JCQ
I attended the JCQ briefing for stakeholders on Thursday 13th August on behalf of The Association for Language Learning (ALL).
Each year the quality of presentation, preparation and documents improves, and there were many expressions of thanks at the end. It is extremely helpful to receive the data an hour in advance of the meeting (-there is a strict embargo until 9.30 am) as this gives us the chance to check any hypotheses we may have formed and to prepare relevant questions. In particular this year, I commend JCQ on two new aspects:
(1) The new page Exam results data from which you can easily access current and past data by selecting the year of interest: https://www.jcq.org.uk/exam-results-data/
(2) The provision of a grade breakdown for each of the languages within the overall category ’Other Modern Languages’ in GCE Miscellaneous, 2026 (Table 3, Tab 3d): https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Table-3-GCE-Miscellaneous-2026.xlsx This has been very helpful re: AL Chinese which we are continuing to follow up with Pearson.
Thank you, JCQ!
ALL follow up work
ALL has issued a statement which gives key data, presidential comments and links. https://www.all-languages.org.uk/news/all-statement-on-2026-a-level
Over the coming weeks, we will follow up issues or concerns expressed by our members. It is invaluable to have direct contact with our corporate members, especially at this time, including exam boards and representatives (including data specialists) who are keen to engage with us and to offer clarification or pursue concerns further.
Extract from statement: Analysis
I have copied and pasted below elements relating to analysis which may be particularly useful to teachers and managers analysing their own results. Many thanks to David Blow, ALL Fellow, whose spreadsheets make it easier to quickly extract percentages and raw numbers from the tables and track them from year to year.
The number of students studying A level languages continues to be a matter of grave concern. Whilst the overall number of A level entries for all subjects has increased substantially since 2019 (906,425 v 804,851) the total number taking French, German or Spanish has actually declined (17,616 v 20,013; 1.9 % of total v 2.5%).
- The overall number of entries for all subjects has increased by 2.9% since 2025.
- The increase in German entries, which exceeds this, is welcome, but it is still down by 25% compared with the 2019 entry numbers.
- Although Spanish and French entries have increased by 1.3% and 0.4% respectively, these rises are lower than the overall increase.
This raises concerns about the UK’s ability to produce enough qualified linguists for the country’s needs. It is vital that steps are taken to ensure students get a broader and richer post-16 experience including a language.
These low numbers studying French, German and Spanish at A level reinforce the need for the continuing severe grading in ML at GCSE to be addressed by Ofqual and DfE so that more students are encouraged to continue with a language to GCSE and then on to A level. Systematically, arising from an historical anomaly, students on average get half a grade lower in their GCSE ML compared with their other EBacc subjects, leading to a false perception that they are not as good at ML as at other subjects. They are therefore less likely to take it at A level. We appeal to all stakeholders to keep raising this matter, especially in this year when there are new GCSEs specifications being examined for the first time in French, German and Spanish. It is important to remember that however pedagogy and the nature of exams may change, the approach of comparable outcomes means that severe grading will persist.
Appendix with detailed numbers
The overall number of A level entries in all subjects has increased by 2.9% to 906,425 in 2026 from 882,509 in 2025, having decreased by 0.5% from 886,514 in 2024. The 2026 overall entry figures have increased from 804,851 in 2019 (13% increase).
French entries have increased by 0.4% to 6,888 in 2026 from 6,858 in 2025, having decreased by 9.8% from 7,544 in 2024.
German entries have increased by 3.1% to 2,294 in 2026 from 2,224 in 2025, having decreased by 8.5% to 2,224 in 2025 from 2,431 in 2024.
Spanish entries have increased by 1.3% to 8,434 in 2026 from 8,325 in 2025, having increased by 1.1% to 8,325 in 2025 from 8,238 in 2024.
‘Other Modern Languages’ entries have increased by 4.1% to 6,944 in 2026 from 6,672 in 2025, having increased by 3.8% to 6,672 in 2025 from 6,429 in 2024.
This is all in the context of a demanding subject such as Further Mathematics having over 21,000 entries.
Comparing entry numbers between 2026 and 2019 (pre-pandemic) there is a clear decline. French has dropped by 17.6%, German by 24.4%, Spanish by 2.2% and ‘Other Modern Languages’ by 16.2%. By contrast, in the same period, Economics has risen by 53% to 47,157, and Psychology by 22.6 % to 79,201.
These numbers are taken from the JCQ UK cumulative figures published Thursday 13th August 2026.
Appendix with links
JCQ has created a new page named ‘Exam results data’ from which you can access current and past statements and data by selecting the year in which you are interested. https://www.jcq.org.uk/exam-results-data/
Direct links to the press notice (pdf) and 3 results tables relevant to Modern Languages (Excel spreadsheets) are as follows:
(3) Level 3 Press notice 2026: https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/L3-Press-notice-2026.pdf
(4) A level by subject age sex country, 2026 (Table 1): https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Table-1-A-level-by-subject_age_sex_country-2026.xlsx
(5) AS level by subject sex country, 2026 (Table 2): https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Table-2-AS-level-by-subject_sex_country-2026.xlsx
(6) GCE Miscellaneous, 2026 (Table 3) [Note that this includes data about ‘Other Languages’ in Tab 3d]: https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Table-3-GCE-Miscellaneous-2026.xlsx
(7) A level interactive results dashboard: https://www.jcq.org.uk/a-level-interactive-results-dashboard/
Ofqual, Pearson – A level Chinese.
Ofqual has shared a range of comments and analysis as follows (links embedded):
- Ofqual blog
- Summer results: 2026 statistical release
- Interactive analytics for A levels, VTQ Performance Table qualifications and Technical Qualifications
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