ALL Statement on 2025 A level results

by | Aug 14, 2025 | ALL News, Language News, News

ALL Statement on 2025 A level results

ALL President, Judith Rifeser, speaking about this year’s A and AS results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland said, “Congratulations to all those receiving their A Level languages exam results today. Huge thanks to all the teachers who have shared their passion for languages and for inspiring and guiding students with their rich knowledge and expertise. This support helps students build bridges and experience the world through many voices.

Some students will have received the grade they hoped for and that is wonderful. Others will be faced with some disappointment. Language skills go far beyond an exam. Being able to communicate in another language, overcoming the fear of making mistakes and developing intercultural understanding and global connections are achievements worth celebrating whether by students, teachers, parents/carers or the wider community. Taking the A level languages exam is a step towards that and that is something to be proud of today and always.  Languages last a lifetime – exam results are just the beginning.”

Ofqual and the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland have all adopted an approach which means that grading generally is back to being consistent from year to year and broadly in line with pre-pandemic years.

The number of students studying A level languages continues to be a matter of grave concern.  At a time when the numbers of A levels being taken has increased substantially since 2019 (882,509 v 804,851) the total number taking French, German or Spanish has actually declined (17,407 v 20,013; 2.0 % of total v 2.5%).  Although the small increase in Spanish is welcome, it is more than outweighed by the decline in French and German. This raises concerns about the UK’s ability to produce enough qualified linguists for the country’s needs. The final report of the curriculum review gives an opportunity to ensure students get a broader and richer post-16 experience.

These low numbers studying French, German and Spanish at A level reinforce the need for the continuing severe grading in ML at GCSE to be addressed by Ofqual and DfE so that more students are encouraged to continue with a language to GCSE and then on to A level.   Systematically, arising from a historical anomaly, students on average get half a grade lower in their GCSE ML compared with their other EBacc subjects, leading to a false perception that they are not as good at ML as other subjects, and therefore they are less likely to take it at A level. We appeal to all stakeholders to keep raising this matter.  It is important to remember that however pedagogy and the nature of exams may change, the approach of comparable outcomes means that severe grading will persist.

We are pleased to see that Other Modern Languages entries continue to climb back towards pre-pandemic levels.

Appendix with detailed numbers

The overall number of A level entries in all subjects has decreased by 0.5% to 882,509 in 2025 from 886,514 in 2024. The 2025 overall entry figures are up from 804,851 in 2019 (9.6% increase).

French entries have decreased by 9.8% to 6,858 in 2025 from 7,544 in 2024, having increased by 6.8% from 7,063 in 2023.

Spanish entries have increased by 1.1%  to 8,325 in 2025 from 8,238 in 2024, having increased by 1.6% from 8,110 in 2023.

German entries have decreased by 8.5% to 2,224 in 2025 from 2,431 in 2024, having increased by 3.1% from 2,358 in 2023.

Other Modern Languages entries have increased by 3.8%  to 6,672 in 2025 from 6,429 in 2024, having increased by 8.0% from 5,955 in 2023.

This is all in the context of a demanding subject such as Further Mathematics having nearly 20,000 entries.

Comparing entry numbers between 2025 and 2019 (pre-pandemic) there is a clear decline. French has dropped by 17.9%, German by 26.7%, Spanish by 3.5% and other languages by 19.5%.  By contrast, in the same period, Economics has risen by 38% to 42,667, and Psychology by 18% to 75,943.

These numbers are taken from the JCQ UK cumulative figures published Thursday 14th August 2025.

Appendix with links

JCQ has shared main results tables, press notice and other results tables for 2025, click here.

Ofqual has shared a range of comments and analysis as follows (links embedded):

Please click here to download the pdf.