English is enough?

Last month the Telegraph newspaper reported that "the number of teenagers studying foreign languages has plummeted to a record low," following the recent publication of national A-level results. The article goes on:

"Only 13,850 students took an A-level in French this year as entries slumped by more than three per cent in just 12 months.

Over the last 10 years, the number of pupils studying the subject in the sixth-form has nose-dived by a third.

Figures also show a rapid demise in German, with just 5,548 A-level entries this year - a drop of almost 42 per cent since 2000.

The disclosure – in data published by the Joint Council for Qualifications – will fuel warnings that foreign languages are becoming largely extinct in state comprehensives.

Pupils from private schools and state grammars now make up a significant proportion of those taking the subject at the age of 16.

The slump has been blamed on a Labour decision to allow pupils to drop GCSEs in languages for the first time in 2004. This has had a serious knock-on effect on the number of pupils taking the subject at sixth-form and university.

Ministers hoped to reverse the decline by making the study of languages compulsory in primary schools but the plans were quietly scrapped during the legislative “wash up” before this year’s General Election.

According to the latest figures, the overall number of pupils taking other modern languages also slumped by seven per cent in 2010 – the fourth fastest drop of any subject this year.

Spanish was the only mainstream language to grow in popularity, with entries increasing by four per cent to 7,629. The rise has been put down to the influence of Latino culture in the US and the continuing lure of Spain as a holiday destination.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: 'With the exception of Spanish the disastrous decline of students taking a modern foreign language continues. This is a result of successive governments underestimating how vital possessing a modern foreign language is to Britain’s role globally.'"