SPEAKING THE LINGO
With the number of language speakers in the diplomatic services
lacking, teachers are struggling to attract pupils to take languages
on after GCSEs
To the left, a fighter in the Ukraine conflict. To the right, primary school students getting
involved in a languages lesson.
By Lucy Bayliss
Current news reports have revealed a lack in Russian and Arabic speakers in the diplomatic
services, whilst at the same time studies have shown that teachers are struggling to get pupils to
continue their education in foreign languages after they turn 16. The issue arose after the recent
issues with Russia and the Ukraine and the continuing links between the UK and many Arabic
countries. In educational terms, these two languages are ‘minority languages’ with few students
actually learning them in the UK as part of the curriculum, due to a lack in funding and teachers
capable of providing such services.
In fact, there has also been a decline in the number of students studying French and German although the numbers taking Spanish as a GCSE, A level or degree have been on the rise along
with a moderate increase in those learning Mandarin. This follows a global trend with more
business being conducted with China and many Spanish speaking countries. Talking to a
languages teacher at a secondary school in Hampshire, she spoke of a difficulty in keeping pupils
engaged in language learning. She stated that many were less keen on languages as it involved lots
of ‘hard learning’ that doesn't appear in the other subjects that they could take and so the skill is
becoming underdeveloped. She also expressed a view that some of the problems lay with the
languages curriculum and the difficulty of the exam.
“In languages you can’t get away from doing some hard learning. This is something that
increasingly students don't have to do in subjects that are presented in their own language and so it
is a skill that is becoming underdeveloped.”
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But despite all this, many schools are working on getting more children into languages as more
employers demand such skills from their employees. Huge effort is being taken to try and make
learning languages more attractive and talking to the Deputy Head teacher at the same school, he
was able to give examples of this: citing exchange trips and languages days hosted by the school
to try and encourage pupils, as well as the state of the art facilities that ensure that they provide for
students. In the modern world, languages have become one of the most important areas as
international trade is constantly on the increase and these sentiments were echoed by the language
teacher as well.
“Languages are very important - especially as when you talk to a person from a different country
you can understand more of what they are trying to convey when you are speaking their language
then when using a translator.”
So with international relations more important than ever and a current lack of language speakers in
the UK, the pressure is on to ensure that the current, and future, demand is met.
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