Fewer than one in ten school pupils in Wales now take a language GCSE (excluding mandatory Welsh), and entries have fallen by 76% in Wales, 56% in Northern Ireland, and 70% in Scotland over the past two decades. This matters because the UK’s language-learning crisis is not uniform. In Ireland, 84% of pupils study a language other than English without it being compulsory, and the country has grown its language teacher workforce by 80% since 2012. No one knows why these dramatic differences exist, because most UK research focuses on England, where 85% of pupils study. The policies driving England’s system—the English Baccalaureate—do not apply in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, leaving policymakers in those nations without evidence to reverse the decline. If this research succeeds, it will identify the specific cultural, social, and economic factors that sustain healthy language-learning in the Celtic jurisdictions. That knowledge could reshape how schools, teacher-training programmes, and employers support language learning—not just in the UK, but across other Anglophone countries facing similar declines. The project also examines how digital technologies affect learner motivation and teacher confidence, which could inform practical tools for classrooms and remote learning.
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Challenge: ‘Languages are strategically vital for the future of the UK’ (British Academy 2020), offering social and economic benefits (Ayres-Bennett 2022), but across the Anglosphere formal language-learning is in steep decline (Lanvers et al. 2021). More fragile than other Anglophone nations (Churchward 2019), the position of languages other than English (LOTE) in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been referred to as a ‘languages crisis (Bowler 2020). Between 2003 and 2023, GCSE or equivalent entries fell by 76% in Wales, by 56% in Northern Ireland, and 70% in Scotland. Only 10% of learners in Wales now sit a languages GCSE (excluding mandatory Welsh). With languages teacher numbers in decline, access to formal language-learning is under threat. Context: Does the dominance of global English make this inevitable? In Ireland, 84% of pupils of the same age are learning a LOTE (DES 2023) without mandatory study. Meanwhile, Ireland has grown its language teachers by 80% since 2012 (DES 2023). Little is known about the causes of these dramatic differences. England’s size – 85% of UK pupils study in England – means it dominates academic studies of language-learning in the UK (Lanvers and Coleman 2017) including UKRI’s major OWRI initiatives (2016-20), but the effects of the English Baccalaureate and devolved education (Scotland’s 1+2/Curriculum for Excellence; Curriculum for Wales) make English findings inapplicable. Put simply, we do not know why, despite our best efforts, there are pronounced differences in language take-up across the Celtic jurisdictions. Without this knowledge, learners, teachers, employers and policymakers miss out on the personal and professional benefits of language-learning. The research gap surrounding language-learning in the Celtic jurisdictions is acute, the benefits significant, the proposal timely, and the need urgent. Aims and objectives: The project aims to intervene in this sustained decline in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by analysing the Celtic educational ecosystems to identify the factors that sustain healthy cultures of language-learning. Recognising language-learning as a socially embedded practice, inclusive of both formal and non-formal language-learning, the project analyses language-learning as a lifecycle shaped by interconnected and mutually reinforcing cultural, social, political and economic forces. Building on Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (1998), we interrogate the factors that sustain a thriving and diverse language-learning culture, as emerging technologies transform experiences of language-learning (Parmaxi 2023). We identify three critical stages in the learner lifecycle – learner school experiences of language-learning (microsystems, real and virtual); the drivers of the decision (not) to become a teacher (mesosystem); and the influence of employers, careers advisors and policymakers (macrosystem). Across four Workpackages our objectives are: to collect new comparative data on the bioecological conditions for language learning; to investigate the impact of digital technologies on learner motivation and teacher confidence; to evaluate the factors affecting languages Initial Teacher Education, using new mentoring models. Applications and benefits: The project ambitions are to have a transformative impact on key decision-makers who shape Celtic and other Anglophone languages ecosystems; to action new virtual language-learning technologies; and to achieve a step-change in cultures of language-learning in the four jurisdictions.
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