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]
Until the 1960s foreign language education was mostly confined to grammar and independent schools. [4] 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.
Following the introduction of comprehensive education in the 1960s the provision of language education at secondary level, mostly French, expanded [4] 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. [4]
From 1970-75 French A-level entries dropped from 25,925 to 17,025 and German entries from 7,520 to 5,516. [5] 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. [6] 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. [7] [8] [9]
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. [10]
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. [11] 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 1983, the most French A-levels were taken: 27,103. The number fell but increased again by the early 1990s. [12]
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. [13] Some chief education officers believed that language teaching should be compulsory up to 16, for the able children only. [14]
As part of the National Curriculum, a Modern Languages working group was established in 1989. [15]
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. [16] 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. [16]
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. [17]
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 'Nuffield Languages Inquiry' was set up in 1998 by Sir John Boyd (diplomat), with Alwena Lamping. [18]
The authoritative report Language Trends has been published annually since 2002 by the British Council. [19]
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. [20]
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. [21] By 2007, 51% at 16 took a language GCSE: in 2000 it was 80%. [22]
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. [23]
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. [24]
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. [25]
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. [26] 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. [26]
With the passage of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, the Scottish Qualifications Authoirity published a Group Award specification for BSL qualifications in 2021. [27] With the passage of the British Sign Language Act 2022, the UK government published subject subject content for a BSL GCSE in 2024. [28]
In 2022, Education Wales announced that BSL had become part of the Curriculum for Wales. [29] In 2024, Qualifications Wales announced that the BSL qualification had been delayed from 2026 to 2027. [30]
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.
The National Curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:
Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries. [31]
Northern Ireland has an exclusively-selective education system; modern languages are broadly well-taught at selective schools.
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. [32] 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. [33]
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. [34]
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. [35]
Modern and classical languages are taught at A-level, with French being most popular (around 8,000) followed by German (around 3,000). [36] It is perceived that top grades are difficult to get in language A-levels. [37]
Modular AS levels had been introduced to form 50% of the total A-level result from 2000, but this was stopped from 2016.
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.
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:
 | This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(May 2024) |
Language education in the United Kingdom is predominately done by middle class girls. [53] [54] Most British students find the lessons boring and unengaging. [55] [56] [57] [58] [59]
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). [60]
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.
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