The annual, national Language Trends Survey report for England has been published.
The survey asks schools which modern foreign languages (MFL) are being taught, how they are being taught and what other activities support this, such as international links, International School Award and language assistants. The outcomes help shape schools’ focus on languages and to inform Government Policy.
- Click here to read the full report (headline findings are summarised below).
- There is a webinar to discuss the findings on 10th July at 5-6pm, click here for details and to register. This will involve the report author Dr Ian Collen and a panel of experts, including Bernadette Holmes, Director of the National Consortium for Languages and Suzanne O’Farrell, MFL lead for ASCL.
We encouraged schools in Newcastle to respond to the survey. We are also undertaking a detailed review of language teaching at primary and secondary level and take up (GCSE and A Level) in Newcastle with support from the City Council.
We will compare trends in the city with these national findings, but also use them to inform our work on Newcastle City of Languages, an initiative led by International Newcastle, which has been supporting the teaching and learning of languages in the city for the last three years. This seeks to improve language teaching learning and take up across the city’s schools.
Headline findings from the national Language Trends survey
The survey is conducted by British Council and Queen’s University Belfast annually with schools across England and involved contributions from over 1,300 teachers from primary, secondary state schools and independent schools. The headline findings in 2023 are summarised below.
- Almost nine out of ten responding primary schools have some pupils for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL)
- The 2023 data reflect a positive increase in the number of primary schools in contact with secondary schools concerning language education
- French remains the most popular language at Key Stage 3, followed closely by Spanish in both state and independent sectors
- German is the third most popular curricular language, but entries are much higher in the independent sector
- For the fourth year running, Spanish continues to have the highest number of A-level entries
- Schools’ international engagement is improving since the Covid-19 pandemic
- Further study is required to observe how parents’/carers’ attitudes to languages can affect pupils’ desire to study a language
The report also highlights some of the challenges in terms of language teaching and take up. This includes difficulties in Modern Foreign Language teaching at primary level (where teachers are not specialists in languages), issues around transition from primary to secondary schools and a level of take up, which is far below the government target of 90% of Year 10 students taking a modern foreign language at GCSE. Click here to read analysis of the report by TES.
Support for languages, intercultural awareness and international links in Newcastle schools
Newcastle has been a national innovator in our approach to boosting language teaching and learning. Our approach is to support interconnected activities on three strands of work: Newcastle City of Languages, Connecting Internationally and Internationalism in the City. This approach seeks to maximise the impact, opportunities and experiences for children and young people in the city.
These three workstrands are part of Our Newcastle Our World framework, which brings partners together to support the city’s ambitions. Our priority theme is ‘Newcastle as an international city for our children and young people (0-30) as confident, global citizens’, with opportunities for their development of skills which will enhance their future education, life choices and employment and career opportunities.
Click here to find out all the ways we support schools on languages, international links and intercultural experiences here and see a summary of benefits of our three workstrands below.
