LEARNING foreign languages has slumped since the Government allowed secondary schools to make them optional for students over 14, according to a study released yesterday.

Three quarters of comprehensives no longer require pupils to take a language at GCSE. Of these, 72 per cent report a decline in the numbers studying French and 70 per cent in German. Only Spanish bucked the trend, with 44 per cent of schools noting an increase in take-up and 44 per cent reporting a decline.

Schools in the poorest areas were the most likely to let children drop foreign languages, according to the survey of 807 secondary schools carried out by Cilt, the National Centre for Languages.

Eighty-two per cent of comprehensives in working class areas reported that languages had been made optional after 14, compared with 62 per cent of those in better-off communities. Overall, 85 per cent of schools in which languages were no longer compulsory said that there had been a decline in the numbers of children taking them.

Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, changed the regulations on foreign languages last September.

The study showed a steep decline in the space of 12 months in schools where languages had been made optional. Between 51 per cent and 57 per cent of 16-year-olds were completing a languages GCSE in Year 11, but only 38 to 44 per cent of 15-year-old pupils were embarking on one in Year 10.

Boys were more likely than girls to drop languages. Teachers in 82 per cent of schools reported that fewer boys were studying the subject, compared with 74 per cent for girls.

Two thirds of schools used exchange trips and talks to underline the importance of learning languages. Only 7 per cent of grammar schools had made languages optional.

Although 61 per cent of schools in the South had made the subject optional, the figures were 71 per cent in the Midlands and 77 per cent in the North. Among schools that had continued to make languages compulsory, 48 per cent said thjat languages provided children with useful social and employment skills. A third said it was because they achieved good exam results, and a quarter said it was important to give children a broad curriculum.

Cilt’s findings come after research commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills showed that just 3 per cent of primary schools give pupils at least one 20-minute lesson a week in languages between the ages of 7 and 11.

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