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CILT response to A level results for languages

Figures released today (16/08/07) which show a halt in the decline in the number of students taking A levels in languages are to be welcomed as a sign that efforts to put across the value of language learning are starting to take effect. Increases in numbers sitting Spanish and German A levels are particularly encouraging. Figures on applications for university courses with languages are also up this year, with applications for German increasing by 20%.

But there is no complacency about these figures. It is recognised that much more still needs to be done to recover numbers lost to languages over the past ten years to redress the imbalance in gender and social class of this country's linguists, and above all to ensure that young people are properly prepared for the challenges of the workplace in an age of globalisation. The vast majority of today's teenagers will encounter speakers of other languages in their working lives and competence in another language will prepare them well for both the communication and the intercultural challenges they will face.

There is a severe shortage of specialist linguists with English as first language to cover our growing translating and interpreting requirements. The EU’s Interpreting Unit has called for urgent action to redress this shortage, which is impeding the work of international institutions and causing meetings to be cancelled.

We note the CBI 's suggestion that Science and Maths undergraduates should receive a 'golden carrot' and suggest that if this proposal is taken up, language courses should also qualify for this incentive, having been identified as 'strategically important and vulnerable'.

A vast amount of activity is already under way to increase take up of languages. In particular, HEFCE and the DCSF are funding the £8 million Routes into Languages programme, which is set to boost local, regional and national efforts to increase and widen participation in language learning from this September. The three-year project will support the national role of HE languages as a motor of economic and civic regeneration.

Isabella Moore
CEO
CILT, the National Centre for Languages

ENDS 

Notes

UCAS statistics: l atest news on 2007 applications as of 30 June 2007
Current UCAS data indicates that many languages are experiencing increases in first-degree UG applications this year (applications as of end June 2007 compared to end June 2006). This data is for single and major honours applications only.

In particular, Japanese applications are up by 41%, German applications up by 20%, and Modern Middle Eastern studies up 10%. This is compared with a 6% overall increase in applications across all subjects, compared to this time last year. For access to full statistics go to CILT's HE statistics pages.

 A level languages statistics

Total A2 level language entries for 16-18 year olds in schools and colleges across England have been falling over the past 10 years. Entries in French and German saw large decreases of 47% and 44% respectively from 1996 to 2005. The decrease was quite sharp at the end of the 1990’s and has been slowing down since 2002. A turnaround in the latest year 2006 saw the first increases for a decade of 2% and 5% respectively.

Spanish A2 level entries across England have not suffered in the same way. Entries have been slowly and tentatively rising, from a lower base, and an overall increase of 27% was seen in the past 10 years. Total Spanish entries (5,200) have now almost caught up with the total number of German entries (5,500), following the decrease in German.

We have also seen a proportionately large increase of 46% in A2 level entries for other languages (all languages other than French German and Spanish) from 1996 to 2006. This equates to an increase of about 1,500 and totals 5,000 entries across all the other languages available. For full details see CILT's secondary statistics pages