Looming plans for new GCSEs in languages taken apart by largest exam board

England’s largest exam board for GCSE modern languages delivered a devastatingly critical verdict on government plans for a dramatic change to the way the subjects are examined.

AQA said the plans, which would place a premium on pupils learning from a relatively small and “rigid” list of vocabulary and cut the emphasis on real-world language, would lead to declines in take-up of the subjects at GCSE, A-level and degree level, make grading less reliable and lead to students struggling to bridge the gap between GCSE and A-level.

Another major board, Pearson Edexcel, also criticised the proposals, while both the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) – the latter in a consultation submission which underlined its own concerns that the changes would demotivate young people – and the Association for Language Learning (ALL) were also strongly against the plans.

Education Uncovered is covering submissions to the government’s GCSE plans with the Department for Education said to be about to announce how it will respond. Last Thursday, this website reported in detail on Ofsted’s current position on modern foreign languages, which seems very closely connected to these proposals and related DfE initiatives.

The detail

In March, the DfE published proposals for new GCSEs in French, German and Spanish, for first teaching in 2023. The plans were based on the findings of an “expert panel,” which had been appointed in November 2019 and which was chaired by the traditionalist academy chief executive and linguist, Ian Bauckham.