Spanish has pulled ahead of French at GCSE in England, while A level entries in the three big languages have been broadly flat for years. The figures come from Ofqual’s “Provisional entries for GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2026 exam series”, supported by Ofqual’s August 2026 blog on GCSE results. They cover England only. The entries are provisional, counting what schools and colleges had submitted to exam boards by 15 April 2026, and final numbers are published later. This article summarises them and is general information.
What the figures count
Ofqual states that the number of entries in each subject corresponds to the number of students entered, except for combined science, other modern languages and ancient languages, where students may enter more than one qualification in the same subject group. In the A level tables, the same applies to modern foreign languages, which Ofqual groups as French, German and Spanish together so that trends can be shown. The release says final entries always vary to some degree from provisional ones.
GCSE entries in summer 2026
Spanish had 132,680 provisional GCSE entries in summer 2026, up 0.5% on 131,985 in 2025. French fell 5.5%, from 128,155 to 121,040. German was almost unchanged at 32,525, up 0.3% from 32,430. Other modern languages fell 3.8% to 41,300, and ancient languages fell 3.5% to 10,960. Ofqual notes that entries for French were among several EBacc subjects that showed a further decline, while Spanish continued to increase. Overall GCSE entries rose 1.1% to 5,840,185.
The five-year series shows how the order changed. In summer 2022, French had 126,185 entries and Spanish 116,355. French was still ahead in 2024, at 130,650 against 129,935. Spanish moved ahead in 2025 and widened the gap in 2026. German has stayed between about 32,000 and 36,000 across the period. Reasons for the shifts are not given in the release, and the DfE evaluation of why pupils opt out of language GCSEs is covered in a separate guide to opting out of language GCSEs.
Higher tier entries and the new GCSEs
French, German and Spanish are tiered, and the release says the percentage of higher tier entries increased for all three compared with the previous year. For French the share rose from 49% to 56%, for German from 59% to 67% and for Spanish from 49% to 55%. In 2022 the higher tier shares had been 53%, 62% and 53%.
Ofqual’s blog adds that summer 2026 was the first year of awards based on the new GCSE courses introduced in 2024, and that overall outcomes in French, German and Spanish were slightly higher in all three subjects than in 2025. It says Ofqual committed to making sure students were neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by being the first to take them. The content of those specifications is explained in the guide to GCSE French, German and Spanish, and the earlier grading adjustment in the guide to grading in French and German.
Other modern languages and early entry
Entries in the “other modern languages” group, which covers GCSEs outside French, German and Spanish, rose from 36,310 in 2022 to 42,945 in 2025 before slipping to 41,300 in 2026. Ofqual notes that in all subjects most entries come from Year 11, but the proportion of entries from students in Year 10 and below is consistently higher in other modern languages than in other subjects. The release does not break the group down by language, so individual languages cannot be separated in these tables.
A level entries
At A level, the provisional 2026 entries were 7,905 for Spanish (up 1.0% from 7,830), 6,465 for French (up 0.2% from 6,450) and 2,190 for German (up 3.1% from 2,125). The combined modern foreign languages figure was 16,555, compared with 16,400 in 2025, 17,035 in 2024, 16,265 in 2023 and 18,750 in 2022. All A level entries rose 2.9% to 845,485 in the same period, so languages remain a small share of the total. Ofqual describes entries in many high-entry subjects as showing slight fluctuations each year.
The A level content that students study is described in the guide to A level modern languages in England.
Reading the numbers with care
Three limits apply. The figures are provisional and rounded to the nearest 5 in Ofqual’s data tables. They count entries submitted by 15 April rather than students who sat each exam. And they describe England only; Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have separate qualification systems. The release does not explain the reasons for changes in take-up, so the numbers show what happened, not why.
The bottom line
Ofqual’s provisional figures for England show 132,680 Spanish GCSE entries against 121,040 for French in summer 2026, with German at 32,525. At A level, Spanish, French and German together drew 16,555 entries, close to last year but below 2022. Higher tier shares rose for all three languages in the first year of the new GCSE awards, though the figures are provisional and describe entries rather than final results.
Sources
- Provisional entries for GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2026 exam series, Ofqual (gov.uk)
- GCSE, level 1 and 2 results 2026 at a glance: key trends and context for teachers, Ofqual (ofqual.blog.gov.uk)