Brexit and language learning

The likely impact of the UK's departure from the European Union is going to be detrimental for language learning and the work of translators. As a person who wants to have a career in translation, I am extremely concerned about the impact of Brexit. Learning Spanish has opened my eyes up to another culture, world and develop the most amazing friendships. I worry that future generations will not experience this. 

Our language industry in the UK is heavily dependent on mother-tongue linguists, who help to grow and teach their language in our country. Many of these are EU nationals and in the current climate it can be both personally distressing and professionally destabilising for them to live with prolonged uncertainty of their residency and status. Currently around 85% of modern foreign language teaching assistants in UK schools are EU nationals. What will Brexit mean for the future of these jobs? 

We live in a world where it is hard enough to get a job as it is. Not only in the midst of a pandemic where businesses are closing down but also with the loom of Brexit over us. Language learning is therefore essential in today's world. It can create the opportunity to interact with the wider world and establish cultural and commercial relationships. It is essential if you want to work abroad. However, with Brexit, working abroad is becoming even more uncertain and less popular. In a post-Brexit world, it will be harder to legally reside abroad which can have an impact on language learning. After all, why would you want to learn a language if the process to getting a job and living in the country legally is long and arduous? 

For me, the decrease in language learning in the UK is worrying. I noticed it at secondary school where there was only 5 people in my Advanced Higher Spanish class and it is even more apparent today where Brexit is approaching. The number of pupils taking a language at A-level has decreased by a third in the past 10 years, and at university level the number has fallen by half in the same period. Back in 2017, it was estimated that the UK was losing out on £4.8bn every year as a result of its lack of language skills. This can link to the concerns over what leaving the EU will mean for the UK as a globalised society. 

A recent report by the British Council has suggested that Brexit is having a negative impact on language learning in schools, with a shift in attitudes and an increasing number of pupils and their parents feeling that European language skills will be of limited use following the UK's exist from the EU. It is also the fact that students are having less interaction with foreign culture as school trips abroad and exchange programmes are in decline amid Brexit uncertainty. A problem which is likely to worsen and become complicated after the UK leaves the EU. 

I thank God that I was probably one of the last academic year from the UK to participate in the Erasmus programme. A programme that is run by the European Commission. I hope that a similar programme will come into fruition after the UK leaves the EU or at least, a comprehensive language strategy by the government will be imposed. Brexit is an opportunity for the UK to refocus its approach to language learning. This has been noted by institutions such as the UK National Academies who published a "call for action" in which they set out the importance of multilingualism and the areas in which the UK are falling short. 

This report urges the Government to:

• engage with the coalition of organisations who stand willing to explore the steps needed 
• adopt and implement a national strategy for languages

This strategy, they suggest, would need to expand beyond education and require collaboration across sectors and policy areas. 

In Scotland, education-specific language strategies have been in place. Scotland's '1+2' Approach was launched in 2012 and is hoped to be fully implemented in 2021. With this, it is expected for local authorities to implement 1+2 such that the first additional language, that is not the mother tongue, which is L2 is provided from Primary 1 onwards and the second additional language (L3) by Primary 5 at the latest. It is also expected for learning in L2 to be an entitlement up to the end of S3. This therefore puts into policy a commitment whereby children are taught two languages in addition to their mother tongue. 

Yet this cannot get rid of the shift in attitude among our population to languages after Brexit. A report by the British Council revealed that more than two-thirds of teachers surveyed said Brexit had negatively impacted pupils over learning foreign languages. Teachers said that they had seen a shift in attitudes since the Brexit referendum, with one reporting: "We have had parents mention that they do not believe their son or daughter should be studying a language as it is little to no use to them now that we are leaving the EU." 

School leaders warned that our country is in grave danger of becoming monolinguistic. We have to increase international experiences within schools, especially to disadvantaged children. The survey of 1,500 state schools found that disadvantaged pupils were far less likely than their peers to study languages at GCSE but also reveals that the revision to exam content introduced over the past 3 years had a bigger impact on lower attaining pupils. More than 80% of state school teachers said their pupils were now less likely to take modern foreign languages than previously. 

Perhaps if we introduce more foreign languages to learn. For example, when I was in school, only Spanish and French were offered. The typical ad hoc and minimal languages. I would love to see pupils studying languages such as German, Portuguese, Chinese, Turkish or any other language they fancy. In our country, there is almost discrimination against language learning, with them being seen as lower priority than other subjects. I fear that this will be heightened even more after Brexit. 

Schools are struggling with a severe shortage of language teachers and Brexit could worsen this situation. I worry that this problem will just be accelerated in years to come and we will end up living in a world where we are not taught any other languages in school.