GCSE results: more young people are studying languages – but the overall picture for language learning remains bleak

The 2024 GCSE results reveal that more young people in schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are opting to study a language. French and Spanish remain the most popular languages, with increases of 2.9% and 6.2% from last year respectively.

German, once in steady decline, has gone up by 3.5% compared to last year, but has still seen fewer entries than in 2022. Meanwhile, only 16,429 students took a GCSE in a classical subject – which includes Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew and Latin.

The most significant surges in interest have been for Irish (a 14.8% rise) and what is referred to as “other modern languages” (8.1%). This relates to all modern languages except French, German, Irish, Spanish and Welsh. It includes non-European languages such as Mandarin and Arabic as well as some common home and community languages, such as Polish, Portuguese and Urdu.

However, while these modest gains are encouraging, they need to be interpreted against the backdrop that GCSE entries on the whole have increased by 4.8%. This means that the number of GCSEs in many languages has not risen proportionally to the overall population of 16-year-olds who took their GCSEs this year.

Languages stopped being compulsory at key stage four (years 10 and 11) in 2004. Since then, the number of students taking a language at GCSE has fallen significantly: from consistently over 550,000 before 2004 to just over 370,000 in 2024. Some languages have taken a particularly hard hit. Since 2003, the number of GCSE entries in German has fallen from 125,663 to this year’s 35,913.

For comparison, maths has had over 878,000 entries this year, and the number for combined sciences is 980,886. This raises concerns about the future of language learning in the country.

Grading changes

One long-awaited development is a recent grading review by Ofqual, the UK’s exams regulator. For a long time, there have been concerns that languages are graded harshly and that they are therefore perceived as more difficult than other subjects.

Students and parents may see languages as high-risk, low-reward options, especially when university entry requirements can often be met without them.

Ofqual has this year completed a process to make adjustments to the way GCSE French and German are graded to ensure better alignment with Spanish and make it easier for students to achieve higher grades in these subjects. Indeed, compared to 2023, the proportion of grades awarded at 7 and above has risen from 26.6% to 28.4% for French and from 28.2% to 32.5% for German.

Whether these reforms will have a measurable long-term impact on student numbers remains to be seen.

Wider decline

The challenges facing language education at GCSE level are part of a wider trend. Language learning in the UK has been in steady decline – a situation mirrored at A-level (where we have fortunately also seen a slight rebound in 2024), and at degree level. A number of universities have lost or are having to restructure their languages departments.

The introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) in 2010 sparked hopes that this trend could be turned around. The EBacc is a combination of GCSE subjects, including a language, that is meant to offer students a broad educational range to keep their options open for future study and careers. However, the overall picture does not suggest that the EBacc has had the desired effect.

The lack of school-based language learning has a knock-on effect. Fewer language learners in schools result in fewer language students at university, which ultimately leads to a shortage of qualified teachers to teach the next generation.

In addition, teacher shortages and funding constraints have made it difficult for schools to offer a broad range of languages, and Brexit has led to a regrettable reduction in school exchange programmes.

Universities are trying to break this pattern by increasingly offering language degrees that do not require prior knowledge of the language, as well as joint honours degrees, which allow students to combine languages with another subject.

Changes needed

Ofqual’s adjustments to grading are a welcome improvement but only one small piece of the puzzle.

Curriculum changes that make language learning at school more engaging and relevant to students’ lives could help spark renewed interest. This should be a priority for the government’s newly launched curriculum review. Increasing support for language teachers and providing more resources for schools and universities are also essential to help reverse the trend.

A pragmatic solution would be to make languages compulsory again at GCSE level. However, what is key, in my view, is to change the narrative and inspire more people to learn languages by highlighting both the benefits and the joy it brings.

There are examples of successful initiatives, such as the Mandarin Excellence Programme, which has encouraged thousands of students in England to take up Chinese by offering funding and support for schools to offer language teaching and cultural experiences.

In Wales, the MFL Mentoring Project trains university students to be mentors who work with pupils to support their language learning journeys.

Meanwhile, the government-funded National Consortium for Languages has introduced “language hubs” – clusters of schools that work together to improve language learning in primary and secondary schools in England.

As we look beyond 2024, the challenge will remain to create an environment where language learning is not just encouraged, but valued as an essential skill in an increasingly globalised world.