Working in the same inner-London state secondary school over the past fourteen years, I have witnessed several changes to the language learning curriculum. While most of these changes have been positive, we continue to experience a significant decline in both language uptake, and to a certain extent, achievement.
At St. Marylebone CE School, we are lucky to still be able to offer both French and Spanish to all our Key Stage 3 students, and over the past four years we have worked hard to successfully increase the number of hours given to MFL in Year 7 from three to four. It is easy to find support for MFL in our school given our Senior Leadership team’s excellent dedication to our department, but we are aware that other state schools are not nearly so fortunate, with focus moving further and further towards STEM subjects and now distancing itself away from the eBacc suite of qualifications.
Our Key Stage 4 uptake has hovered around 52% for the past 5 years. While we are very proud of these numbers given that MFL is not compulsory, this represents a 10% decline since 2017. A similar picture can be seen in our A Level numbers. In 2020, we entered 38 A level students for MFL (18 students for French and 20 students for Spanish). For the sake of comparison, 28 students were entered for Geography in the same year). In 2026, the MFL department will enter just 21 students (9 for French and 12 for Spanish), while Geography will enter 31 students.
These are real examples of how the much talked about decline in language learning is playing out in schools, and we are aware of several schools where running MFL at A Level is no longer viable. On top of this, financial constraints in UK education mean that schools are having to make significant cuts. Without policy intervention, we will be left even further behind our peers in Europe and the US, where young people’s mastery of multiple languages far exceeds that of the UK.
It is difficult to identify exactly why students are choosing not to take languages at A Level, but at Open Evenings for our sixth form, students often cite a fear of being compared to heritage speakers as a reason not to take the subject. Other students expressed concerns that the A Level curriculum seemed incredibly broad in comparison to other subjects.
In an academic field where almost all students choose only three A Level courses, the competition for students to choose MFL over STEM and humanities subjects is high. The curriculum offered at Post-16 is increasingly narrow compared to other nations. At the same time, the lack of alignment between Primary and Secondary language education means that students don’t have the opportunity to make consistent progress in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL).
Despite this, we are aware of hundreds of our students engaging in language learning on a daily basis with apps such as Duolingo. A short-course qualification in languages alongside other studies would surely be a welcome addition to students’ breadth of knowledge in Post-16 education.
In addition to this, over 20% of school-aged children are classed as speaking English as an Additional Language; these students would benefit hugely from greater access to formal qualifications in their own language. The cultural and linguistic diversity which already exists in our UK schools is something that sets us above and beyond other nations and should be both celebrated and recognized.
These are real examples of how the much talked about decline in language learning is playing out in schools.
The ability to learn another language is an essential tool for equipping our students with the skills they need to be successful, resilient, and globally aware communicators. Through learning a language, students learn to see things from the perspective of other cultures. It’s one of the most powerful ways to reconcile and connect different people; achieve social, political, and cultural understanding; and ensure peace and prosperity.
It is clear that more work must be done to convince students that language-learning is valuable, and can offer a broad range of career opportunities beyond the traditional roles of teacher, tour guide, and translator. In a culture where AI and technology advances seem to overtake many of our traditional learning needs, it is even more important that we teach our young people the creative and cognitive value of exploring other cultures through language learning.
Increasing exposure to languages from a younger age and broadening options for courses that are more accessible to all learners will allow our students to see more meaningful progress in MFL and encourage them to seek greater opportunities to study languages throughout their formal education and beyond. With better support, fairer systems, and more flexible options, schools can rebuild interest and help more students continue learning languages.
