Poorer students more likely to miss out on studying a language at GCSE
The University of Cambridge found that poorer students are concentrated in schools that give languages lower priority
Students from less wealthy backgrounds are more likely to attend schools where learning a language to GCSE is treated as optional – and not necessarily strongly encouraged – new research shows.
The University of Cambridge study of 615 state schools in England found that while socio-economic background does not significantly affect students’ desire to study languages, poorer students are concentrated in schools that give languages lower priority.
This reduces their chances of studying a language after age 14.
The research found a seven percentage point gap between the proportion of disadvantaged students at schools where languages were optional at GCSE, and at those where they were considered ‘core’.
In schools where languages were core, 82.6% of students studied a language to GCSE, compared with 52.7% in EBacc pathway schools and 31.9% where languages were optional.
These findings suggest that disadvantaged students have been most affected by the national decline in language study since 2004, when GCSE languages stopped being compulsory. In 2023/4, only 45.7% of eligible students in England took a language GCSE, compared with 97.9% of upper secondary students in the EU.
The study, published in The Language Learning Journal, was led by Dr Karen Forbes, Associate Professor in Second Language Education at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education.
Forbes said it raised concerns about widening inequalities in language learning. “It seems obvious, but surely all children should have the same opportunity to learn a language,” she said. “In practice, for less wealthy students these subjects are often de-emphasised. If this is not addressed, the national decline in language learning will continue and probably accelerate.”
“When schools frame languages as useful and important the students pick up on this,” she said. “Offering a wider range of languages also gives them a choice, and they are more likely to be motivated if they are studying a language they have actively chosen.”