GCSE results showed the highest increase in top grades in 13 years yesterday as head teachers’ leaders admitted that schools were increasingly “playing the system” to boost their standing in examination league tables.

The proportion of exams awarded at least a C grade rose by two percentage points to 61.2 per cent this year, the biggest increase since 1992. The number of top A* and A grades also rose by 1 percentage point to 18.4 per cent of entries.

Overall, students passed 97.8 per cent of the 5.73 million papers this year, an increase of a fifth of a percentage point on last year.

A “catastrophic” decline in entries for French and German provoked warnings that the subjects were in danger of collapse as a result of the Government’s decision to make modern languages optional after the age of 14. Entries in French fell by 14.4 per cent and in German by 13.7 per cent.

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “The collapse in languages is a catastrophe. The Government has to reverse its policy of allowing students to opt out of languages otherwise there will be a crisis in state school language teaching.”

The results showed that less able pupils were being entered for vocational subjects instead of GCSEs in languages and sciences. Mr Hart said that many schools were focusing on vocational qualifications to boost standings in the league tables.

He called on ministers to review the practice that permitted a vocational GNVQ to be considered equivalent to four GCSEs in the tables. New applied GCSEs in subjects such as construction and “learning for life and work” were also worth two GCSE grades.

“The demands of league tables are driving the system and that is not in the interests of students or of UK plc,” he said. “Students are understandably playing the system and studying their stronger subjects.”

Professor Alan Smithers, of the University of Buckingham, said that many more less able students had been “switched out” of “harder” academic GCSEs into less challenging vocational courses. “The league tables need to be reviewed in the light of the evidence of their impact on schools’ behaviour,” he said.

Ellie Johnson Searle, the director of the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which represents the three main exam boards, said that the decline in entries for languages raised “serious concerns”.

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said that entries would be even lower next year as the full impact of the Government’s decision to end compulsory languages at GCSE fed through. “Numbers are in free-fall. The Government needs to carry out an urgent review of its languages policy,” he said.

Jacqui Smith, the School Standards Minister, defended the policy, saying that the Government was “committed to increasing the take-up of languages at all levels.

“We know that the best way to develop a love of language learning is to start early. That’s why every primary school child will be offered the opportunity to learn a language by 2010,” she said.

Ms Smith also backed vocational courses, saying: “Pupils are responding positively to the choice and opportunities we are offering them. These qualifications are supported by employers.”

Sir Digby Jones, Director-General of the CBI, said that the education system still left too many teenagers with inadequate levels of literacy and numeracy. Nearly half of students failed to get a grade C or better in maths and almost 40 per cent in English.

“Every student deserves praise for their achievements and I wish every one of them a prosperous future, but there is clearly a systemic failure in the education system as yet again almost half of GCSE entrants have failed to reach the basic levels of competency in the three Rs,” Sir Digby said.

"Being taught how to read, write and add up was regarded as fundamental right for all in the 20th century, so why in the 21st century is the education system of the world’s fourth richest economy seemingly unable to deliver?”

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