3rd December 2014 10:00
By Blue Tutors
Up until the end of the 1990s, the "vast majority" of pupils were still offered the opportunity to visit a foreign partner family, according to the British Council.
Now less than 40% of the 450 schools surveyed in Britain offer such an exchange. Reinstating these is seen as essential, in order to address what the organisation is calling a “national language crisis”.
It has now launched a campaign urging schools to bring back the trips, saying they boost language learning, suggested to be equivalent to around half a grade at A-level. They also give pupils a valuable understanding of the culture, and a taste of life abroad.
The council’s poll suggested that private schools are over twice as likely to offer international exchanges, with 77% saying they offered home-stays abroad, compared with only 30% of state schools.
Parental concerns about safety and difficulties in taking students out of school during term time were cited as key factors in schools’ decisions to end the trips.
The decline in exchange trips has also coincided with a time where fewer and fewer pupils are opting to study languages for GCSEs and A-levels. A report from the National Foundation for Educational Research last year placed students in England at the bottom for language competence in foreign languages out of 14 European countries surveyed.
Vicky Gough, the council’s schools advisor, says her first school language exchange was "a real 'light bulb' moment" which made her "excited about learning a language and understanding another culture".
"It's a shame that these exchanges have fallen victim to things like safety concerns, which can actually be easily remedied with the right steps.
"As we seek to tackle a national language crisis and a lack of international skills among young people entering the world of work, reviving school exchanges is vital - and we'll do everything we can to help schools make this possible."