Language lesson gap means poorest miss out, says report
Children from poorer backgrounds in England are increasingly likely to miss out on learning a foreign language, suggests a report.
Some teachers blame new tougher GCSEs for putting lower ability pupils off language learning.
There is also a perception that languages are less important since the vote to leave the European Union, says the British Council study.
The government says its reforms are boosting modern languages in schools.
The Language Trends Survey has published an annual report since 2002 when more than three-quarters of pupils (76%) took a modern language GCSE.
By 2011, only 40% of pupils took a language at GCSE.
The subject has recovered in recent years – in 2016 almost half of 16-year-olds took a language GCSE – but this figure fell to 47% last year.
Read the full article in the BBC.