GCSEs: 'Difficult' modern languages putting pupils off

Published on December 21, 2023

By Robbie Meredith

BBC News NI education correspondent 

Modern languages are seen as difficult by pupils, which puts them off studying them for GCSE, according to teachers.

That is one of the findings of a short report into modern languages at Key Stage 3 by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI).

Key Stage 3 covers the first three years of post-primary school.

A recent study from the British Council suggested pupils in Northern Ireland were required to learn languages less than in any other country in Europe.

There has been a significant fall in the number of pupils studying languages like French and German at GCSE and A-level in recent years, according to figures published by the Northern Ireland exams board, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).

In 2018, for example, 4,251 pupils studied French for GCSE but that fell to 3,010 in 2023.

German GCSE was studied by 932 pupils in 2018, but that declined to 557 in 2023.

'Culture, food and festivals'

The Irish language organisation Gael Linn also recently warned that students were missing out because of "ineffective policy for the teaching of languages at primary and post-primary levels".

The just-published ETI report looked at how languages were taught to pupils aged 11-14 in 12 unnamed schools.

Inspectors spoke to staff in those schools and more than 100 pupils to find out what worked well in encouraging pupils to learn languages.

They found that pupils enjoyed fun activities like games, quizzes and competitions and also working in pairs or groups to help them learn languages.

Pupils said they particularly enjoyed learning to speak another language and being taught about the culture, food and festivals of different countries.

Those learning Irish said they found time spent in the Gaeltacht valuable.

But the ETI report also identified a number of challenges to language learning in schools.

For instance, teachers said that pupils still saw languages as difficult to study and get good grades when compared to other subjects.

"Despite their best efforts to promote languages and make the pupils' learning experiences at Key Stage 3 meaningful and enjoyable, the teachers report that the perceived difficulty of studying, and achieving well in, modern languages is a key reason why pupils do not choose languages at Key Stage 4," the report said.

In 2019, CCEA began a review into whether GCSE and A-level languages were marked too severely in response to concerns from schools.

But the results of that investigation have not yet been published.

Pupils who had learnt languages at primary school also said they were more confident in post-primary language lessons.

However, learning a second language is not compulsory for pupils in primaries in Northern Ireland.

A scheme to teach primary pupils additional languages was scrapped by the Department of Education (DE) due to financial cuts in 2015.

The director of Initial Teacher Education at Queen's University Belfast (QUB), Dr Ian Collen, said the ETI report confirmed that teachers were doing an excellent job.

But he said that not enough pupils were choosing to continue with a language after Key Stage 3.

"From my research, this is mostly due to the nature and content of external examinations, as well as the way GCSEs in modern languages from CCEA are marked and graded," he said.

"There is a need to urgently review the content of the GCSE in modern languages, the mode of assessment and young people need to be assured that their learning will be appropriately rewarded.

"I would urge the Department of Education to make publicly available the CCEA review of grading in modern languages, in the interest of all learners."