Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of 16 to 18 year olds in full-time education studying foreign language courses in each year since 2010.

The number of 16-18 year olds studying modern foreign languages is not held centrally, but the number of students entering an A level exam in any modern foreign language has been provided as a proxy.

The number of entries by students at the end of their 16-18 study in England for 2009/10 to 2017/18[1] inclusive is provided in the tables below. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results-2017-to-2018-revised.

Source: 16-18 attainment data.

[1] Covers examination results of students aged 16, 17 or 18 at the start of the academic year, i.e. 31 August 2017.

[2] Figures from 2012/13 to 2014/15 cover students at the end of advanced level study who were entered for at least one A level, applied single award A level, applied double award A level or combined A/AS level in the reporting year. Figures for earlier years cover students who were entered for at least one A level, applied single award A level, applied double award A level or combined A/AS level in the summer of the reporting year.

[3] Figures for 2015/16 onwards cover students at the of advanced level study who were entered for at least one A/AS level, applied single A/AS level, applied double A/AS level or combined A/AS level during their 16-18 study. As a result there has been a large increase in the number of A level students since 2016 and therefore figures are not directly comparable to earlier years.

[4] 2018 figures are based on revised data. Figures for all other years are final.