England’s national curriculum review misses opportunity to revitalise language learning

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The decline of languages education in England is a familiar and depressing story. Take-up of French at GCSE is down from 25% in 2009-10 to 18% in 2024-25. German has halved in the same period from 10% to 5%.

There is also a significant gap in take-up at GCSE by disadvantaged pupils (34%) compared with those from more privileged backgrounds (50%).