Languages in secondary education

England: 46% of all school pupils in England were taking at least one language at GCSE in summer 2007, a total of 301,600 pupils. This includes both maintained and independent schools.

The proportion of all pupils taking languages at GCSE has been decreasing dramatically in recent years. 78% of all pupils were taking a language in 2001, 68% in 2004, 59% in 2005, 51% in 2006 and then the recent drop to 46% in 2007.

By language the trends have been as follows:

• French: 53% of all pupils took French at GCSE in 2001 which dropped to 29% in 2007 (189,400 pupils).
• German: 22% of all pupils took French at GCSE in 2001 which dropped to 12% in 2007 (75,700 pupils).
• Spanish: Spanish has remained fairly constant with 8% of all pupils taking Spanish in 2001 and in 2007 (53,700 pupils).

To explore this data by local authority see Q3 below.

Wales: The proportion of 15 year olds entering at least one language GCSE in Wales has fallen from 46 per cent in 1996 to 30 per cent in 2006. (Modern Foreign Languages in Schools, 2007 due out for Wales in August 2008)

Data sources:

GCSE language entries trend analysis, 1994 - 2007, all schools in England (CILT analysis of DCSF data)

GCSE and Equivalent Results in England 2006/07 (Revised), DCSF Statistical First Release, January 2008.

Modern foreign languages in schools in Wales, 1996 to 2006, Statistical Directorate, Welsh Assembly Government (Modern Foreign Languages in Schools, 2007 due out in August 2008)

There are 2 sources of exam entry data. Data covering school pupils in KS4 only which is released by the DCSF annually in October and data covering all candidates which is released by the JCQ immediately as the results come out in August. Both of these sources can be accessed below.

Key Stage 4 pupil data

School entries in England:

• GCSE language entries trend analysis, 1994 to 2007, schools in England (CILT analysis of DCSF data)
• Regional trends in GCSE entries and passes 2001 to 2006 for all languages, schools in England (DCSF data)

School entries in Wales:

• Modern foreign languages in schools in Wales, 1996 to 2006, Statistical Directorate, Welsh Assembly Government. (Modern Foreign Languages in Schools, 2007 due out in November 2008.)

All data (schools, colleges and adult entries in England, Wales & Northern Ireland):

• National trends in GCSE entries 1995 to 2008, across all languages, all candidates, including school, college and adult entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Joint Council for Qualifications, JCQ, data).
• Separate data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be accessed in the downloadable pdf documents on the JCQ website at http://www.jcq.org.uk/national_results/

Scotland:

• Standard Grade entries in Scotland 1999 to 2008 (Scottish Qualifications Authority data, all entries, available from Scottish CILT)

England:

The following summary analysis table shows the proportion of pupils taking a language at GCSE by region and local authority over the past 4 years from 2002-3 to 2005-6. This is for maintained schools in England only:

• GCSE language take up by Local Authority 2003 to 2007, maintained schools in England (DCSF data)

Further tables below provide a closer look at the actual numbers and proportions of pupils taking French, German, Spanish, Italian and other languages in each local authority:

• GCSE languages take-up by local authority, 2006-7
• GCSE languages take-up by local authority, 2005-6
• GCSE languages take-up by local authority, 2004-5
• GCSE languages take-up by local authority, 2003-4
• GCSE languages take-up by local authority, 2002-3

Note: Local Authority data for the latest summer 2007 exams are expected to be released by the DCSF in January 2008.

GCSE entry data broken down for all languages by region can be downloaded below. This includes maintained and independent schools in England:

• Regional trends in GCSE entries and passes 2001 to 2006 for all languages, all schools in England (DCSF data)

Wales:

Comparative proportions of entries and achievements for 15 year olds entering at least one language GCSE by LEA in Wales for 2006 can be found at the link below (see page 6, table 5):

• Modern foreign languages in schools in Wales, 1996 to 2006, Statistical Directorate, Welsh Assembly Government

In England 67% of entries across all languages acheived a graded A*-C in summer 2007. This was 71% for girls compared to 61% for boys.

By language the trends have been as follows:

• French: 66% got A*-C grades (71% for girls, 61% for boys).
• German: 71% got A*-C grades (75% for girls, 66% for boys).
• Spanish: 69% got A*-C grades (73% for girls, 64% for boys).
• Italian: 83% got A*-C grades (84% for girls, 81% for boys).
• Other languages: 80% got A*-C grades (83% for girls, 76% for boys)

To compare acheivement data with other curriculum subjects, see the source link below. Table 11 gives the overall proportions as a % of all pupils and Table 12 gives the proportions as a % of pupils attempting each subject only.

