The teaching of modern languages in the United Kingdom occurs mainly from ages 7 to 16 in primary schools and secondary schools. [1] [2] [3]
Linguaphone (company) was founded in 1901, becoming a significant company by the 1970s, with Berlitz of the US, which was founded in 1878, but Berlitz largely teaches English.
In 1907 Donald Mackay, 11th Lord Reay was appointed to the Treasury Committee on the Organisation of Oriental Studies in London, and produced a report in 1909; he had worked with the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1890s. [4]
Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (1861-1938) was appointed in 1916 to set up the Leathes Committee, which found in the Report on the Position of Modern Languages in the Educational System of Great Britain, in 1918 that European languages should be taught.
In January 1926 the National Union of Women Teachers proposed teaching foreign languages in primary schools. [5]
The British government provided no official language training for its diplomats until January 1943, under a White Paper proposal by Anthony Eden when the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service, the Commercial Diplomatic Service and the Consular Service were merged. [6] [7] In 1944 the Foreign Office Russian Studies Committee produced a report on the teaching of Russian
After the Second World War, there was a much greater impetus for learning spoken foreign languages, such as German. Germany was subdivided into British and American sectors. Previous to the Second World War, the spoken language was not that urgently required. This grammar–translation method would persist until the 1960s.
At a North of England education conference in December 1959, Dr A Hay, the chief education inspector of London County Council, proposed some primary school language tuition, but only for gifted children. [8]
Until the 1960s foreign language education was mostly confined to grammar and independent schools. [9] There were government plans for language teaching in primary schools, but the plans were dropped, due to the obvious situation of insufficiently trained teachers.
Secondary modern schools had limited modern language teaching, being occasionally found in the top stream of such schools, but often there was none at all.
On 22 February 1962 Conservative MP John Cordeaux asked the education secretary about foreign language teaching in primary schools. [10] The government was to implement an experimental scheme to attempt French teaching in some primary schools, in nine areas across England and Wales, from September 1964, in conjunction with the Nuffield Foundation. [11] [12] By 1968, 850 Scottish primary schools taught French, with 200 out of Glasgow's 212 primary schools. [13]
The Schools Council was founded in October 1964, which looked at the curriculum. [14]
Following the introduction of comprehensive education in the 1960s the provision of language education at secondary level, mostly French, expanded [9] and many primary schools introduced foreign languages as part of the 'Primary School Language Project' in the early 1970s.[ citation needed ] However, by the 1970s the status of French in primary schools was in question with the influential report 'Primary French in the Balance' ensuring that 11 was the age that most began studying French. [9] Primary French teaching mostly finished in 1974, after reports by Clare Burstall published on December 9 1970, and in December 1974. [15] But Tameside, Kent and East Sussex continued some teaching, with East Sussex finishing by 1997.
From 1970-75 French A-level entries dropped from 25,925 to 17,025 and German entries from 7,520 to 5,516. [16] The move to comprehensive schools had not been seen to help language teaching to flourish, so a national survey of language teaching was conducted by five HM Inspectors of Schools in 83 comprehensive schools took place from 1975 to 1976, which resulted in the ungenerous DES report Modern Languages in Comprehensive Schools published on Thursday 17 March 1977. [17] The report said that language teaching was often too 'mechanical' and inflexible, not nuanced.
The DES report said that mixed ability language classes were not a resounding success, that 'there was grave cause for concern' about bright children trying to learn languages at comprehensive schools, and that not enough was being done to help them. Teaching in sixth forms was 'no less disquieting'. Comprehensive schools had introduced language teaching, nominally for all, at some comprehensive schools, although most comprehensive schools only offered such language teaching to the top 60-80%, at most. Only a minority at such schools continued languages after 14.
Due to more language teachers being required, it became more difficult for comprehensive schools to offer two languages for those taking languages after 14. Under the former grammar school system, taking two languages up to 16 was never any profound difficulty; the grammar schools had enough teachers, and enough people capable of learning two languages. Comprehensive schools often had neither. The 1977 report also questioned why only people who took French A-level were able to continue French to 18, when there were many other people at 16 who had some capability in languages. Other European countries did not do this. Many former grammar school teachers found language teaching across wide abilities in comprehensive schools difficult. It found, over the 83 secondary schools, that there was one pass in a language O-level, or CSE grade 1, at 16, for every ten children at 16.
