Take-up of foreign languages could go into free-fall, chiefs warn

Take-up of French, German and Spanish has slumped again this year, according to official figures.

Andrew Hall, chief executive of exam board AQA, said the drop in the number of people taking A-levels in the subjects was “a real worry”.

“There is a crisis here in modern foreign languages. We have the euro economy in crisis – I think modern foreign languages are in the same place.”

He said he was “quite worried” the fall had been reported “year on year on year”.

The number of grades awarded in French is down 5.2 per cent from last year, and 13.6 per cent since 2007 while German has seen a 7.6 per cent drop, 24.3 per cent since 2007.

Spanish entries have fallen 3.4 per cent from last year but increased overall by 5.8 per cent since 2007.

Mr Hall asked: “Is this going to be like the euro, a risk of going into free-fall?”

He said there was no “magic bullet” to fix the problem but was encouraged by the move to introduce modern languages in primary schools, announced this year.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said inspiration should be drawn from the Olympics. “Today’s A-level results flag up a continuing decline in students studying languages. Yet, if London 2012 showed us one thing, it is the potential to forge stronger business and cultural links overseas.”