To explore acheivement data by local authority see Q3 above.

Data sources:

Additional excel tables in GCSE and Equivalent Results in England 2006/07 (Revised), see Table 12. DCSF Statistical First Release, January 2008.

Data for comparison with previous years can be accessed at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/catego.shtml#m1_2_4

There are 2 sources of exam entry data. Data covering 16-18 year old school and college students only which is released by the DCSF annually in October and data covering all candidates which is released by the JCQ immediately as the results come out in August. Both of these sources can be accessed below.

16 - 18 year old data

Schools and colleges in England:

• AS and A2 level language entries trend analysis 1996 to 2007, schools and colleges in England (CILT analysis of DCSF data)
• Regional trends in A level entries and passes 1997 to 2006 for all languages, schools in England (DCSF data)

To explore acheivement data and entries of modern languages as compared to other subjects from 1996 to 2007 see Additional Excel Table 11 in the DCSF statistical release: GCE/VCE A/AS and Equivalent Examination Results in England, 2006/07 (Revised), March 2008

Schools and colleges in Wales:

• Modern foreign languages in schools in Wales, 1996 to 2006, Statistical Directorate, Welsh Assembly Government. (Modern Foreign Languages in Schools, 2007 due out in August 2008.)

All data (all schools, colleges and adult entries in England, Wales & Northern Ireland):

• National trends in AS and A2 level entries 1995 to 2008, across all languages, all candidates, including school, college and adult entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Joint Council for Qualifications, JCQ, data)
• Separate data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be accessed in the downloadable pdf documents on the JCQ website at http://www.jcq.org.uk/national_results/

Scotland:

• Higher Grade entries in Scotland 1999 to 2008 (Scottish Qualifications Authority data, all entries, available from Scottish CILT)

England, 2007: 58% of all pupils achieved level 5 or above for languages in the national curriculum Key Stage 3 Teacher Assessments, which has been rising over the past 4 years (from 54% in 2006, 52% in 2005, 50% in 2004 and 48% in 2003). The comparative 2007 figure for other curriculum subjects was 74% for English, 76% for Maths, 73% for Science, 75% for Geography and 76% for Design & Technology.

• Download 2007 and 2006 data for England: from the DCSF research and statistics gateway. MFL data is available on page 17 of the pdf report (tables 8a, 8b).

KS3-GCSE Progress Charts are available on teachernet for 2006 and include separate data for French, German and Spanish:

• Download 2006 KS3-GCSE Progress Charts

Archived data for England, 1999-2005

• Download 2005 data for England: from the DCSF standards site
• Download 2004 data for England: from the Autumn Package Archive
• Download 1999 - 2003 data for England: from the Autumn Package Archive

Wales, 2007: 58% of all pupils achieved level 5 or above for languages in the national curriculum Key Stage 3 Teacher Assessments, 49% for boys and 67.5% for girls. The comparative overall figure in 2006 was 56%, 53% in 2005, 52% in 2004 and 49% in 2003.

• Download the report for Wales, Teacher Assessment of Non-Core Subjects at Key Stage 3, 2007 from the Welsh Assembly Government

Data sources:

DCSF: National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 3 in England, 2007 (Provisional), presents provisional 2007 Key Stage 3 National Curriculum assessment results for all 14 year old pupils in schools in England.

DCSF performance data, Pupil Achievement Tracker (PAT), There is a lot of information available on this site using the PAT software (formerly the Autumn package). The package can be used to examine aspects of a school's performance against all schools nationally or to a group of similar schools. The Pupil Achievement Tracker is currently being replaced by RAISEonline. To locate future data check the PAT website, teachernet and the SFRs on the DCSF research and statistics gateway.

National Assembly for Wales, statistical first release

The CILT Language Trends survey in Autumn 2007 asked schools to report which languages were taught at KS3, KS4 and post 16, as well as languages offered outside curriculum time.

Across all the above levels and modes of study French was provided in almost all maintained schools in England (99%) followed by Spanish (69%) and then German (67%). Italian was offered in 15% of all maintained schools, Mandarin in 9% and Japanese in 7%. Urdu and Russian were taught in 6% of all maintained schools in England.

The proportion of independent schools offering these languages were as follows: French (98%), Spanish (88%), French (84%), Mandarin (33%), Italian (24%), Russian (19%), Japanese (18%), Arabic (8%).