In the 1977 report, it found that many heads of language departments 'showed little awareness of the responsibilities they bore, beyond the walls of their own classrooms', leading some less-experienced teachers to flounder on their own, when such teachers needed to be assisted. [18] [19] [20]
The British Overseas Trade Board (BOTB) held a conference on 19 May 1978 at the Royal Society of Arts entitled 'Does Britain need linguists?', attended by Labour MP Les Huckfield. [21]
In a BOTB report, 'Foreign Languages for Overseas Trade', published on Wednesday 23 May 1979, with a foreword by the Duke of Kent, it found that secondary school language abilities were not appropriate for the world of work. In his foreword, the Duke made several accusations, claiming that British companies had not tried with other languages, due to relying on Commonwealth connections, and that it was expensive to give language training to managers. The Duke claimed that secondary schools were obsessed far too much with syntax and grammar, and that secondary schools should have acquired the spoken diction beforehand. [22] The BOTB report was later discussed at a conference for headteachers, hosted by the University of Surrey's Department of Linguistic and International Studies, on 8 December 1979.
In December 1979 the University Grants Committee published its 'Report on Russian and Russian Studies in British Universities', which proposed to end the teaching of Russian in 19 to 20 universities; this was to centralise teaching in 20 main university departments. This move was opposed by the British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies [23]
In 1983, the most French A-levels were taken: 27,103. The number fell but increased again by the early 1990s. [24]
Universities were beginning to offer European business courses, to allow a year out in Europe, often at polytechnics, such as Middlesex Polytechnic. The University of Kent was a leading university with such courses, and cooperation with European universities. It largely coordinated all of the UK's part in the Erasmus Programme.
Many more secondary schools were offering languages up to 14, but not many comprehensive schools had obligatory language teaching after that. Most grammar schools would require a language to be followed up to 16. Prior to the 1970s, languages were largely only taught in grammar schools after the age of 14, and to take two languages up to 16. Most people believed that comprehensive schools could not achieve this, given the large range of abilities; only a few people, at most, believed it could be taught up to 16 in comprehensive schools. [25] Some chief education officers believed that language teaching should be compulsory up to 16, for the able children only. [26]
In 1987, the report Curriculum Matters 8 - Modern foreign languages to 16 was published. The report found that 40% of people at secondary schools took a foreign language to 16. The report was quite general, and rarely mentioned individual foreign languages. The report did not greatly mention the glaring lack of language teachers. [27]
As part of the National Curriculum, a Modern Languages working group was established in 1989. [28]
The National Curriculum MFL Working Group (MFLWG) was chaired by Sir Martin Harris. The committee, possibly hardheadedly, believed that most children could study modern languages up to the age of 16, despite many other linguists, previously, not coming to that same radical, or optimistic, conclusion.
The Council of Europe, from 1982-87, had been looking at language teaching across Europe, which influenced the findings of the committee of Sir Martin Harris. A national educational conference, to discuss any findings, was held in 1989.
As a result all children at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 were required to study a modern foreign language. [29] However, concerns were expressed as to whether the time devoted to learning modern languages was sufficient for acquisition to take place and the extent to which French had become the dominant language. [29]
Some areas of Scotland taught French in primary schools from 1989.
On 16 May 1990, the BBC launched a £3m series of educational programmes to prepare for the Single Market in 1992, such as a series of ten programmes entitled You and 92. [30]
The LINGUA programme was set up by the EC from 1990 to 1994, which changed to become the Socrates programme in 1994.
The 1990 House of Lords report 'European Schools and Language Learning in UK Schools' found that around 18,000 took French A-level, which had dropped by 10% in eight years.
The GCSE A* grade was introduced in 1994.
The 'Nuffield Languages Inquiry' was set up in 1998 by Sir John Boyd (diplomat), with Alwena Lamping. [31]
Curriculum 2000 was introduced by the Labour government in 2000 to allow an A-level course to be broken into two, in modules. It allowed A-levels to be less strenuous to attempt, and that more people could possibly pass each course. But, each exam required half the effort of the previous A-level system. An A-level became two AS-level courses. AS levels had been introduced, only, to give an alternative to the harder A-level course, which was not for everyone. But the AS-level had not been introduced to be a kind of replacement for the tough A-level exam. If teenagers took less-difficult exams at 18, the exam grades would inflate as well. The system was dropped from 2015 to 2018. The difficulty was that everyone was getting glowing exam grades, and so prestigious universities could not sufficiently separate out enough candidates; it was mere grade inflation.
