Is it bad to not have a language GCSE?

[Tacocatgoatcheesepizza]

DS(yr9) has been doing German (and Spanish) for the last year, and selected it for one of his options. Today he’s been told that less than 10 children in the year chose it so they will not be able to offer the course. He does not enjoy Spanish and is not interested in doing the GCSE. They don’t do any other languages.

His school do not require students to pick a language option! Is that normal now? When I was at school everyone had to do a language as one of their GCSEs!

Lots of students drop a language GCSE.
unless he wants to study it for A level, I wouldn’t worry

When I was at school a language was compulsory too, but these days we have things like Duolingo, Babel, etc. If your son wants to learn German he can easily learn it himself as a hobby and keep the school options free for other subjects available.

Yep normal now. My DD hasn’t chosen to do the language option. There was only Spanish available and she’s not interested in that, so she’s not doing it at all. I do think it’s a bit sad really.

I could have dropped French but the alternative was GCSE PE and I hated that more than French.
I left school 35 years ago - complete with that Grade D in French. I have barely had a need to speak French in those 35 years.

My ds is at private school and he/we made the decision for him to give up French at the beginning of year 9. He was never going to do it at GCSE and it was taking up way too much time. Very pleased with our decision.

It won't affect him for things like uni applications, at the end of the day his school are not offering it anyway. It is sad that they don't especially when your Ds wants to take it.

Mine were both forced to take it, different languages so couldn't even help each other. They did achieve grade 8s but because it was forced and not setted unlike the other compulsory subjects, there was a lot of messing around in class by the lower ability students which really disrupted their learning.

I was first year of GCSE and it wasn’t compulsory to take a language GCSE then and my two boys at 24 and 19 never did.

It’s never held me back and certainly hasn’t held them back.

I knew I was never going to need a language for my chosen career. The only languages I needed to know was programming languages and I know a tonne of them.

If you’re not a natural linguist then language GCSEs are like torture. Also the grade boundaries are artificially high as bilingual dc go in and ace it.

This attitude towards MFL really gets up my nose.

My daughters school dropped French at the start of year 10 and offered her Spanish but she didn't want to start a new language from scratch for GCSE so I've paid for a tutor, but I'm not happy about it as the school just can't be bothered to employ a new French teacher after the previous one left.

I couldn’t disagree more!
I’m part of the way through my language GCSE exams and am stunned by how easy each paper is. A lot easier than the science GCSEs and A levels I did originally!

I think some schools make it compulsory/compulsory for high achievers as it means they qualify for the EBac which is a stat they can quote

A GCSE language is not to a high enough level to be useful in the workplace without taking it further.

Definitely better to take another subject they enjoy and get a good grade that feel they need take a language and end up with a lower grade

I don’t think this is unusual but pretty shameful IMO

The Ebacc thing did for a few years encourage schools to get kids to do an MFL but I believe it’s no longer a thing

our school does basically make all of them take one, in year 9, and I’m very grateful for that

in Wales, Welsh Language GCSE is compulsory, which means many students don't have the opportunity to chose another language (due to their 'Options' columns, which i think is a shame. I think Welsh should be as optional as French, German, Latin etc so students can chose the language they are most interested in.

Lots of school don’t have qualified language teachers, so unless that is what they want to do at A’Level or uni it’s not an issue.

Schools are struggling to recruit language teachers. Its not they cant be bothered...

Its a shame they wont do it with 10 students.

My CV says "10 GCSES A-C including.." and I only list my maths and English specific grades. So no, it has never been relevant that one of them is in a language.
I also could in no way hold my own in that language now and most of the GCSEs did nothing for me really apart from being "study practice" for further education. The actual subjects aren't important.

MFL teacher here- no it’s not compulsory in most schools anymore. However to those saying it is too hard/ not useful- genuinely, the new specifications for French and Spanish are really accessible, and there is a lot more of what I would call “immediately useful” vocabulary- how to order in a restaurant, book a hotel etc. Plus 2 out of the 4 exams are mostly multiple choice! I genuinely don’t think it’s any harder than other subjects, and it can provide a welcome relief from all the essay-based subjects.

Also- Duolingo etc- NOT the same.

