Overview

• Ofqual provisional figures record a 1.6% rise in GCSE Spanish entries to 131,985, surpassing French for the first time in more than a decade.
• French and German GCSE entries fell by 1.9% and 7.6% respectively, while Spanish A-level uptake rose 1.4%.
• School leaders attribute Spanish’s rise to students’ familiarity with the language from popular holiday destinations.
• Total entries for GCSE and A-level exams dipped by 0.6% and 0.4%, with EBacc and non-EBacc subjects alike seeing lower take-up.
• School leaders cite recruitment shortfalls in modern foreign languages and warn that the EBacc measure may narrow curriculum options.