In spite of the increasing demand for modern language skills, we are still witnessing a decline in the teaching of modern languages in our schools. Last year only 48% of GCSE students took at least one modern language – all this, even though the new EBACC aims to get 90% of students taking a language qualification by 2020. It would appear that schools have not got the message being sent to them from employers and central government. Sadly, this is because too many schools are still trapped in the data-driven, target focussed philosophy of the Blair years… i.e. languages are hard, so let’s encourage our students to take sociology or religious studies instead, boosting our performance in the league tables!!
As a result of this lack of foresight, universities are taking matters into their own hands. Many institutions, aware of the lack of language provision in schools, are offering students the opportunity to learn languages from scratch or ab initio. In the past, it was fairly common for universities to offer ab initio degrees in Russian or perhaps Chinese, as few students could be expected to learn such languages at school. Such courses traditionally served a purpose for undergraduates who wished to supplement a language they had already learnt at school, with a new one. However, now, it is possible to learn Spanish, German or even French from scratch at university, both as a “minor” subject or as a joint honours. This year Oxford University has introduced ab initio German, an understandable move as German teaching in schools had become something of an endangered species.
Nevertheless, these new developments don’t necessarily mean a boost to modern languages, more a welcome initiative for those already studying a language. This is not a revival, just a greater amount of flexibility afforded to those already interested in studying languages. The problem of language teaching in UK schools remains. Counteracting the decline in language teaching is a welcome move, but we are still not reversing a worrying trend.