So sad they won't run it with 10 students! The last two schools I've worked in have made it compulsory for most students. I do think even if it's not your strongest subject, there is real value in learning the links between words, resilience in going in to do the speaking and listening exams and also just lessens the attitude of everything revolving around English speakers. As @Platypus7 said, the new spec is much more accessible!

@JaneDSE9 was it actually that the school couldn't be bothered? Genuine question as they may have struggled to recruit. When I went on mat leave we only had two candidates apply and both were pretty shocking in different ways. They had to rejig the timetable to make sure my mat cover didn't have much to do with GCSE classes and that those were planned by another teacher at least.

Edit: just to add, I can see how it being increasingly difficult to recruit competent MFL teachers will make it less likely that schools will make language GCSEs compulsory. A sad state of affairs for MFL! Also kids in my state school perform above the national average in MFL and it is compulsory.

My previous comment was quoting someone who basically thought it’s pointless doing now language because “everyone speaks English these days”
and was in response to that sentiment.

My comment was not about the original post, just to be clear!

Im a firm believer in MFL and studied 2 up to A level. I could still get by 30 years later and I’m
actually studying another different language now as an adult as I see this one being of more benefit in my life. I found that learning French at school/college has also helped when I’m
in other countries using Latin based language as French gave me an awareness of the root words which quite often are very similar.

One of my children hates English so I was quite pleasantly surprised that they absolutely love French at school.

Its a pity it’s not compulsory these days because it breeds the lazy mentality of people thinking that everyone speaks English.

I looked at this thread earlier and there was a post saying "everyone speaks English now anyway" – it seems to have disappeared but anyway – that's no reason not to take MFL GCSE. And it's not true (obviously). As if the only reason to study an MFL is so you can be understood when you meet ppl who speak that language. What about learning about the culture and life of another country – and yes, even at GCSE level you will do that to some extent.

Anyway. MFL is my subject, I taught at secondary and still tutor and I love the subject so much. @Tacocatgoatcheesepizza I am so sad that your DC's school is not running MFL GCSE – what a terrible indictment of the UK that the school cannot persuade more than 10 YP to study German. Oh dear.

Rest assured that not having MFL GCSE will not make a difference in the sense that it is not needed for A level or degree study (apart from studying German! but no UK uni asks for a GCSE in MFL for any unrelated degree). It’s a shame though and I would encourage you and him to continue with German if he can. Duolingo yes tho it is not the same as learning the language properly; or maybe taking the GCSE outside school?

I agree with PPs who say the current (it's new for this year's exam) spec is accessible and also relevant. I really rate it.

Oh and this: If you’re not a natural linguist then language GCSEs are like torture. Also the grade boundaries are artificially high as bilingual dc go in and ace it.

Anyone thinking of taking MFL GCSE will be glad to know that this from @weareallcats is just not true. GCSE language is not torture, it is a skill and you can learn how to do well in it if you want to. And my goodness you do not need to be a native speaker. Not even slightly. Perfectly possible to gain a grade 9 with ability and hard work (so pretty much like any GCSE). I cannot stress this enough – in no way is native speaker-level ability expected (it's not even expected at A level, as the spec makes clear). In fact I have conducted speaking exams when native speakers have really come a cropper. The GBs are not artificially high. In AQA German in 2024 for a 9 you needed 84%; for a 9 in PE 79%; for a 9 in maths 91%; for French 82%; for Eng lit 86%; for history 79%. A fair range but no sign that MFL is excessively high.

Thank you all for your replies, I feel a little better (albeit sad) knowing that it is common now not to do a mfl. Having said that, I think ds is coming round to the idea of doing Spanish instead. He actually really enjoyed it in yr8 but in yr9 he has been doing Spanish and German and became less interested in Spanish.

I totally agree with all the pp who have talked about what a valuable skill it is and I think it’s a real shame if the fact that speaking English is so common is now a reason to not bother so much with encouraging children to learn another language.

German is not a language that can be learnt "easily" 😂
You cannot learn any language properly on Duolingo.

Goethe Institut courses are much better than GCSE and it looks like online costs £99

I speak six languages in addition to English, I found German the easiest to learn! The roots of English and German are both West Germanic, for native English speakers this makes learning german much easier.

Doesn't have to be Duolingo. The point I was making to the OP was that if her son wants to learn German but the school won’t facilitate that, there are (many) other ways he can learn the language himself. Plenty of people learn languages outside of the school environment!