The big question: Why are fewer students choosing to study foreign languages at GCSE?

Why are we asking this question now?

Yesterday's GCSE results showed another alarming drop in the number of candidates taking a modern foreign language exam. French fell by 13.2 per cent since last year to 236,189 - meaning just over one in three youngsters in the age cohort had sat it. German went down by 14.2 per cent to 90,311 and even Spanish, which has shown a rise in recent years, fell by 0.5 per cent to 62,143. According to heads and teachers' leaders, the slump will mean a reduction in pupils' job opportunities when they leave school.

What has caused the decline?

The main reason is the Government's decision, which came into force two years ago, to make languages a voluntary subject on the national curriculum from the age of 14. This year's cohort are the first to have gone through the two years of GCSE study with this edict in place.

There are other contributory factors, too. While language take-up has declined, subjects like media, film and TV studies (up 25.9 per cent to 56,521 this year) have shown an increase - prompting headteachers' leaders to warn that some schools are encouraging pupils to take subjects which are perceived to be easier so as to boost their ranking in government exam league tables. There is also research to show that employers when looking to fill a vacancy are less likely to look for a candidate's languages qualifications than their passes in maths and English. This message, it is argued, has also got through to schools with the result that they are less likely to push a child into taking languages.

How else has the decision effected language teaching?

According to a survey by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching, two thirds of state schools no longer make languages compulsory from the age of 14. The study shows a stark divide between the state and independent sector - where 97 per cent of schools still make languages compulsory. It has led language teachers to warn that language learning is becoming a preserve of the middle classes, with struggling inner city schools the most likely to abandon compulsory lessons.

Since 2001, the year before ministers made the decision to make the subject voluntary, figures have shown that - while the number of GCSE's being taken has increased by 100,000, French has decreased from 347,007 to 236, 189 (a drop of 32 per cent) and German gone down from 135,133 to 90,311 (a decrease of 33 per cent). Interestingly, though, the impact on A-level take-up is not so great with both French and German registering an improvement in take-up this summer. The feeling is the high-flyers are still sticking with the subject and taking it through to A-level - enhancing the idea that it is becoming a middle-class preserve.

Why, then, did the Government take its decision?

Ministers will privately admit they had not realised the extent to which languages provision would decline when they first decided to make it voluntary. But there were concerns expressed at the time. The ambassadors to the UK of France, Spain, Germany and Italy combined to warn - through an interview in The Independent - that it would have catastrophic consequences. They also revealed that it was becoming harder to continue with cultural exchanges between schools because there were fewer in the UK with sufficient language provision to make them worthwhile. This, they argued, had the potential for diminishing the UK's standing in Europe because the country was being seen as the language "dunce" of Europe.

Notwithstanding this, the Government went ahead with its decision as it was worried by its inability to cut truancy rates amongst 14 to 16-year-olds. Ministers argued that there was no point in forcing youngsters who had no interest in languages to study the subject. If they were bored with the curriculum, they would simply bunk off school. As a palliative to the languages lobby, they launched a major drive to improve the take-up of languages in primary school - announcing that, from the end of the decide, every child would have the right to learn a language from the age of seven. For the first time, too, they started training language teachers to work in primary schools. Ministers also introduces a languages ladder learning scheme - which works like music in that you can take a grade exam in the subject whenever you are ready for it - to supplement GCSE's.

Is this enough?

No, and ministers would acknowledge this. The primary school initiative has seen a rise in the take-up amongst seven-year-olds, with more than one-in-four primary schools now offering the subject. The trouble, teachers argue, is they will not work their way through to taking GCSEs for nine years - leaving language teaching in the doldrums for far too long.

As a result of the slump last year, Jacqui Smith, the then Schools Minister, wrote to all secondary schools asking them to set a target for getting at least 50 per cent of their pupils to take a language at GCSE. The target - which was not legally binding - came into force immediately and schools were told that Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, would consider whether they had reached it in making their inspection report on a school. This year's results would seem to indicate a large number of state schools have failed to reach the target.

What are the implications of this trend?

Economically, it may reduce the UK's effectiveness in competing in the global market. Many foreign customers are unimpressed by the fact that Britons they deal with have little or no language skills. Culturally, our children are being deprived of a necessary tool to explore and understand the wider world.

Can we reverse this decline?

An inquiry into language teaching - set up by the Nuffield Foundation and chaired by Sir Trevor MacDonald, the ITN newscaster - reported that the situation would only improve if a language qualification (ie at GCSE level) was made compulsory for anyone seeking to study for a degree in higher education.

Is it necessary for our young people to learn languages?

Yes...

* The future of our economy depends on our being able to communicate in a global market

* We will be able to understand fully the beliefs of people in other countries only if we can speak their languages

* It is inequitable that language learning is becoming the exclusive preserve of the middle classes

No...

* Most people in other countries speak English as it has become the universal language for business and entertainment

* Youngsters aged between 14 and 16 who are bored with school will be further alienated if they are forced to study languages

* The fastest rising top-grade passes in GCSEs are in French and German, which shows the high flyers are still choosing languages

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