The recent Tes article about how the supply of Mandarin study is not able to keep pace with demand rightly highlighted a key issue.
At a time of decline in the study of some other languages, and given Mandarin’s cultural and strategic importance, it is concerning that we cannot keep pace with student demand for the subject.
However, there is another issue around the study of Mandarin that we must talk about: the cliff-edge decline in numbers at A level, where students without a Chinese background are being driven away from the subject.
The barriers to A-level Mandarin
While GCSE entries are slowly but steadily rising, A-level enrolments have more than halved, from 3,425 in 2012 to 1,643 this year, and the current exam specification now stands unapologetically as a decisive barrier.
This is because, since the Cambridge Pre-U wrapped up, the only available Mandarin A level is seemingly designed solely for native or heritage speakers, leaving non-heritage learners facing an insurmountable leap.
Even our very best candidates, despite our large and long-standing department’s best efforts - and theirs - often see final grades two or three below their other subjects, including their other languages.
Subsequent cohorts are clearly aware of this, too: as recently as 2022 we were among the largest centres for sixth-form Mandarin for non-heritage speakers, teaching classes of 16.
Now, though, our Year 12 cohort has fallen to just two. Out of a GCSE group of 26 in 2024, 14 initially signed up for A level but six withdrew before Year 13, citing the imbalance between the time and effort required and the grades that were realistically attainable.
This decline is not the result of fading interest but an assessment system that discourages even the strongest and most committed. Many similar schools have even put a pause on offering Mandarin A level.
Voting with their feet
The misalignment of the current A-level specification with the realities of non-native learners is stark.
Literature papers must be written entirely in Chinese, with no choice of question, unlike European language exams. And speaking tasks allow just five minutes’ preparation and demand a highly nuanced understanding of Chinese social issues. These are expectations that stretch far beyond what seems reasonable for non-heritage learners and would challenge many candidates even in English.
The result is demoralisation, and, predictably, students are voting with their feet.
Departments with long-standing provision now face either closing courses or teaching dwindling numbers of students, who rightly fear that their efforts will not be rewarded with grades strong enough for university entry.
Students who thrive at GCSE are deterred from continuing and those who do often jeopardise their university offers. Schools report some of their best students missing Oxbridge offers to study the very same subject at university because of harsh grading.
Unless reforms bring Mandarin in line with other demanding languages where grade boundaries and assessments are sensibly adjusted for non-native learners, we risk dismantling years of progress.
Most worryingly, we are denying a generation the chance to pursue this strategically vital language beyond GCSE - not for lack of will but because the pathway has been made all but impassable.
Justin Watts is Highgate School’s head of modern foreign languages
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