Channel 4 News Interview with Mayfair Consultants director upon release of GCSE results. Taking a greater look at Languages taken up at GCSE level, teenagers have scored record GCSE results for the 23rd year in a row. But as fewer pupils choose to study French or German, a language tutor tells Channel 4 News schools should be offering Arabic or Mandarin.

1. Record GCSE results for 23rd year
Teenagers have scored record GCSE results for the 23rd year in a row. But as fewer pupils choose
to study French or German, a language tutor tells Channel 4 News schools should be offering
Arabic or Mandarin.
The GCSE pass rate has gone up for the 23rd year in a row
with nearly seven in 10 entries awarded at least a C grade.
Overall, 69.1 per cent of all GCSE entries were awarded at
least a C, an increase of two per cent compared with 2009.
The rises came despite the number of entries dipping again -
there were more than 5.37 million entries, compared with
5.47 million in 2009. And there has been another slump in
the numbers of pupils taking French and German.
Spanish, however, saw a small rise and people taking
Chinese, Portuguese and Polish has also increased this year.
Hamid Hashemi, the director of Mayfair Tutors, a private
tutor service, told Channel 4 News that is because students
are realising these are the languages they will need to know
in the future.
He said: "GCSE students are finding that learning French, German and Italian is limiting them. Arabic, Urdu,
Hindi and Mandarin are the most popular for our company as they are the languages of the developing world.
"If you can speak Mandarin you can communicate with two billion or so people. Children are realising that in
five or ten years’ time, these will be the languages to know."
He believes that at least one foreign language should be compulsory at GCSE: 'If you teach a child up to the
age of 14 a language like Mandarin, they can not say they do not want to learn it when it comes time for
them to make a choice, as they have already done it. Then when they have left university they will have a
degree as well as being able to communicate with a range of people. That is very powerful. I think languages
are neglected in schools these days.
'It is tragic that British people can only speak English, or sometimes 100 words of French as well. The benefit
of learning a language is immense. It is not just talking, it is cultural awareness that you learn from studying
a language. It suddenly makes the world so much smaller and opens it up to you.'
Overall, girls are still doing better than boys. More than seven in 10 (72.6 per cent) of girls' GCSE entries
gained at least a C compared with 65.4 per cent of boys.
The rising pass rate has led to renewed criticism of the GCSE system.
But Andrew Hall, the chief executive of the AQA exam board, told Channel 4 News there are "two clear
messages" from the results.
He explained: "[There has been] a real resurgence in science, which we also saw in the A-level results, but
really quite a disappointing day for languages. French is now being taken by half the number of people that
took it eight years ago.
By Channel 4 News Updated on 24 August 2010

2. "Some strong performance improvements - particularly in English and mathematics so a resurgence of the
core tradition, but languages are a problem."
'Vocational training is becoming an important part of education'
Chris Mayo, the managing director of Manchester-based media training organisation Futureworks, has
told Channel 4 News that to help young people find jobs, more vocational courses should be on offer
from the age of 14.
"We are not saying that GCSEs are wrong, all we are saying is that there are other avenues. The
traditional routes are an important part of education, but vocational training is becoming more so."
"[For example] the media industry is different from traditional academic ones, as you have to have
hands-on experience. You can not learn how to make a film by the standard routes. You have to sit
down and make a film.
He believes that there should be more opportunities for 14 to 16-year-olds to take advantage of getting
practical experience in different industries while they are still at school.
He says: "The floodgates were opened for more people to do degrees ten years ago, and now there are
lots of people with degrees who can not get a job. Now students have to pay fees, people are coming out
with so much debt and no guarantee of a job.
"We are not saying the whole system is wrong, but we are in a particular sector which has a particular
need."
A report published today has also raised concerns that schools are pushing students at GCSE-level towards
vocational courses rather than more traditional academic qualifications, in order to boost their standing in
league tables.
Under the current system, one vocational qualification can be worth up to four GCSE passes at grades A*-C
in the league tables, which "greatly incentivises their uptake in schools", the report claims.
The report by think-tank Civitas also suggested the courses, which have subjects including how to serve
drinks and identify airport facilities, also do not prepare students for the skills they need in the workplace.
"Despite their value in the league tables, all too often a bogus vocational training route is being used simply
as a way to take lower achievers off academic subjects," Civitas said.
Report author Anastasia de Waal added: "Those defending qualifications mis-sold as vocational, in which you
learn not skills but random bits of information tenuously connected to an area of work, are simply exposing
their very low regard for vocational training."
A spokesman for exam board OCR, which provides vocational qualifications, said: "Civitas is wrong. OCR
Nationals incorporate inherently practical, applied learning - founded on a solid base of knowledge and
understanding.
"OCR has never claimed they fully prepare somebody for work in that sector - any more than a GCSE in an
academic subject equips you to become a university don in a discipline."
More on this story
Channel 4 News
GCSE results improve again

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