School not offering Spanish GCSE because it's too hard

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DS has really enjoyed French in Yr 7 and was looking forward to doing Spanish in Yr 9. However, the school have announced they won't be offering it as the new GCSE exam is too difficult and they wouldn't be able to get the children to the required standard in two years.

Anyone else's school doing this?
Are the school being reasonable or is it a cop out?

The school my twins go too has stopped offering Spanish as they can't get a teacher. They had real trouble getting the kids to exam standard last year when the Spanish teacher left. They ended up with a weird half-swap set up going on with another school who were struggling to get a Mandarin teacher.

This is such a shame. Look for a language academy or a private tutor and your son could study Spanish outside of school. If he has enjoyed French and is prepared to work hard there's no reason he wouldn't be able to pass the GCSE. You could show him the DuoLingo app (free) to start getting a taste of the language.

Pressed send too soon! If they can't get the teachers then they can't offer the subject.

Far better for a school/head to accept and admit this than try and cobble through a subject with teachers who can't teach it because they don't know it.

That sounds like a total cop out to me. Too hard? Only if you don't teach it properly.

I read languages at university, one of which was Spanish, and compared with, say, German, it is very easy. If your son has already made a head start with French, Spanish really shouldn't pose a problem. New GCSE or not, the linguistic ability expected at GCSE level is so basic that two years and a decent teacher should be plenty.

TuttiFrutti

Only if you don't teach it properly.

Yes the school said that they cannot teach it properly in two years, it was in the OP post

lala- the school has the MFL teachers, that's not the problem. They've said the new GCSE is too difficult.

LockedOut - thanks very much for info on the app, we'll take a look.

I don't really want the expense of private tutoring for something I think his state school should be offering. We're in the catchment of a grammar school and I would have considered putting him in for the 11+ had I known his (excellent) comp where doing to stop offering Spanish.

*were

or was, even. God I shouldn't try to type in this heat!

The school is talking out of its arse. Given a good teacher, Spanish is very easy to pick up after a 3 yr grounding in French or any other Romance language. I did Spanish O' level in 2 yrs that was after 3 yrs of French and went on to get a B in both languages at A' level plus a German O' level that I started in 6th form

Another option would be to do an ab initio course at college. If he has aptitude for language he will find that fairly straightforward.

Ours is dropping it because they can't get another Spanish teacher after the last one resigned and the new exam is too difficult for the current mfl teacher to teach with just her A Level in Spanish from 1990.

I have no suggestion really but my DD has taught herself Polish online (mixture of youtube and duolingo type course) and has a Polish pen pal, the school have agreed she can apply to do a GCSE in it if I pay for it, which we will. Can your DS do something similar?

MFL teacher here.

The new style GCSE exam is very rigorous and the content to be covered is more than 2 years work at an average of 2 hours per week. Some aspects of it are very A level like.
MFL has been proven to be the hardest GCSE to get a half decent grade in.

If they start in year 9 then they would have 3 years to teach it not 2.

Perhaps they find maths a bit hard too ?

I suspect it is an excuse because they can't afford staff and as the requirement is to offer an MFL it easier for them to offer only one or two because most MFL teachers I know usually teach. Perhaps yours only knows French or French and German.

the school has the MFL teachers, that's not the problem. They've said the new GCSE is too difficult.

It doesn't sound like they have teachers who can teach Spanish to the standard though.

DD's school have a full cohort of MFL teachers - it's just that none of them can teach Spanish to the required standard so they stick to teaching other languages.

That sounds like a total cop out to me. Too hard? Only if you don't teach it properly

MFL has been a shortage area for years now. Even where I live in a very much poorer part of the country where shortages haven't affected us, this year every high school in my town has advertised for a MFL teacher.

The new spec is tough. It needs time to embed. I would suggest the school is being cautious in that if they go for it, end up with supply teachers/maternity leaves/NQT doing it for the first time, the results will potentially be awful. There is then a knock-on effect on Progress 8 scores. Are they due Ofsted?

Our current year 10s on the new spec are a worry because they were taught to old spec standards further down the school. My current top set year 7 have been taught very differently because we know what's coming and have made the adjustments. I wouldn't personally want to do this new spec in 2 years with anyone other than the very, very brightest until we've run it through a couple of times and can see proper,y what we need to do.

So please stop insulting us with the idea that we are shit teachers or Spanish is easy until you've actually considered the full picture. It sounds a sensible, cautious move on the part of the school and probably reflects current staffing.,

I'm an MFL teacher and Jane has articulated my thoughts beautifully.

Jane - I repeat, it's not a staffing issue. They don't offer German, just French and Spanish. The HoD is a Spanish graduate.

DS is gagging to drop some subjects in Yr 9 but might end up having to do geography or DT in order to fill his timetable as the school like pupils to do 10 GCSEs. I gather this is the norm?

He wanted to do GCSE PE but found out his individual sport, martial arts, is no longer accepted.

YES. Consider that the school know what they're talking about!

the school has the MFL teachers, that's not the problem

Should also say, MFL teacher in post is not necessarily the same as having MFL teacher able to teach to the required standard. Many MFL teachers have a strong and a weaker language. Schools try to recruit the right mix but with shortages, it can be difficult. You need someone with fluency to be able to teach properly, and not everyone does. Some schools will have MFL teachers who trained in a different subject but just happen to speak French 'cos they lived there for a year. As such, their pedagogical knowledge re: MFL may be lacking.

It really isn't as simple as Spanish is easy, there are enough teachers.

The HoD is a Spanish graduate

Who may be required for other exam classes and can't be expected to teach all exam classes.

The new GCSE in mfl is a lot harder than previous, even this years.
The newest one is similar in content to the previous AS level.
Several mfl teachers have told me this and I read it on tes too.

My dd is learning Italian outside school and we have found that the content is the same whatever the language, so it is possible to get to a decent standard in one language and just transfer the topics to another.

using good apps and maybe an online course should be enough to get to the stage where kids only need the minimum of tuition, especially if they are motivated and able to learn independently.

Devil - so every other high school will be dropping Spanish GCSE?

No. Every other high school will be making decisions based on their current staffing situations, whatever 'risk management' they have in place to manage the unexpected, recent recruitment experiences (e.g. only got 2 totally unsuitable applicants or 15 entirely suitable applicants), proximity of next Ofsted visit, the need to manage Progress 8 scores and the complexity of the new spec.

I did Spanish O' level

Wow, comparing a 30 year old exam (ish) to one that is not even similar to one taken with the same name 2 years ago.

FFS