Task A:

Evidence from the British Council indicates that "MFL ceased to be a compulsory area of study at GCSE in 2004, and since then participation has declined from three quarters of pupils in the early 2000s to less than half today" (see fig. 1 below).

Figure 1: Percentage of pupils entering each EBacc subject pillar, 2010/11 to 2017/18 100 Maths English Two Sciences 80 Humanities % Pupils Entering (N > 500,000 per year) 60 Languages 40 2012 2014 2016 2018 Year Source: National Pupil Database 2010/11-2017/18, DIE, mainstream state-funded schools