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A-level French entries and results

Here are grades and entry numbers for A-level French from 1993 to 2014.


Source: http://www.bstubbs.co.uk/a-lev.htm and JCQ figures for 2014 and 
2015 (http://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels).



French entries
            A*    A    B    C    D    E    N   Entries 
  2015      8.1 29.2                           10328
  2014      6.6 31.0                           10433                                     
  2013      6.5 32.0 30.3 17.9  9.1  3.4       11272
  2012      6.8 32.6 29.4 18.5  8.8  3.1       12511   
  2011      7.7 32.4 29.3 18.0  8.7  3.0       13196
  2010      7.7 31.4 28.5 18.2  9.6  3.7       13850
  2009          38.6 27.6 18.3 10.5  4.1       14333
  2008          37.3 27.7 18.9 10.6  4.3       14885
  2007          36.3 28.0 18.2 11.6  4.6       14477
  2006          34.7 27.4 19.5 11.8  5.3       14650
  2005          32.9 27.5 20.0 12.4  5.6       14484
  2004          33.4 26.8 19.8 12.6  5.8       15149
  2003          31.4 26.4 20.0 13.3  6.6       15531
  2002          29.3 25.2 20.9 13.8  7.7       15614
  2001          24.7 20.5 19.4 16.0 11.2  5.5  17939
  2000          23.5 21.5 20.1 16.3 10.5  5.6  18221
  1999          23.2 20.4 20.1 16.4 11.3  5.7  21072
  1998          21.6 20.7 19.6 17.3 11.6  6.2  23633
  1997          20.2 19.9 19.6 16.7 12.1  6.9  25916
  1996          20.9 18.0 20.3 17.3 12.5  6.9  27490
  1995          20.1 18.3 19.3 17.7 13.4  7.1  27563
  1994          19.9 17.7 19.0 17.4 13.4  7.8  28942
  1993          18.6 17.3 19.5 18.5 13.6  7.6  29886
In 2015 the issue of scarce A* grades was addressed to some extent, 
in effect by adjusting the balance of A* and A grades to a small degree. 
A* grades are still a little thin on the ground when compared with some 
subjects, notably maths. Modern languages remain amongst the hardest 
subjects in terms of grade outcomes relative to prior attainment.

The number of candidates for French continues to decline a little. How 
much further down can the figure go? German also declined, but Spanish 
saw an increase which more than compensated for the French and 
German figures. Overall MFL entries rose slightly, therefore.

It is hard to foresee any significant change in entries unless the government 
gets behind languages in the same way it has done for STEM. If languages 
become compulsory at GCSE, which now seems probable, we may see a 
modest increase in take-up at A-level. The revised A-level specifications are 
unlikely to make any difference to the popularity of MFL. Indeed, if AS entries 
fall as expected, there may even be a negative outcome.

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