Class divide' in languages as dropout rates rise

Allowing schoolchildren to drop languages at age 14 is reinforcing an existing class divide, warns a report from national education bodies. Schools with more pupils on free school meals are making languages optional, and in some cases dropout rates from GCSE language courses are extremely high - from 50% to 90%.

The decline in languages at school is having a knock-on impact on universities and an "alarming effect" on national capability, with some areas of the country left without teaching in minority languages, says the report Language Trends 2003 by the Association for Language Learning, the National Centre for Languages (Cilt) and the University Council of Modern Languages.

"The results confirm last year's findings that the policy is having a disproportionate effect on lower ability pupils, and that schools with high percentages of pupils on free school meals and low GCSE pass rates are more likely to have withdrawn languages from the compulsory curriculum," says the report.

It adds that 70% of responding schools with more than 10% of pupils on free school meals had made languages optional, as opposed to 31% of the rest. Some 67% of responding schools with half or fewer of their pupils gaining 5 A*-C at GCSE had made languages optional, whereas only 38% of schools with higher attaining pupils had done so.

The report continues: "This is of crucial concern in a globalising economy in which the need for language skills is not limited to managerial and professional jobs but is growing at all levels in the workforce."

One teacher commented: "It concerns me that so many able children don't opt for languages given a free choice - because of option clashes, perceived difficulty and more 'attractive' subjects. Many very able pupils are dropping languages because they are set against 'easier' options."

Another teacher who replied to the survey said: "languages will become even more ?lite."

In some, albeit isolated, cases drop out was extremely high. One school reported 40% of pupils in Year 11 not studying a language (last year's option choices), rising to 90% for Year 10 (this year's).This school also reported knock-on effects in Key Stage 3, with curriculum time being reduced for lower ability groups.

Of the schools that had made languages optional this year, 51% reported that more than half of their pupils had dropped out of language study in Year 10. The dropout rate was particularly high where pupils had been given a completely free choice.

A teacher reported: "Pupils are already saying in Year 8 that they do not see the point of working hard at languages because they do not intend to opt for them anyway."

The organisations warn: "Clearly, damage is being done to languages departments in this situation. Schools should be warned against introducing ill-considered options systems which will weaken their ability to offer high quality teaching in Key Stage 3 and have a detrimental effect on the motivation of pupils at all levels.

"However, there are also cases where large numbers of pupils are successfully studying languages within an optional framework and this good practice can be researched further and disseminated."

A decrease in French and German provision was reported by the sampled schools, with a small rise in Spanish which appears to be replacing German as the second foreign language taught.

"There are serious concerns over the future of German, particularly in view of the fact that British companies place it high in the order of languages which they need."

The report notes the rise of additional language courses at universities where young people studying other degrees try to catch up with a language - and predicts a boom in "second-chance linguists" who failed to take languages at 14 and deeply regret the decision when they get to 18.