The authoritative report Language Trends has been published annually since 2002 by the British Council. [32]
In September 2000, modular AS levels were introduced, under Curriculum 2000. These were to be taken in year 12, which counted 50% towards the final A-level result: it spread the risk of the exam result over two years, but any number of resit exams were possible.
The European Year of Languages began in January 2001, and the Labour government had meetings with main European ambassadors about low participation in language education across the UK: Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz, Santiago de Mora-Figueroa y Williams and Daniel Bernard. [33]
Lid King, the former director of the CILT from 1992, after John Trim and Alan Moy, became the new National Director for Languages in 2003, until 2012. He implemented the 2002 National Language Strategy.
In 2004 the Labour government dropped the requirement of the 1988 National Curriculum to take a language GCSE at 16. The Labour Party had recognised, after the age of 14, the adversity of many comprehensive schools trying to teach foreign languages; the subject could be too difficult for those who would not enter the sixth form. Language GCSEs were difficult to pass; dropping the requirement would also enable less-difficult GCSEs to be taken instead, giving an artificial boost to GCSE league tables. The NUT did not support the policy of dropping the requirement.
From 1996 French A-level entries had halved, to 14,650 in 2006, and there were 6,204 German A-level entries. [34] By 2007, 51% at 16 took a language GCSE: in 2000 it was 80%. [35]
Foreign language teaching in primary schools was to be compulsory by September 2011. In 2001, 21% of primary offered foreign languages: by 2010 this was 92%. [36]
Since 2014 the National Curriculum has required that pupils in Key Stage 2 must study an ancient or modern foreign language. Pupils in Key Stage 3 must study a modern foreign language. [37]
From September 2016, in England, AS levels no longer counted towards the A-level; many took AS level language courses up to year 12 only; the new A-levels are called linear A-levels.
By 2017, there were 9,672 entries for French A-level, and 3,842 for German. But the regulator Ofqual found that one in five entrants for German A-level were native speakers, acquiring half of all A* grades, and a quarter of all A grades; possibly abusing or gaming the system. [38]
In 2017, a survey by the CBI found that employers most need people with skills and fluency in French, German and Spanish.
In 2018, new modern language GCSEs were introduced in England and Wales. In January 2019, the National Centre for Excellence for Language was established at the University of York, to coordinate modern language education in England, with nine school hubs across England; of the nine schools, two are grammar schools and two are faith schools.
From 2010 to 2018, French GCSE entries dropped by 29% and German GCSE entries dropped by 37%. But Spanish GCSE entries from 2010 to 2018 rose considerably. [39]
From 2011 to 2018, French A-level entries have dropped from around 12,000 to just under 8,000. According to Joint Council for Qualifications, language GCSE entries have halved since 2005. There was a slight increase in French GCSE entries in 2018 and 2019; entries for Spanish are on course to overtake entries for French by 2030.
Ancient languages are being reintroduced into more English secondary schools, such as Latin. [40] A £4m Department for Education scheme will initially be rolled out across 40 schools as part of a four-year pilot programme for 11- to 16-year-olds starting in September 2022. As well as language teaching, the Latin Excellence Programme will also include visits to Roman heritage sites to provide pupils with a greater understanding of classics and the ancient world. The initiative aims to boost GCSE Latin entries and will be modelled on the success of the Mandarin Excellence Programme, launched in 2016 in response to the growing importance of Mandarin as a global language. The programme now involves 75 schools across the country with more than 6,000 pupils learning Mandarin towards fluency. [40]
With the passage of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, the Scottish Qualifications Authority published a Group Award specification for BSL qualifications in 2021. [41] With the passage of the British Sign Language Act 2022, the UK government published subject subject content for a BSL GCSE in 2024. [42]
In 2022, Education Wales announced that BSL had become part of the Curriculum for Wales. [43] In 2024, Qualifications Wales announced that the BSL qualification had been delayed from 2026 to 2027. [44]
Language education in England up to the age of 19 is provided in the National Curriculum by the Department for Education, which was established in 2010.
Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries. [49]
In the 2023 Language Trends, it was found that two in three state secondary schools in England teach only one foreign language at GCSE. Most grammar schools would teach at least two languages. For years 7 to 9, around half of those at independent schools learn two languages; for state secondary schools it was one in five. 38% of state secondary schools offer German at GCSE; for independent schools, it is 80%. [50]
Take up of foreign languages at GCSE in Wales dropped from 55% of the cohort in 1995 to 22% in 2012. And it was worse in less-wealthy parts of Wales - only 11% of the cohort in Blaenau Gwent took a foreign language GCSE. German is taught in a quarter of secondary schools. [51]
Wales has the lowest participation rate in foreign languages in the UK. Two other parts of the UK have grammar schools, which have helped the provision of foreign language learning, at least up to 16. Academic-orientated sixth form colleges, as much as grammar schools, also provide adequate foreign language teaching. But Wales, with no grammar schools, does not have the same adequate provision for such teaching. Northern Ireland is entirely selective, and has not suffered the fate of Wales, in its foreign language teaching.
Jean Coussins, Baroness Coussins, a Cambridge graduate in Modern Languages who has worked with the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and who chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages, chaired a discussion in the House of Lords on Wednesday 12 March 2014 about substandard language teaching in Wales.
The language component of the Welsh Baccalaureate was removed around 2014.
In December 2019, the British Council described secondary school language teaching in Wales as plummeting. From 2002 to 2019, GCSE foreign language candidates in Wales had dropped by 60%; 39% of secondary schools had no-one taking foreign languages after 16. Difficult foreign languages were viewed by schools as unsuitable for the less-able. [52]
British Council Wales produced its annual report 'Language Trends Wales'. [53]
230 French A-levels were taken in 2023, 55 German A-levels, and 140 Spanish A-levels in Wales. [54]
At the same time as England, foreign languages became compulsory at primary schools in September 2014.
Northern Ireland has an exclusively-selective education system; modern languages are broadly well-taught at selective schools. Northern Ireland has 794 primary schools, 66 grammar schools and 126 non-grammar secondary schools.
Language Trends Northern Ireland [55] is produced for British Council Northern Ireland by Ian Collen, head of the NCILT at QUB, a former French and German teacher, who runs the PGCE courses at QUB. [56] [57]
In 2000, 190 Northern Irish candidates sat German A-level; in 2022 it was 72.
Around 50% of primary teachers either have a degree or A-level in a language. About 70% of primary schools deliver languages in-house, often with a HLTA, a type of teaching assistant who is not QTS standard. Some primary schools work with local secondary schools or sixth form colleges for language training for primary teachers. Around 10% of primary schools have overseas visits, and about 10% participate in eTwinning or the Comenius programme (itself part of the Socrates programme) whereby the scheme involves teacher exchanges abroad. Another project is MEITS (Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies).
At Key Stage 2 it is compulsory to for primary schools to study ancient and modern languages. [58] French is offered at around 75% of primary schools, with Spanish at about 25% and German at about 5%, with about 45 minutes per week of language learning per school. [59]
From 1988 to 1995, due to the National Curriculum inclusion of a modern language, GCSE passes at grade A-C steadily increased from 270,000 to 350,000 for French, from around 75,000 to 130,000 for German, from 19,000 to 40,000 for Spanish, and from 2,900 to 5,600 for Italian.
Both French and German GCSE entries peaked in 1996, with 353,000 entries and 136,000 entries. Spanish GCSE entries rose until 2002, with 57,000 entries.
At Key Stage 3 it is compulsory for secondary schools to study modern languages.
GCSE modern foreign languages and GCSE ancient languages are studied at Key Stage 4. Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Bengali, Mandarin, Greek, Gujarati, Modern Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Punjabi, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu are studied. [60]
The English Baccalaureate was introduced in 2011, which has modern and ancient language requirements. Languages at GCSE are much more popular at single sex secondary schools than for co-educational state secondary schools; many grammar schools are also single sex schools. Many language teachers are female; in some secondary schools all language teachers are female, supplying limited role models for some teenage males. [61]
Modern and classical languages are taught at A-level, with French being most popular (around 8,000) followed by German (around 3,000). [62] It is perceived that top grades are difficult to get in language A-levels. [63]
At A-level you can hope to have around 300 hours of contact time, in total in the language course. Combined with that from 11-16, it is a total of around 700 hours, when at school for instance, in French. But to become proficient in a language, you would largely require around five times that time, to reach most typical proficiencies.
