Language Trends is an annual survey of primary and secondary schools in England, designed to gather information about the current situation for language teaching and learning. Its aims are to assess the impact of policy measures in relation to languages and to analyse strengths and weaknesses based both on quantitative evidence and on views expressed by teachers. This year’s survey was carried out from January to March 2019 and gathered evidence from 776 primary schools (up from 692 in 2018) and 845 secondary schools, of which 715 were state-funded and 130 independent – again slightly more responses than in 2018.
The annual Language Trends report is a survey of primary and secondary schools in England, designed to gather information about the current situation for language teaching and learning. The 2018 research responds to an ongoing concern about the level of participation in language learning since the subject was removed from the compulsory curriculum at Key Stage 4 in 2004.
Languages for the Future, published in November 2017, identifies the priority languages for the UK’s future prosperity, security and influence in the world. It considers the outlook for the supply and demand for language competence in the years ahead and looks at the linguistic dimension of a variety of economic, geopolitical, cultural and educational factors, scoring languages against these. The report argues that, in a new era of cooperation with Europe and with the rest of the world, investment in upgrading the UK’s ability to understand and engage with people internationally is critical.
Download the full report below.