Spanish overtakes French as most popular foreign language GCSE
Holidays to the Balearic Islands have helped make Spanish the most popular foreign language choice at GCSE, a union has claimed.
GCSE entries for Spanish rose by 1.6 per cent to 131,965 this summer, provisional data for England show, edging French off the top spot for the first time in more than a decade.
Spanish has risen in popularity in recent years, with GCSE entries jumping almost half since 2014, when 89,450 teenagers took the subject.
The boost may be in part fuelled by growing British interest in the Spanish islands as a holiday destination, one union has claimed.
Pepe Di'Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the rising dominance of Spanish at GCSE level was because 'young people may be more familiar with the Spanish language, because of the popularity of Spain, the Balearics and Canary Islands as holiday destinations'.
Spain is now the top foreign holiday choice for Britons, with 17.8 million visits made in 2023, according to research published by the House of Commons.
The country's islands are now so popular among UK holidaymakers that many have seen a rise in anti-tourist protests in the past year, including in Majorca, Menorca and Ibiza.
France is still the second choice for Britons travelling abroad, but is thought to be falling out of favour among young people in search of cheap, sun-filled beach holidays.
Meanwhile, trips to Germany dropped by more than 900,000 between 2019 and 2023, meaning the country is no longer in the top 10, as new destinations such as Turkey and Poland also creep up the chart.
It may explain why French and German are now both on the wane at GCSE while Spanish sees increasing traction.
The number of teenagers sitting GCSE French has slumped by a fifth since 2014, while German entries have dwindled by around 45 per cent over that time, according to Telegraph analysis of Ofqual figures.
In total, 128,155 pupils are expecting their GCSE results in French this summer, marking a 1.9 per cent fall compared to last year.
German entries dropped 7.6 per cent to 32,430 across the same period, having collapsed over the past decade or so.
There are fears that German could die out altogether as a language choice among British pupils, with the number of children taking the subject at GCSE this year representing around a quarter of those sitting either French and Spanish.
Provisional data for England show a similar pattern at at A-level, with entries for French and German down by 8.3 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively, while entries for Spanish rose 1.4 per cent this summer.
Mr Di'Iasio said: 'The growing popularity of Spanish is really good news as there has been a long-term decline in modern foreign languages, but we do need to do more at a national level to boost language learning more generally.'
Others have pointed to a lack of specialist teachers in state schools under a worsening recruitment and retention crisis.
Languages are not compulsory at GCSE level, but many schools choose to make them part of their core syllabus.
Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'With recruitment challenges really biting in schools, some simply don't have the teachers they need to offer courses in certain subjects.
'Teacher recruitment targets were missed in computing, chemistry, physics and modern foreign languages in the last couple of years, and these are among the subjects which experienced a fall in entries.'
Statistics, performing arts and music were the biggest risers in GCSE subjects this year, according to provisional Ofqual data published on Thursday, with engineering, German and physics recording the biggest falls in entries.
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