Spanish overtakes French as most popular A-Level language
A-Level entries to Spanish have risen, making it the most popular language at A level, overtaking French for the first time.
Figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications show that 7,932 pupils took Spanish A-level this year, up from 7,591 last year – an increase of 4.5 per cent.
French saw a 3.4 per cent drop in entries with 7,601 pupils taking the subject this year, down from 7,874 last year.
There has been a relative increase in entries to German for the first time since 2007, with 2,864 entries compared to 2,859 last year.
Outcomes at A*-A and A* are largely unchanged for French, German and Spanish, although there is an increase of 2.5pp at A* in German. Males have higher outcomes than females at A*-A in all languages: 37.4% compared to 36.5% in French, 41.4% to 41.1% in German and 35.3% to 35.2% in Spanish.
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