Concern over the fall in number of pupils taking French and other languages leads to government inquiry
Ministers plan to review the teaching of French and other languages in schools after top universities expressed "grave concern" over GCSE results that revealed a dramatic decline in the numbers of pupils taking the subjects.
The number of pupils taking single sciences has surged, while the overall pass rate rose again to a record 69.1%. Against a backdrop of increased pressure on university places and lobbying by business leaders to encourage the take-up of single sciences in schools, entries for chemistry and physics GCSE rose by 32% in results published today, while those for biology were up 28% this year. Biology was the most popular of the three, with 129,000 taking the subject.
The number of students taking a language has dropped by a third since the government made them optional at GCSE six years ago. The decline of French has been striking; it has nearly halved to just over 170,000 entries compared with more than 300,000 in 2004, and fell out of the top 10 most popular subjects this year. More pupils choose to study geography or art for GCSE.
Spanish appears poised to overtake German at GCSE; with the numbers taking it rising to over 67,000, while German entries have fallen to around 70,000 this year. The numbers taking Mandarin, Portuguese and Polish have also risen, with the last of these thought to be fuelled by an increase in the number of pupils who are children of recent Polish migrants.
Today's results showed that private school pupils were disproportionately likely to enter for both languages and single sciences. The independent sector accounted for just 7.7% of all entries, but 15.4% of chemistry, 15.1% of biology and 14.8% of physics entries. Private schools accounted for 18.2% of Spanish entries and 15.3% of French.
Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of elite universities, said: "The sharp decline in modern foreign languages, particularly French and German, is of grave concern. Despite welcome growing interest in less traditional languages such as Chinese, Portuguese and Polish, the current uptake of foreign languages is inadequate to meet the needs of our universities, economy and society."
Piatt welcomed the rise of science as a "positive sign" that pupils recognised the growing economic importance of these subjects. "However, it is worrying that just 3.9% of pupils eligible for free school meals sat separate science GCSEs this year," she said.
"All students whether at state or independent schools should be encouraged to consider taking separate sciences at GCSE as they are important stepping stones to progression and success in A-level sciences."
A spokesman for the Department for Education said the government was "disappointed" by the decline in languages. "We intend to look at the position of languages within the curriculum as part of a curriculum review. We will announce more detailed plans in the autumn," he said.
Business leaders also expressed concern at the decline in French. A recent survey of employers for the Confederation of British Industry found that of those looking for language skills, 49% wanted French, while Chinese languages were the second most sought-after; 44% wanted Mandarin or Cantonese.
James Fothergill, head of education and skills at the CBI, said: "English has become the international language of business, which is a real benefit for the UK, but employers still tell us they value having some employees with language skills to converse with suppliers, customers or officials.
"Employers are increasingly looking for staff with conversational skills rather than full fluency, who are able to break the ice with a business partner or client."
The employers' group expressed concern at the number of students who appear to lack basic skills; more than 45,000 students in English and nearly 100,000 in maths achieved a grade F or lower. Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, said there was "a long tail of underachievement in our schools".
Libby Steele, head of education at the Royal Society, said: "The Royal Society is delighted to see more students have chosen to take GCSEs in individual science subjects, recognising the importance placed on the sciences by both universities and employers as competition for places and jobs escalates."
The intensity of university competition this year was underlined by figures publishedtoday showing that more than 180,000 university applicants are still without a place, according to the universities and colleges admissions service Ucas. This time last year, around 138,000 students were in clearing out of more than 600,000 who applied for a university place.
This year's GCSE results showed that thousands more teenagers are sitting the exams at least one year early. This summer, 11% of maths GCSE entries were taken early and 9.5% of English GCSE entries.
Boys beat girls at GCSE maths for the second year in a row, following a decision to drop coursework in the subject. The proportion of boys getting grades A* to C in maths rose again this year from 57.6% to 58.6%. The proportion of girls passing also rose, from 56.8% to 58.3%.
Boys did better than girls in biology, where the male pass rate was 93% compared with 92.7% for girls, and in physics, where 93.9% of boys passed compared with 93.4% of girls. Economics also saw a higher pass rate for boys, though only around 3,000 candidates of either sex entered.
The number of students taking religious studies has risen for the 12th year running, with more than 188,000 pupils taking it this year.
Nick McKemey, the Church of England's head of school improvement, said: "Young people are clamouring for a deeper understanding of religious perspectives on issues of the day and how moral and ethical questions are considered by the major faiths."
Schools minister Nick Gibb congratulated pupils on their results, but singled out the performance of academies. "A number of academies have achieved exceptional GCSE results, including English and maths, in areas where standards have previously been too low. For example, the Harris Federation has seen a 10 percentage points increase across all their academies, and ARK Academies have seen a 13 percentage points increase – a remarkable achievement and an example of what is possible with freedom, independence and relentless focus on raising standards for all."
Shadow education secretary Ed Balls said: "These results are a testament to the hard work of teachers and pupils and the extra investment and reforms introduced by Labour."