Association for Language Learning
Statement on 2024 A level results
ALL President Liz Black, speaking about this year’s A and AS results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland said “My warmest congratulations go to all A level language students and their teachers on today’s results. Well done! These are excellent and are the result of the commitment shown over the past two years. We know that learning languages enriches lives in so many ways, with students acquiring a love of the language they have studied, and we hope that they will be able to gain even more proficiency and a more in-depth knowledge and understanding of culture. A massive 'thank you' from me and everyone on the ALL Management Board to everyone involved.”
Ofqual announced for June 2023 that as a policy decision, the grading for all subjects would return to pre-pandemic grading in England (i.e. as 2019), with protection in place to recognise the disruption that students had faced. This appeared to be the case for languages in England, and has continued into 2024. The devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland adopted a slightly different policy, but are now in line with 2019.
The number of students studying A level languages continues to be a matter of grave concern. However, we are pleased that after a substantial fall in June 2023, when French, German and Spanish were the subjects with the largest fall in entries last year, this year there has been a rebound, perhaps as conditions returned to normality at KS4 with students in Year 11 in 2022-23 feeling more confident about studying languages than those who had lost out during lockdown.
As we stated last year, the total number of students taking a language at A-level (French, German and Spanish = 18,213 or 24,642 if all languages are included) remains very low, which raises concerns about the UK’s ability to produce enough qualified linguists for the country’s needs. The research published this week by the British Academy and NFER shows how subjects such as languages have been squeezed by the changes to the A-level curriculum 10 years ago whereby students now only choose 3 rather than 4 subjects. The forthcoming curriculum review gives an opportunity to ensure students get a broader and richer post-16 experience.
These low numbers studying French, German and Spanish at A level reinforce the need for severe grading in ML at GCSE to be addressed by Ofqual and DfE so that more students are encouraged to continue with a language to GCSE and then on to A level. Systematically, arising from a historical anomaly, students on average get half a grade lower in their GCSE ML compared with their other EBacc subjects, leading to a false perception that they are not as good at ML as other subjects, and therefore they are less likely to take it at A-level. We appeal to all stakeholders to keep raising this matter. It is important to remember that however pedagogy and the nature of exams may change, comparable outcomes means that severe grading will persist.
Appendix with detailed numbers
The overall number of A-level entries in all subjects has risen by 2.2% to 886,514 in 2024 with an increase of 0.9% in the 18-year-old population in 2024 compared with 2023. The 2024 overall entry figures are up from 804,851 in 2019 (10.1% increase) with the number of 18-year-olds up 2.1% on 2019.
In 2024, within a context where the 18-year old population is bigger (by 0.9%) and overall comparatively more students are taking A levels, French entries increased by 6.8% from 7,063 in 2023 to 7,544 in 2024, Spanish entries increased by 1.6% from 8,110 to 8,238 and German increased by 3.1% from 2,358 to 2,431, and other languages from 5,955 to 6,429. This is all in the context of a demanding subject such as Further Mathematics having around 18,000 entries.
Comparing entry numbers between 2024 and 2019 (pre-pandemic) there is a clear decline. French has dropped by 9.7%, German by 19.8%, Spanish by 4.5% and other languages by 22.4%. By contrast in the same period, Economics has risen by 31% to 40,451, and Psychology by 22% to 78,556.
These numbers are taken from the JCQ UK cumulative figures published Thursday 15th August 2024.
Appendix with links
JCQ has shared main results tables, press notice and other results tables for 2024 here:
https://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results?post-year=2024&post-location=
Ofqual has shared a Guide to AS and A level results for England 2024 here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guide-to-as-and-a-level-results-for-england-summer-2024
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