Fewer pupils take languages in less affluent schools, ministers warned

Ministers must make access to language learning a national priority, experts have said, after research showed that children from more deprived areas of England are disproportionately denied the chance to learn a foreign tongue.

- Anna Bawden

This year's Language Trends report by the British Council surveyed 1,000 primary, secondary and independent schools and found that the proportion of pupils studying a modern language GCSE in less affluent English state schools was 38% lower than in the most affluent and 12% lower than the average.

While 69% of year 10 pupils at the most prosperous state schools are studying a language for GCSE, just 47% of those at the least affluent are.

The report's findings show that progress towards the previous government's Ebacc target of 90% of pupils studying a language to GCSE is going backwards. Although official entries to language GCSEs and A-levels went up in 2024 for the first time in many years, they have since dipped and remain focused in fewer schools. On average, 53% of year 10 pupils at state secondaries are learning a language for GCSE, down from 54% last year.