Pupils in deprived areas miss out on language lessons despite demand
Challenges exist in teaching languages but the right support shows pupils are keen to learn
Pupils in more deprived areas are being denied access to language lessons - despite growing demand.
A rising number of councils are refusing to run classes if too few pupils opt for the subject, citing timetabling and resource pressures.
Yet, despite remaining below pre-pandemic levels, Higher entries for French, German and Spanish are slowly rising year-on-year.
New research from the British Council - collected in Scotland for only the second year - suggests structural barriers are stopping pupils learning languages.
Experts said Scotland has the potential to be a global languages success story but growing barriers in secondary schools are preventing progress.
Claire de Braekeleer, Director of British Council Scotland, said: "At a time of global uncertainty, language skills are not a luxury, they are an essential.
“Learning a language opens doors, builds bridges, and fosters the kind of cultural understanding that our world urgently needs.
“This report shows we have strong foundations in Scotland to build on.”
Overall, classes do not run in 59 per cent of local authority secondary schools if numbers are too low - up from 52 per cent last year.
More than one third of secondary schools now requiring a minimum of 10 pupils in a class, up from a quarter the year before.
In the most deprived areas, that figure rises to more than 70 per cent of schools not running classes due to low numbers, compared to 50 per cent in the most affluent areas.
Research shows entries for Highers are still significantly below 2019 pre-pandemic levels with French down 31 per cent and German down 24 per cent.
Over the past year, the number of first year pupils learning more than one language has risen from 52 per cent to 63 per cent.
Across Scotland, secondary teachers reported more than 100 different languages spoken with a seven percentage points rise in provision for pupils to take exams in their home language.
Conducted by Queen’s University Belfast, the report surveyed 169 local authority primary schools, 114 local authority secondary schools and 12 independent schools across 29 local authorities.
Meanwhile, the British Council report also found at primary level, 99 per cent of responding schools are teaching languages, with one in five embedding language learning into daily classroom routines.
This could reflect the impact of Scottish Government’s 1+2 language policy, which aims to give all children the opportunity to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue, starting from Primary 1.
The findings come as the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed the Scottish Languages Bill in June 2025, giving Gaelic and Scots official status.
Higher entries for Gaelic (Learners) increased this year from 50 to 70 entries.
Dr Ian Collen, who co-led the research at Queen’s University Belfast, added: “As AI accelerates, human language becomes indispensable.
“Machines can automate, but they can’t create the cultural understanding or human connection that languages ignite.
“For Scotland’s young people, languages are gateways to opportunity and a voice in our fast-changing world.”
CASE STUDY: The school bucking the trend in languages
Craigmount High School in west Edinburgh is one secondary bucking the trend, with nearly 40 per cent of pupils now opting to study a language at qualification level.
The secondary offers French, German and Spanish as core curricular languages, along with Advanced Higher provision in Spanish, German and Mandarin.
Jude McKerrecher, Faculty Leader of the World Languages Department at the school, says uptake is trending upward at the school.
"It's something we're going to have to work hard to maintain," she said, "But we've got a really good range of languages, and the classes are big in the senior phase this year.”
Ms McKerrecher said Craigmount devotes time to language learning in the first years of secondary school and has redesigned its curriculum to link language learning to real-world issues, from sustainable development goals to topics covered in history and modern studies.
Head teacher Colin Meikle, a Spanish teacher, believes this creates momentum: "We've got a healthy uptake into S4, and that feeds into strong classes within S5, including Advanced Higher."
The school also runs an enrichment programme for languages.
Language ambassadors – senior pupils who volunteer to promote languages – are key to the success for languages at the school. They have visited Edinburgh University to speak with trainee teachers, and help run a weekly language café, this year supported by a Chinese Educational Trainee from Tianjin.
Travel and tourism is offered at the school alongside a language, giving pupils a vocational pathway that combines language skills with career opportunities.
One former pupil studied Mandarin, won a scholarship to a university in China, and has since returned to Scotland to study medicine, planning to combine her language skills with a career in surgery.
Pupils have even initiated their own learning: after a trip to Hong Kong, a group of pupils recruited a younger student to teach them Cantonese weekly.
Mr Meikle acknowledges the challenges of teacher recruitment.
”The pool is smaller and If I advertise a PE job, I might get 60 applicants,” he said. “A languages job? Maybe seven or eight maximum."
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