We will be giving more information about this year’s school exam results for the UK nations when we have the details.
Provisional entries for 2022 in Modern Foreign Languages at A-level in England show some modest increases over the previous year. This is in line with a general increase in A-level entries from 2021 of 4.2% which is partially explained by a small increase in the cohort of 18 year olds. Spanish numbers went from 8465 to 8640, French numbers dropped slightly from 7725 to 7440, German numbers increased from 2525 to 2675. Those taking other Modern Foreign Languages went from 5315 to 5385.
In Scotland, the picture is a little different with figures from Scottish CILT showing that the number of young people studying Languages at Higher level has fallen significantly. 505 pupils took German in 2922 compared to 780 in 2020. 2500 took French in 2022 compared to 3165 in 2020. 2465 took Spanish in 2022 compared to 2900 in 2020. One reason for the decline may be the affordability of language teaching in schools.
Source: Scottish CILT https://scilt.org.uk/News/NewsView/tabid/1311/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/14874/SQA-results-huge-drop-in-students-studying-higher-languages-and-sciences.aspx
The following link provides further information, and a statement from the ALL President Professor Kim Bower:
https://mailchi.mp/all-languages.org.uk/allnet-18-august-2022-alevel-results