The recently proposed changes to the MFL GCSE curriculum have split opinion between the Department of Education and the broader teaching community.
The revised curriculum will focus on students learning 1,700 pre-determined words in order to make the grade in MFL GCSE exams in French, German and Spanish.
Implementation is due from September 2024. That means the Class of ’26 will be the first to actually sit their MFL GCSE exams against the newly amended criteria.
So, what are the initial reactions coming from the teaching community responsible for implementing and delivering the changes?
There’s a genuine concern that a poorer image of MFL GCSE courses will be off-putting to students. Rather than embracing languages as an enriching life skill, their judgement might be affected if they perceive a language course as memorising and reeling off words parrot fashion.
Simon Hyde, speaking on behalf of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference of independent schools, endorsed this view. “This model will not give students the confidence in their language”, he said, “both at examination level and as a life skill, to take forward into further studies, careers and personal endeavours.”
It’s a debate that’s set to rage on between now and the introduction of the new curriculum. But, the importance of the MFL GCSE remains constant for many reasons. And there’s often one particular factor at play when ambitious and bright students take their options.
An MFL GSCE Can be the Key to University Admission
A GSCE in a modern foreign language is requisite for acceptance on a variety of different Degree courses at many of the Russell Group universities, (including the elite universities and other traditional ‘red brick’ universities).
Whilst the curriculum is set to change, no mention has been made to date about this criteria changing.
There’s much food for though for students and the parents of the students who will experience the changes first hand, and potentially be faced with difficult decisions.
At La Academia, we offer supplementary MFL GSCE tuition to hundreds of students every year. And we’ll continue to support their efforts and their ambitions, in accordance with evolving curriculums.