Foreing languages becoming 'privilege of elite'

21-1-2010

Foreign languages becoming 'privilege of elite'

Foreign language lessons are becoming the privilege of elite and wealthy children, a Government adviser warns today as figures showed another drop in teenagers studying the subject.

The blame was pinned on the over-cluttered curriculum which offers myriad choices at the age of 14, including the new diploma, and confuses pupils by pulling them in too many directions.

Just two fifths of schools started teaching a modern language GCSE to more than half of their Year 10 pupils this year, down from 45 per cent last year and 78 per cent in 2003.

That was the year after the Government stopped making the qualification compulsory, which critics fear is resulting in a terminal decline in languages. Ministers said that by introducing foreign languages in primary schools, children cultivate a love of the subject and choose to study it at secondary level.

But grammars, independent schools and state schools with a language specialism are propping up French, German and Spanish, the figures revealed.

When they are removed from data, fewer than three in ten of the remaining comprehensives teach a foreign language to more than half of their pupils, which is considered the minimum threshhold for schools. At two fifths of schools, less than a quarter of that age group is studying a modern foreign language.

And even one in 20 comprehensives with a language specialism has fewer than half of children learning a modern language.

Kathryn Board, chief executive of the National Centre for Languages (Cilt) blamed the pressure on schools and pupils to achieve A and A* grades at any cost, and the onus on schools to offer a personalised curriculum, for the decline in languages at 14.

Some schools are offering languages only in after-school classes she said, and the Government’s obsession with promoting science and maths is taking its toll on languages. The low take-up was not due to lack of interest from pupils but because of the over-crammed curriculum at 14.

Ms Board said she was saddened by the continuing decline. “In the long term we’re disadvantaging our young people in the world of employment,” she said. “The knock-on effect is that we will also harm our own economic situation and recovery.

“There is a growing elitism around languages. That cultural understanding, as well as the pleasure of speaking a language, is alive and kicking in the independent sector but in the state school sector seems to be dropping very quickly. The elitism bothers me because languages must be for all.”

Ms Board also said she was disturbed by the poor academic advice received by teenagers. She said: “The choices they make about what they’re going to study are based on playing it safe; there’s a feeling that they have to go for something that gives them a guaranteed A or A*.

“This very narrow focus on league tables in the long term detracts from what young people get in adult life.”

This summer, two fifths of comprehensive school pupils were entered for a modern language GCSE, compared with nine in ten from grammar schools and four-fifths from independent schools.

In Cilt’s sample, every grammar school entered at least three-quarters of its pupils for a language exam.

Spanish is soaring in popularity, at the expense of German, even though the latter is important to more employers, Ms Board said.

Spanish is seen as a more sexy and attractive to teenagers, because of pop stars like Shakira, and the number of British people living and working in Spain.

Ms Board criticised the Government for its obsession with promoting of science and maths subjects, admitting these were important but saying: “We need our linguists as well.”

She said monoglot British graduates were losing out in the jobs market to foreign competitors, and that the European Commission was desperate to employ more native English speakers fluent in another language.

Exchanges with foreign families had also suffered, Cilt said, because of head teachers and parents’ fears about safety, and also because of the recession and weakness of the pound. (Times)