From 1990 to 1995, A level passes at grade A-C were around 27,000 to 30,000 for French, around 10,500 for German, around 4,700 for Spanish, and around 850 for Italian. [64] A level French entries peaked in 1992 with 31,261, staying around 28,000 for the mid-1990s, but plummeted after 1998, with 21,072 in 1999, and 15,614 in 2002. For most of the 1990s, German A-level entries stayed at around 10,500, but began to drop after 1999, reaching around 7,000 in 2002. Spanish A-level entries started at around 3,800 in 1990, reaching 5,782 in 1999, and were around 5,500 in the early 2000s. [65]
Modular AS levels had been introduced to form 50% of the total A-level result from 2000, but this was stopped from 2016.
Those taking a Higher Grade course in a modern language dropped from 16,000 in 1975, to 12,000 in 1985, to 8,000 in 1995. [66]
Teaching of modern languages at university is well-represented by universities such as those in the Russell Group, but in other universities, such teaching is not represented.
Joint honours courses began in the 1970s, largely with the introduction of polytechnics. University courses became built of modules in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with Institution-Wide Languages Programmes (IWLP). During the 1990s it was quite popular for many other courses to include some language modules, with the result that more students were learning languages through that method, than individual honours courses. [67] After the 1990s the IWLP methodology lost favour, mostly due to tightening of university department budgets.
Admissions to single honours courses peaked in 1992. Single language departments at universities became 'Schools of Modern Languages'. More and more language students since the 1990s now come from independent schools, and less and less from disadvantaged postcode areas.
The £1.5m Hetherington Language Centre opened at the University of Glasgow in December 1985. [68] The Alliance Manchester Business School taught French, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese from the early 1990s. [69]
University language centres in the UK and Ireland are represented by the Association of University Language Centres. [70]
AULC is part of the Europe-wide CercleS, the Confédération Européenne des Centres de Langues de l’Enseignement Supérieur, or European Confederation of Language Centres in Higher Education, which was formed in 1991. CercleS produces the journal Language Learning in Higher Education (LLHE), published in May and October. The journal can be found internationally at ERIH PLUS, EBSCO Information Services and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and in the UK at Sherpa/RoMEO.
David Bickerton, of the University of Plymouth, was Secretary General from 1994 to 2000, and Peter Howarth from 2014 to 2016. In September 2012 CercleS held its XII conference at the LSE in London. In September 2024 CercleS held its XVIII conference at Durham University, entitled 'Multilingualism & the Anglosphere', [71] [72] [73] which was organised by the University's Centre for Foreign Language Study. [74]
The School Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom, set up in 1947, advised the BBC for much of the 1960s. [75]
Educational broadcasting at the BBC was largely started, on the radio, by Mary Somerville (broadcasting executive), after J. C. Stobart. Only after September 1957 did the BBC have the money for school television programmes, or sufficient technical equipment. The Educational Foundation for Visual Aids, founded in 1948, had a catalogue of over 6,000 educational films for schools, mostly for filmstrip projectors, a staple of 1960s and 1970s language education.
In the 1980s some of the more well-known BBC programmes were carried by PBS channels in the US, such as WNET
Educational series have included:
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Language education in the United Kingdom is predominately done by middle class girls. [93] [94] Most British students find the lessons boring and unengaging. [95] [96] [97] [98] [99]
In 2016 there were 8459 entries for French A-level in England, with 5999 entered by the state sector (grammar schools, sixth form colleges and comprehensive schools). [100]
Outer London enters considerably more French A-levels than Inner London; Inner London enters few French A-levels.
There were 3446 A-level entries for German in 2016 in England, with 2558 entries from the state sector.
British Sign Language (BSL) — along with the Celtic languages (ie Cornish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh) and the Scots language — is one of the distinct languages of the United Kingdom, recognised by the Scottish and UK Governments and by the Council of Europe. British Sign Language is a visual language with a spatial grammar, and it has a variety of dialects. It is the first language of many deaf people and its use is expected to become more widespread owing to the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015
Pupils across the country will soon be able to take the British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE as the subject content has today (Thursday 21 December) been published, providing pupils with an important life skill and advancing inclusivity within education.
British Sign Language (BSL) has officially become part of the Curriculum for Wales .
Qualifications Wales, which is leading the changes, said the aim was for it to be ready for first teaching from September 2027, as part of a phased introduction of new made-for-Wales GCSEs.