'Fewer pupils' studying languages
News summary
An article on the BBC news website, 24th September 2004, reports that the education watchdog Ofsted has found the number of teenagers studying foreign languages at schools in England has fallen.
The figures given are that less than seven out of ten students in the 15-16 age group were taking a GCSE in a language last year. This is roughly what might be expected, since technically a language was compulsory last year and only becomes optional this year. Most people would expect the figure to decline to about the same level as Scotland and Wales, where a language is optional already. Something like 30-40% take it up there.
The full article is available on the BBC news website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3686458.stm
