Applied Languages

Teenagers have ditched so-called soft subjects, such as general studies, for those they think will impress universities and employers, this year’s record A-level results show.

The number of sixth-formers who completed A-levels in general studies, computing and drama fell by 9%, 7% and 1% respectively. The percentage of students who took sport A-level dropped by 3%. Meanwhile, the number of those who chose maths, further maths and economics – considered to be more taxing – soared by 12%, 15% and 13% respectively.

Almost one in 12 A-level students this year chose maths, securing its position as the most popular subject after English, which was taken by just under one in nine entrants.

Exam boards said the subject choices showed students were choosing to “recession-proof” themselves against a dwindling number of graduate jobs. Mike Cresswell, chief executive of the AQA exam board, said that “the dreaded words credit crunch” must have been a factor for some teenagers.

German continued to drop in popularity, with a near 8% decrease, while French, which last year rose by 2.8% to its highest level for six years, fell by 3.7%. Entries for Spanish were up by 4%. Community languages proved popular this year: Irish was up 37%, with 339 students taking it to A-level; while Polish rose 22% with 458 students, and Chinese by 11% with 3,100 students.

Yvonne Baker, chief executive of Stemnet, a group that works to encourage young people to take up maths and science, said there had been a “sea-change” in young people’s attitudes to these subjects. She said this was “crucial not only to the UK’s future economic stability, but to realising the breadth of opportunities those subjects offer young people”.

Kathryn Board, chief executive of CILT, the National Centre for Languages, said: “The continued drop in teenagers studying German is a great cause of concern, as Germany continues to be one of the UK’s biggest trade partners and the language is much in demand.

“At the moment we are simply not producing enough linguists to supply the needs of international businesses. While young Britons continue to neglect language learning, they will find themselves at a serious disadvantage in the global economy.”

Read more: Guardian