Today’s GCSE results show another fall in the numbers taking languages.  The total number of students sitting a language GCSE this year was down by 4.1%.  This comes on top of a 2.9% decrease last year.

Dr Anne Davidson Lund, Director of Policy Research at CILT, the National Centre for Languages said: “We are very disappointed to see a continued decline in the take-up of GCSE languages.   There are energetic efforts in so many schools across England to motivate language learners but this is not showing yet in these exam results.  However, there are many excellent initiatives to support language teachers and students, which we hope will encourage more young people in future to continue with languages to university and beyond.”

French is down by 6.6% which represents 13,252 entries and German by 4.2% or 3,226 entries.  Numbers taking Spanish remained stable with only 22 fewer entries.  

However, despite the slight decrease in the most popular languages, experts say this does not reflect the full picture in schools across England. CILT’s 2008 Language Trends survey showed that a third of state schools have introduced innovations such as new courses and teaching approaches and as a result have seen improvements in pupils’ attitudes and in take-up of languages.  Language qualifications other than GCSE also continue to prove popular.

The numbers taking less common languages this year continued to rise, with the biggest increases being in the numbers taking Arabic, Chinese and Polish.

Dr. Anne Davidson Lund added: “The rise in the numbers taking these languages is encouraging as it indicates a growing awareness of the importance of languages in everyday life.  The world is getting smaller: and with UK businesses needing now more than ever to be internationally competitive, language skills are more valuable than ever before. It is vital for schools to get this message across to teenagers. Being able to use another language opens doors wherever you are.

“We urge schools to take advantage of the support available from organisations like CILT to help make languages really relevant for today’s teenagers so that in the coming years we can see a reverse in the decline of languages at GCSE.”