Grade boundaries for language A levels should be adjusted to ensure there is a “level playing field” for students taking these subjects, according to a coalition of organisations.
New post-16 qualifications should also be introduced to boost the take-up of languages and the grading and content for GCSE and A-level exams in languages should be reviewed, a report says.
The coalition, the British Academy, British Council, Universities UK and the Association of School and College Leaders, argues that language learning is vital to the pandemic recovery.
Languages: Mixed picture of A-level entries
News: Gove’s GCSEs widened disadvantage gap, data suggests
Research: ‘Huge gender gap’ in languages GCSE results
A number of proposals are being made to the government to boost the number of students studying languages at school, college and university, which has fallen drastically in recent years.
The report also calls for an extension of ambassador and mentor schemes, as well as the creation of further intensive schemes for language learning.
It says: “We recommend the adjustment of grade boundaries for language qualifications at both A level and GCSE to ensure a level playing field for students taking these subjects.”
In November last year, Ofqual, the exams regulator in England, announced that grading standards in French and German GCSEs would be adjusted this year.
But the coalition says grades should also be adjusted at A level so they are “not unduly severe”.
“There is extremely wide and strong support for such a change from higher education and from teachers, who highlight the negative impact severe grading has on them and on pupils’ judgement of their own success,” the report says.
The coalition is also calling for an Advanced Languages Premium to be introduced by the government for post-16 study as an incentive to schools that have low levels of take-up.
“At a time when languages are disappearing fast from post-16 provision, especially in disadvantaged areas, this measure is urgently needed to prevent post-16 language teaching from closing altogether,” the report adds.
Professor Neil Kenny, the British Academy’s languages lead, said there had never been “a more pressing need” to take a strategic approach to language learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Languages should not just be for the socially advantaged, but for everyone. We must act soon to make this a reality,” he added.
Vivienne Stern, director of Universities UK International, said: “International collaboration has been a vital part of the UK’s response to Covid-19, and will be a cornerstone of its recovery.
“If the UK Government is serious about their ambitions for a global Britain, we must upskill our graduates with the linguistic and cultural understanding to shape an outward-looking, post-Covid and post-Brexit UK.”
