How will Brexit impact language learning in the UK?
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Writing from her year abroad, Isobel Helme considers how leaving the EU will impact students in the UK.
The UK has long been in the midst of a language learning crisis. According to researcher Teresa Tinsley from the University of Exeter, both British pupils and their parents often struggle to see the benefit of language learning, citing the global dominance of English as proof of the futility of mastering another language. In 2002, approximately three-quarters of pupils studied a foreign language at GCSE; two years later, the government made languages optional and by 2011 just 40% of students took a foreign language qualification.
Brexit poses an unprecedented linguistic obstacle. Languages are vital for national security, diplomacy, trade and business, and subsequently for our economy; in 2017 Cardiff University Business School claimed that our economy misses out on an estimated £48bn – the equivalent of 3.5% of our GDP – every year, due to the lack of language skills in the workplace. As former German Chancellor Willy Brandt quipped, “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language, but if I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen”.
The British Council has already noticed the negative impact of Brexit on British pupils’ language learning. The Council’s 2019 report found that respondents claimed Brexit had “cast a pall over languages”, noting concerns regarding future recruitment of teachers (many language teachers in the UK are EU nationals), and increasingly negative attitudes of both pupils and parents. The report found that parents expressed an unwillingness for pupils to study languages post-Brexit, with them stating that “it is little to no use to them now that we are leaving the European Union”, and that 25% of schools reported a negative impact on motivation to learn a European language. What’s more, it found that international experiences such as pupil exchanges, joint curriculum projects, work experience abroad and school trips have all suffered due to Brexit. These activities are vital in developing the international understanding that our country so desperately needs in paving our post-Brexit path.
Language learning has been proven to increase brain functionality, memory, perception, and prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia. So, what is the impact on those who have seen the light as regards to language learning? An often-mentioned consequence of Brexit is the uncertain future of the Erasmus scheme. The Erasmus+ website seems as unsure as the language students themselves: “The possible participation of the UK in future programmes after 2020 will depend on the outcome of the overall negotiations on the future relationship between the two parties”. At the time of writing, the government has yet to decide whether the UK will continue to take part in the scheme, which in 2017 allowed 16,561 UK students to travel in Europe and 31,727 EU nationals to come to the UK. Without the scheme, British students are vocal about how they will be unable to live, work, and study abroad, due to the sizeable amount of money provided by the Erasmus grant. A report from the House of Lords EU Committee stated that leaving the Erasmus scheme would “disproportionately affect people from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with medical needs or disabilities”.
As a UCL Modern Languages student currently on their Year Abroad told me: “Being abroad allows you to gain a perspective you will never achieve in a lecture or seminar. The Year Abroad is an invaluable experience that I would not have been able to afford without the Erasmus grant; the Erasmus scheme has allowed me to go on weekend trips to other parts of Europe, opening my eyes to the variety of people, cultures, festivities and traditions that permeate and enrich the continent”.
Now more than ever, the UK must grasp the importance of language learning in order to forge positive relationships abroad, in both personal and professional echelons. Not only is the ability to communicate with our neighbours of primordial importance, but also the capacity to understand what it is to be a tolerant and understanding “global citizen”; an awareness that is best developed through learning about foreign cultures.
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