Despite a once bitter rivalry that dates to before the Spanish Armada in 1588, pupils in England are studying español in greater numbers than ever before, with it overtaking French as the most popular language for GCSEs.
The rise of Spanish in schools has long been predicted, helped by the popularity of holidays in Spain and the Canary Islands and its greater global reach. More recently its popularity has been turbo-charged by cultural influences through music, cinema and much of the US media, with an added attraction for young football fans thanks to superstars such as Lionel Messi of Argentina and the success of La Liga clubs including Real Madrid.
The British Council said there had been a sustained rise of nearly 25% in Spanish GCSE entries since 2020. This year there were more than 136,000 entries, just ahead of French, the perennial modern foreign languages champion, with fewer than 133,000.
Jevan Sathyamoorthy, a student at Wallington County grammar school in the London borough of Sutton, said he had opted to take Spanish over French at GCSE because it seemed more immediately practical.
“I chose Spanish because I remember thinking it’s more likely that I’ll be going to a Spanish-speaking country than a French-speaking one, with most of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Spain, so I’d say that was the biggest reason,” Sathyamoorthy said.
“And in my mind Spanish seemed easier, because the way its words were pronounced came more easily to me than French when I’d done a bit of both in primary school.”
As Spanish has risen, some other once-popular modern languages have had a marked decline, including German, where GCSE entries have fallen by more than 20% since 2020.
Vicky Gough, the British Council’s schools adviser, said: “We need the success of Spanish reflected across all languages through exchanges, cultural programmes and real-world connections that demonstrate why languages matter.
“Our research also reveals a significant socioeconomic gap: pupils in the top fifth of the most advantaged state schools in England are around 32% more likely to take a language GCSE than their peers elsewhere, meaning many young people from less privileged backgrounds miss out on opportunities their peers benefit from.
“At a time of increasing global tension, helping young people connect across borders, build friendships and foster trust has never been more important.”
The British Council said a number of other modern foreign languages had risen in popularity for the fifth year in a row, including Arabic, Chinese, Polish and Urdu.
