UK pupils will be able to gain a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in French, Spanish or other modern languages without having to show they can read and write the language. The changes have been made in new GCSE criteria recently published by the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the Telegraph has reported.
According to the revised criteria, pupils are to be offered the option of a full GCSE or short courses in spoken or written language from 2009. A short course is worth half a GCSE and counts towards a school’s ranking in the national exam league tables. Both writing and speaking will continue to be required for the full qualification.
The new short courses were drawn up following a wide consultation with teachers, who complained that the uptake of language GCSEs was low. Since UK made languages optional at GCSE in 2004, tens of thousands of teenagers have abandoned foreign languages partly because the subjects were seen as too hard. A spokesman for the QCA said, “The new model, especially the possibility of a short course in spoken language, was felt to be a potentially more attractive alternative for students not wishing to commit to a full GCSE.”
Teaching experts were divided over the move. Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of UK State for Children, Schools and Families said, “Introducing weaker exams will do nothing to help us ensure that our children are properly equipped for the future.” Helen Myers, president of the UK Association for Language Learning, said she was “perplexed and surprised” by the reforms. “What I understand as the purpose of GCSE is to lay the foundation for future education and study,” she added. But her predecessor, Peter Downes, backed the change. He said, “I can read Dutch but I can’t speak it. If I was a teenager, that skill in reading Dutch would be worth certificating.”
Early this month, the UK government announced a ￡53 million ($105 million) package of funding to improve language teaching and prepare schools for compulsory language lessons for seven-year-olds. Under the plan, Pupils will be offered intensive language classes and university students will be sent into schools to act as “ambassadors” for the subjects.
