Teachers unions and business leaders yesterday expressed fears about the "free fall" in the number of pupils taking modern languages at GCSE, claiming the situation was "beyond the point of no return.
A further sharp decline in entries for French and German prompted calls for a review of government policy, which controversially made modern languages optional in 2004. The number of students taking German this year fell 14.2% to 90,310 from last year, dropping below 100,000 for the first time in many years.
Entries in French fell by 13.2% to 236,189 - a drop of more than 80,000 since 2004, when the policy came into force. The figures confirm warnings that entries in languages - perceived as more difficult than "soft" subjects such as media studies - would plummet once they became optional. Between 2004 and 2005 the number of students who took French GCSE fell by 14.5% to 272,140, and for German by 13.7% to 105,288. Interest in Spanish has been more sustained, although entries fell this year by 0.5% to just 62,143.
Story taken from Guardian Friday 25 August
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