To view the data by level/ type of study see tables 4 on page 7 of the report: Langauge Trends Secondary Survey, 2007

Note there are a total of 3,343 maintained secondary schools in England.

Data source:

CILT Language Trends Secondary Survey 2007 of 2,000 secondary schools in England. Based on responses received from 678 maintained and 182 independent schools. Regional summaries are also available.

Click here for data on Scotland available from the Scottish CILT website.

The DCSF Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey, 2007 estimates the following teacher numbers for languages, covering maintained secondary schools in England only:

• French: 14,900 in 2007 (down from 16,000 in 2002)
• German: 6,600 in 2007 (down from 6,900 in 2002)
• Spanish: 5,200 in 2007 (up from 3,600 in 2002)
• Other languages: 2,100 in 2007 (up from 1,400 in 2002)

Data source:

DCSF Curriculum and staffing survey, 2007 was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

The Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS) is carried out every four to six years aiming to create a picture of the secondary school teaching workforce in terms of teachers’ qualifications and the curriculum subjects they teach. The 2007 survey was sent out to a random sample of 438 maintained schools in England, and achieved 327 school responses covering 14,137 teachers (a 66% response rate at teacher level). The survey data has been weighted and grossed up to give estimates for the national population of teachers.

Note that there are plans for a new School Workforce Census which will provide full counts of teachers by subject across the country. First data due in 2010. This is currently being piloted and details can be viewed at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/datacollections/swfcpilot/

England: There are 3,343 maintained secondary schools in England. Click on the link to view the Number of schools in England by local authority (second excel link, table 11).

Northern Ireland: There are 226 maintained secondary schools in NI

Scotland: There are 378 maintained secondary schools in Scotland

Wales: There are 225 maintained secondary schools in Wales. Click on the link to search the Number of schools in Wales by local authority

Data sources:

DCSF Schools and pupils in England (January 2007, final). The data is taken from the second excel hyperlink, Table 11, which also gives breakdowns by for other sectors of education, total number of pupils and a whole host of other data.

Data for Northern Ireland comes from the Department for Education in NI

Data for Scotland comes from the Scottish Government publication, Pupils in Scotland, 2007

Data for Wales comes from the National Grid for Learning in Wales

England:

The Annual Schools Census carried out by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) asks schools to report on the number of children with a first language other than English. The latest data for 2007 shows:

• 13.5% of all primary school children have a first language other than English (this is highest in London at 40%, compared with a low of 3% in the South West)
• 10.5% of all secondary school children have a first language other than English (this is highest in London at 35%, compared with a low of 2% in the South West)

To view the above data by region and local authority see tables 34 (primary)and 35 (secondary) at the following link: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000744/SFR30_2007_LAtables_3.xls

Scotland:

Data from the results of the 2007 annual pupil census in publicly funded schools in Scotland (published Feb 2008) gave the following linguistic picture of school children in Scotland:

• There are over 27,000 bilingual primary and secondary school children in Scotland (4% of all school children)
• The top 5 home languages were reported to be Punjabi, Urdu, Polish, Cantonese and Arabic.
• A total of 138 languages are spoken by school children in Scotland.

View the langauges: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/25145216/23

View data by local authority: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/25145216/74

Data warning!

The data should be read with caution, and taken as minimum figures as a lot of schools only collect other language information about pupils who need EAL support and don't consider/ record pupils who are fluent in English.

Data sources:

DCSF Schools and pupils in England (January 2007, final). The data is taken from the fourth excel hyperlink, Tables 34 and 35. Note: From January 2007, where a pupil's first language is not English, schools were asked to record the actual language (into a coding system which consists of over 300 language categories). However, it was not compulsory for schools to provide this level of detail and not all schools have chosen to use the extended language codes. Language data was received for almost 60 per cent of pupils whose first language was other than English. We are currently awaiting news of the release of this partial data, depending on reliability, and will update this information as soon as this is available.

Data for Scotland comes from the Scottish Government publication, Pupils in Scotland, 2007

Some limited data on pupils with English as an additional language in Northern Ireland is available from the NI Department for Education research and statistics pages

Organisation

University of Cambridge (commissioned by the DCSF)

Date

Currently in progress (Timescale: Sep 2006 - Dec 2008)

Research Aim

The research aims to look the effects that current government initiatives have had on KS3, as well as gain an understanding of the impact of the KS3 Framework that was introduced in Autumn 2003. Further objectives of the research will investigate:

• language learning in Specialist Language Colleges, their impact and influence on KS3 curriculum and teaching
• how language learning at KS3 can best encourage uptake of languages at KS4
• the complex nature of the drivers for, and challenges to, higher standards in KS3 language learning.

