Schools Week<\/em> found 29 per cent of respondents reported their schools had cut down on languages provision since November\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\nMore than a quarter of the 995 teachers surveyed (27 per cent) have reduced the number of pupils expected or encouraged to take a language at GCSE.<\/p>\n
The polling suggests 7 per cent of schools have reduced curriculum time for languages at key stages 3 or 4, while 6 per cent have reduced the number of languages they offer at GCSE.<\/p>\n
Just 3 per cent of schools expanded their language provision, and 7 per had planned to make changes before November last year.<\/p>\n
Disadvantaged pupils worse off<\/h2>\n Professor Ren\u00e9 Koglbauer, a trustee of the Association for Language Learning, said the association was \u201chearing from more members than ever who are deeply concerned\u201d about decisions \u201cthat are squeezing languages out of the picture\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these changes will hit GCSE uptake as early as September, with the longer\u2011term impact becoming visible over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data also suggests disadvantaged students are slightly more likely to be affected.<\/p>\n
Thirty-five per cent of respondents from schools with high free school meals (FSM) eligibility reported cuts, decreasing to 26 per cent of those with low FSM rates.<\/p>\n
Schools with the highest number of FSM pupils were also three times more likely to reduce the number of languages offered at GCSE, with 9 per cent doing so.<\/p>\n
Private schools were far less likely to reduce their provision, with just 8 per cent reducing the number of pupils expected to take a language at GCSE (compared with 28 per cent of state schools).<\/p>\n
They were also more likely to have expanded their language provision (5 per cent), or to have made changes before the EBacc announcement was made (11 per cent).<\/p>\n
Primary schools struggle<\/h2>\n Pepe Di\u2019Iasio, the general secretary of the leaders\u2019 union ASCL, said the results of the survey were \u201cdeeply worrying\u201d, but that the greater underlying issue was the \u201cdecline in language learning more generally\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimary schools can struggle to access the specialist language teachers required to foster learning at an early age, while the foreign trips and study programmes that help bring languages alive are being cut due to funding pressures and the cost of living for families.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of this, languages are often perceived as being more challenging subjects to achieve a higher grade at GCSE.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to revitalise languages, we need to develop a funded languages strategy that spans primary and secondary and that is rooted in breaking down barriers to languages and building enthusiasm for these subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The EBacc, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2011, measured schools on the proportion of pupils that entered five core subject groups, including one foreign language.<\/p>\n
Koglbauer said while the EBacc \u201cinitially boosted language uptake\u201d, it declined again after progress 8 was introduced and then stabilised when the 2019 Ofsted framework was established.<\/p>\n
Languages \u2018squeezed out’<\/h2>\n Caroline Voaden, the Liberal Democrat\u2019s education spokesperson and education committee member, said her party had \u201cwarned that the government\u2019s curriculum changes would see languages squeezed out\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith school budgets now pushed to the brink by Labour\u2019s unfunded commitments, it is no surprise that schools are being forced to make these damaging cuts in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cA world-class education must include languages. By settling for a narrow curriculum, this government is failing to prepare students for the global world they will enter.”<\/p>\n
The Lib Dems previously called for an expanded EBacc that would \u201celevat[e] arts and creative subjects\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cross-bench peer Valerian Freyberg said that while getting rid of the EBacc was good for the arts overall, it carried \u201ca real cost\u201d for languages.<\/p>\n
Judith Blake, a government whip and Labour peer, said the government wanted to start at primary level by updating key stage 2 languages and exploring the development of a new flexible languages qualification.<\/p>\n
The Department for Education was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Language learning is continuing to decline with many schools cutting down further<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316072,"featured_media":245156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[722],"post-theme":[2961],"class_list":["post-245385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-languages","post-theme-curriculum"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
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