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Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Monday, 18 May 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 20 May 2026. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Wednesday, 27 May 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Languages: GCE A-level and GCSE

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which modern foreign languages are available as GCSE and A level qualifications in England; which European languages are not available as GCSE and A level qualifications; and what criteria are used by her Department and awarding bodies in determining whether a language qualification should be offered at GCSE and A level.

Answer

French, German and Spanish are the most widely taught modern foreign languages at GCSE and A level. In addition, qualifications are available in up to 15 languages at GCSE and 15 languages at A level. The table below outlines the languages that are taught at GCSE (or equivalent) level and/or at A level:

Language

GCSE and Equivalent

A level

Arabic

Yes

Yes

Bengali

Yes

Yes

Chinese

Yes

Yes

French

Yes

Yes

German

Yes

Yes

Gujarati

Yes

Yes

Italian

Yes

Yes

Japanese

Yes

Yes

Modern Greek

Yes

Yes

Modern Hebrew

Yes

Yes

Persian

Yes

Yes

Polish

Yes

Yes

Portuguese

Yes

Yes

Punjabi

Yes

Yes

Russian

Yes

Yes

Spanish

Yes

Yes

Turkish

Yes

Yes

Urdu

Yes

Yes

Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by the four independent awarding organisations: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC. These organisations may develop qualifications based on subject content set by the department. In deciding whether to offer a qualification in a particular language, awarding organisations consider a range of factors, including the cohort size expected to take exams each year (rather than the size of the speaking population), demand from schools and colleges, and the long‑term viability of the qualification.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
2128
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Languages GCSE GCE A-level
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk