per cent and German by 9.4 per cent.

Exam chiefs cautiously welcomed the news but added they are still concerned about the future of language studies in the UK. Exam boards launched an urgent inquiry after last week’s A-level results, which showed a dramatic fall in numbers taking languages.

Entries for French A-level fell 10 per cent, while German entries were down by 11 per cent.

Experts said today’s GCSE results show the impact of the English Baccalaureate, which recognises pupils who take five academic subjects including a modern foreign language.

It was introduced in 2010 and this is the first year that pupils’ choice of subjects is reflected in the results.

The numbers taking geography and history — also included in the English Baccalaureate — are up too, by 19.2 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, religious studies, which teachers feared would collapse after the subject was not included in the EBacc, also gained in popularity, by about 10 per cent.

Andrew Hall of the AQA exam board said his concern over languages’ decline has not gone away, but he added: “You can see the EBacc effect. This is the first time we have had an increase like this for a while. It is encouraging. But it remains to be seen whether it follows through to A-level.”

He pointed out that despite the increase in numbers taking languages, the results dipped slightly and warned that only 44 per cent of 16 year-olds study a language. “We have a long way to go,” he said.

Education minister Elizabeth Truss said: “Today’s results show that the EBacc has not just arrested the decline in the study of academic subjects at GCSE — it is reversing it.

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“It is very pleasing to see the increase in these important subjects, the ones that will keep pupils’ options open in the future. I am particularly delighted to see a languages revival, with an increase in the number of entries to French, German and Spanish GCSEs after years of decline.”

Today’s results also reveal that fewer pupils are now taking GCSEs in business and communication systems, home economics and media, film and TV studies. There has been a rise in the number of students taking non-traditional languages such as Urdu and Polish. It is believed this is due to teenagers being urged to take exams in their mother tongue in order to meet the EBacc requirements.

While traditional languages rose 16.9 per cent overall, other modern language entries were up 5.1 per cent. The most popular “other languages” are Italian, with 5,136 entries, Urdu with 4,519 and Polish with 3,933. More than 3,000 students took Arabic GCSE and about the same number took Chinese.

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