Making a foreign language a mandatory GCSE is ill-considered at best (much like the new school measures, but that's a different subject which I briefly touch on later).
Let's look at this logically.
The purpose of education, as defined by the DfE, is:
- Economic
- Cultural
- To prep for adult life
So, how does a foreign language fit into that?
Economic - Nope. The fact is, 99.99% of school leavers will not need to know another language to succeed in business. Even if they end up working with people from other countries (like I have) the language of business is English. That's why most other countries learn English. In some rare circumstances, language knowledge would be useful, but the chances of the language learnt in school being the same one as required later in life is slim to none, assuming, of course, that you can remember any of it when the time comes.
Cultural - Nope. I really can't see how picking on one country is going to broaden your cultural horizons that much. I can see why people in non-English speaking countries would learn the language - there's so much TV, Film etc broadcast in English. On the travel front, English is spoken natively in so many countries, and is a common language in many non-English speaking countries too. You would have to question the logic of learning any other, especially as there are so many to choose from. I've travelled the world and got on fine with just English. I'm not talking package holidays here, I'm talking trekking jungles and rain forests. Did I miss out? - no. And before you argue that I probably did, but I just didn't realise, my foreign language option in the 80s was French. Out of the scores of countries I have visited, French may have helped in just 4 (that includes Canada, so I'm scraping the barrel on that one). Perhaps when it came to obscure things on the menus in out of town restaurants it would have, but all you need to do is ask the waiter (plus, now-a-days, there's an app for that!). Talking of apps, you can now do real-time translation. It's even built into the beta version of Skype. Think where that will be in 5 years.
Preparation for adult life - Err, no. I struggle to see how a foreign language would practically help at all here. So much so, I'm not going to write anymore.
When it boils down to it, given we already speak English, there are far better things children could be learning at school to support the 3 'purposes of education'.
For native English speakers, I feel that learning another language is an intellectual indulgence. Something you may do later in life, either for fun or to support a specific career or a move to a retirement country. Unless you have the opportunity to practice a language, you forget it.
Yes, in other European countries, they all learn English and many are bi-lingual. That's not because they have a better education system, it's because it's in the economic interest of the countries to learn English. It's the language of commerce, the language of travel and easily practiced due to the disproportionate amount of English media available. Learning English gives you an immediate and sustainable advantage in the world. It just so happens it's our native tongue, so let's use the 'saved' time for something else. As for the points people have made about learning a foreign language helping you in English, that, from my harrowing experience, is utter nonsense.
Now, let's move on to the fact that some children simply have no aptitude for languages (including English, like me). It's simply going to be a waste of time them being in these classes. Not only for them, but also for the other children attending, as the 'strugglers' will end up disrupting the rest of the class. Believe me, there NOTHING more demotivating or humiliating than struggling with a language. For me, it just killed languages for good (perhaps the reason why I feel so strongly about this). For others, it could destroy a child's confidence in other subjects too. It nearly did for me. In fact, I had to take GCSE English 3 times to scrape a C so I could go on to Uni. Post Uni, I've had a great career in technology.
Sure, if after 3 years, you find that you enjoy the language, then carry on to do a GCSE. If not, do something else. Something you enjoy, or have an aptitude for, or, perhaps even something that will help you get a job.
Now onto the EBAC and School Ratings.
A language is mandatory for all pupils starting year 7 in September 2015.
School ratings will be (erroneously - another subject) calculated based on 8 GCSE results. There needs to be at least 5 EBAC subjects in that score - Maths, English, Science, History/Geography and a foreign language. The remaining 3 can be from other subjects (and not necessarily GCSE subjects either).
The score from the maths result will be doubled (fair enough, it's important).
The score from the English result is ONLY doubled IF English Lit is also taken as a subject. If English Lit is taken, the best result from either Lang or Lit is doubled, and the worst result can be used in the overall rating calculation too.
As a result of this 'odd' rule, English Lit gets a disproportionate weighing. Mix in the compulsory language, and people like me who struggle with language, will be screwed. How does that fit in with the three purpose of education points? - spoiler alert, it doesn't.
So, with this rating system, it's mathematically advantageous for a school to force pupils to sit English Lit. Fair enough if they can sit the exam without having to attend any lessons, or have any impact on other, more useful subjects. But, it's a terrible performance methodology if doing Eng Lit prevents a pupil from doing other subjects or overloads them in other ways.
For the record, I'm terrible at language (including English), but excel in mathematics and science. I have an exceptional career in advanced technology and I'm making a significant contribution to this country's economy. Given the way technology is advancing, not wanting (and failing) to sound arrogant, this country will need more people like me in the future. The new EBAC and school rating system would put me at the bottom of the heap. I would fail. People like me would fail. If this is the route we are going down, we will just have to hope that people who can quote Shakespeare in French can find the cure for cancer.
Hmm, I was going to leave it there, but that last comment was a bit harsh. I guess the point I was trying to make was that the economy does not need a bias in language skills, not that they are totally redundant. It's all about balance and these latest changes are not balanced.