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Foreign languages ‘in terminal decline’ terminal decline in Scotland’s schools, says Scottish Labour
A teacher and students in a classroom, September 12, 2019

FOREIGN languages are“in terminal decline” in Scotland’s schools,  Scottish Labour warns today.

Education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy raised the alarm after a party analysis of Scottish Qualifications Authority figures showed that thousands fewer are studying for qualifications in languages such as French and German.

Despite there being more than 10,500 more pupils in S4-6 today than in 2019, language teacher numbers have fallen by 300 since 2008, and the number of young people studying languages at National 4 or Higher level has fallen from 24,510 in 2019 to 23,990 today.

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