Languages: opening a world of opportunities


Learning a new language is one of the first – and greatest – challenges of relocating to another country. We look at the opportunities that it provides and find out how some of the UK’s top independent schools approach language teaching.


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n today’s global economy, more businesses are expanding overseas and looking for employees who speak foreign languages. A 2017 CBI/ Pearson Education and Skills survey found that around 50 per cent of UK companies rated languages as useful to their business. French, German and Spanish were the languages most in demand.


DECLINE IN LANGUAGE GCSES Since 2004, when the UK government decided to make


languages optional at GCSE, there has been a slow but steady decline in the number of pupils taking both modern foreign and classical languages. Figures published in 2017 by the Joint Qualifications Council (JCQ) show a continuing downward trend, with the numbers of entries for modern foreign languages falling seven per cent from 2016. Similar declines were recorded at A level and, according to figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service


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Above: Merchiston Castle School


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