Page 16 - ELG1706 Jun Issue 448

DATA & ANALYSIS .
A continent of

polyglots

Melanie Butler takes a closer look at the latest Eurydice data, which gives a
detailed picture of school-based language learning in Europe

PRIMARY

LANGUAGES

BOOM

IN EUROPE, language learning is seen as a
basic skill, like reading or maths. Only two
countries, Scotland and Ireland, do not make
foreign languages compulsory in schools.
Since 2002, the EU has urged members to
teach ‘at least two foreign languages from a
very early age’ and the latest statistics show
most countries are responding.
In the last decade the number of primary
school pupils learning a language has risen by
almost a quarter to 84 per cent. Increasing
numbers of school systems, including that of
England, now start languages in primary. The
most common starting age is now between six
and eight.
There remain, however, significant
differences between member states. In eight
EU countries, nearly all students in primary
education studied at least one foreign language.
However in Belgium (Flemish Community),
Portugal and Slovenia, less than half of
children in this age group do so. The latest
Eurydice report on language learning warns
that while starting ages have dropped, the total
time dedicated to languages at primary schools
has only seen a modest increase. Figure 1: Starting ages at which the rst and second foreign languages
Most countries devote between 5 and are compulsory subjects for all students, 2015/16
10 per cent of classroom time to languages
and only the two trilingual countries, Malta KEY FL Finland UK-NIR Northern Ireland
and Luxembourg, exceed 12 per cent, with EU COUNTRIES HR Croatia UK-SCT Scotland
Malta coming in at just under 15 per cent and AT Austria HU Hungary FR France
Luxembourg at 44 per cent. BE Belgium IT Italy EFTA/EEA AND
BE fr Belgium – French
CANDIDATE COUNTRIES
IE Ireland
Yet recent research from Germany, reported Speaking LT Lithuania BA Bosnia and Herzegovina
on page 10, emphasizes that with very young BE de Belgium – German- LU Luxembourg CH Switzerland
children the amount of exposure is key to Speaking LV Latvia IS Iceland
success. In lower secondary, numbers of BE nl Belgium – Flemish MT Malta LI Liechtenstein
students in the EU learning two languages Speaking NL Netherlands ME Montenegro
have grown significantly, with 60 per cent BG Bulgaria PL Poland MK* Former Yugoslav
now learning two foreign languages. But it is CY Cyprus PT Portugal Republic of Macedonia
not all good news. In the French community CZ Czech Republic RO Romania NO Norway
RS Serbia
DE Germany
SE Sweden
of Belgium, there is no provision for a DK Denmark SI Slovenia TR Turkey
second foreign language at this education EE Estonia SK Slovakia
level. In Bulgaria and Austria, learning a EL Greece UK United Kingdom *Numbers after country initial
second language only becomes compulsory ES Spain UK-ENG England indicate different curriculum
in upper secondary while in Hungary it is not FR France UK-WLS Wales programmes.
compulsory at all.
16 June 2017

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