Research Design

The research design will include a literature review of all published research and official documentation. This will be followed by a quantitative survey of heads of languages in secondary schools carried out over 2 years to track changes, 2006 and 2007. Additional school case studies will be presented representing the range of contexts and results.

Key findings

Research in progress.

Interim findings reporting from year 1 of the project were released in June 2008 and can be accessed here: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/DCSF-RBX-10-08.pdf

Source report link

See http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research (Project number 2005046)

Organisation

CILT, the National Centre for Languages

with support from the Association for Language Learning (ALL) and the Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association (ISMLA).

Date

Autumn 2007

Research Aim

The survey has been carried out annually since 2002 to explore languages provision and take-up in schools in Key Stage 4. In this latest 2007 survey, the content was extended to cover KS3 in more detail than previously.

Research Design

The questionnaire was sent out to a representative random sample of 2,000 secondary schools in England, 1500 maintained and 500 independent schools. A total of 860 completed questionnaires were received for this national analysis (678 maintained and 182 independent), a response rate of 43%.

Key findings

• The very rapid decline in pupil numbers in Key Stage 4 appears to be slowing. Figures for Year 11 show a small decline on last year, and are stable for Year 10.
• Schools with low participation rates are reluctant to set targets to increase them. Only 17% of schools with languages optional in Key Stage 4 have acted on the Government’s requirement to set a benchmark for participation in languages – the same proportion as last year.
• In the independent sector, languages for all in Key Stage 4 is still the norm. Independent schools also offer a greater choice of languages, though there is a greater diversity of qualifications in the maintained sector.
• French and German have been seriously affected by the decline, but Spanish continues to see increases in pupil numbers. More schools now offer Spanish than German. (Although, in terms of pupil numbers, German still has 40% more GCSE candidates than Spanish.)
• There has been a growth in the use of alternative qualifications to GCSE, in particular Asset Languages. The number of maintained schools using Asset Languages has risen to 14% from 9% last year.
• Nearly one third of schools have reduced lesson time for languages in Key Stage 3 and 6% are compressing Key Stage 3 into two years instead of three.

Source report link

http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/languagetrends/2007/ks4.htm

Separate analyses by region are also available from the above link.

All findings and data from previous Languages at KS4 surveys can be accessed at the following link: http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/languagetrends/index.htm

Organisation

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)

Date

2006

Research Aim

A small-scale research study to investigate how some schools, despite having made languages optional at key stage 4, have increased or maintained a high take-up for languages.

Research Design

The research involved discussions with staff and pupils as well as some lesson observations. Seven schools were selected for the study, based on them having a high proportion of pupils studying languages within an options system. They were all mixed comprehensives and had a variety of socio-economic backgrounds.

Key findings

Some of the key factors influencing the take-up of languages at key stage 4 were identified and explored in the schools. These included the need for: the options system to make it easy for pupils to choose a language; a commitment to the quality of teaching and providing good resources as a key to pupil motivation and improved pupil attitudes; strong support from senior leadership and a high status for languages in the school; and access to information on the importance of learning a language.

Recommendations from this QCA research stated a need for:
1. further investigations into curriculum models that make it easy for pupils to choose a language
2. guidance and support for schools to inform pupils and parents on the importance of learning a language.

Source report link

http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_6979.aspx

Full individual summaries of each of the case study schools are described in the research report.

Organisation

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)

Date

Nov 2005 - March 2006

Research Aim

This small scale research study was part of the QCA review of the key stage 3 curriculum. It looked into pupil enjoyment of language learning and how the key stage 3 experience influences pupils’ decision whether or not to continue learning a language at key stage 4.

Research Design

The research focused on six, mixed ability schools in Barking and Dagenham and elicited data from 321 pupil questionnaires as well as focus group interviews with about 60 of these pupils.

Key findings

The research provided the following recommendations to help bring about more positive attitudes towards language learning and increase take-up at key stage 4:

• Enjoyable lessons are key, including interactive and participatory lessons, using good-quality resources and ICT as available.
• Include more work on culture and people, using foreign language assistants as available. Provide opportunities for large-scale activities, include visits and other contact with native speakers.
• Ensure fair entitlement opportunities for language study are offered at key stage 4.
• Review the weighting of the four skills at GCSE, to reduce the perceived difficulty of the subject.
• Strengthen the implementation of the key stage 3 framework alongside the provision of vocational language courses suitable for all ability levels.

Source report link

http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_6979.aspx