Two-thirds of English state secondary schools teach only one foreign language, research shows, undermining the government’s efforts to shore up the numbers of pupils learning modern languages.
This year’s Language Trends report by the British Council surveyed state and private secondary schools in England about their linguistic provision. With growing evidence that state schools were cutting the number of languages taught, the 2023 report specifically asked for the first time if pupils learned more than one language.
Whereas more than half (53%) of independent and private schools teach every pupil at least two languages in years 7-9 (key stage 3), fewer than one in five (16%) state schools do, with 66% teaching only one foreign language at key stage 3.
Thirty-five per cent of state secondary schools teach German at key stage 3, and 38% to GCSE, the report found, compared with more than 85% offering French and more than three-quarters Spanish, suggesting German is disproportionately affected by this shift to teaching a single language in state schools. In contrast, three-quarters of independent schools teach German in years 7-9 and 80% at key stage 4.
Language experts questioned whether the government’s new German promotion programme, launched this year as part of a £15m language hubs programme to tackle a systemic decline in the numbers taking language GCSEs and A-levels, had gone far enough.
