This year’s GCSE-level results were released today and show improved performance for Maths and English, as well as a general increase in achievement overall. Achievement for language GCSEs has noticeably increased according to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), with 0.7% more students getting a grade A*-A, and 1.5% more students getting a grade A*-C.
The results from JCQ for languages show that candidates for Spanish GCSE are up by nearly 1% compared to 2009 although the number of candidates for other language GCSEs has fallen (French by 5.9%, German by 4.5%, and other languages by 1.3%) meaning a drop in the number of candidates taking language GCSEs overall. The number of students taking a GCSE in French has fallen below 180,000, meaning that it has dropped out of the top ten largest GCSE subjects for the first time, but French still remains the 11th most popular subject, and the most popular language choice for GCSE.
In general though, greater diversity is being seen in the languages being offered to students, with many lesser taught languages seeing increases in the number of candidates taking GCSE, such as Chinese, Portuguese, Polish and Turkish. The growth in GCSE short courses in languages (since 2009, the number of German candidates doing a short course GCSE has increased by 139%, French by 63% and Spanish by 19%) is also indicative of both the alternative qualifications being selected by schools, and the way that language teaching is being managed within schools themselves.
“We know how hard teachers and their pupils have worked to achieve these fantastic results, and we congratulate them on their achievement,” said Linda Parker, Director of the Association for Language Learning. “However, we also know that all too often the results for languages fall below the comparable results for other subjects. We are fortunate to have high performing cohorts in languages, which are not always recognised under the current system of grading.”
“This recent change of government gives us a chance to reassess that system. Language skills are extremely important in our global society and economy, and we need stronger practical support for languages. Students need to feel that languages are valuable and useful, and senior leaders in schools need to feel that pupils can do equally as well in languages as in other subjects. Then we can attract students back into language learning.”
Chair of ALL’s Secondary special interest group and former ALL president, Helen Myers, said:
“Students and teachers are to be congratulated on the quality of the results they have obtained. However, this continuing drop in numbers at GCSE emphasises the need for Government and Ofqual to take action to create a level playing field with regard to the grading of GCSE Modern Languages (“severe grading”) so that the efforts of students and teachers in languages are being fairly rewarded.”
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: “Students who received their GCSE results today have worked hard to achieve their success and I’d like to add my congratulations to those of their parents, friends and teachers… I’d also like to thank the teachers and other school staff who have put so much effort into preparing young people for these exams.”
More detail about the GCSE results can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/education/10/exam_results/gcse_fc/html/all_subjects.stm
http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/news/news%20items/secondary/gcse%20language%20entries.aspx
http://www.education.gov.uk/news/news/gcse-results2010.