By Lucy Carroll
The proportion of students studying a foreign language for the Higher School Certificate has collapsed to historic lows, while enrolments in PDHPE and business studies have surged to a decade-high.
A fresh snapshot of HSC data reveals 6 per cent of school-leavers are taking at least one language course this year, down from 12 per cent in 2003.
Experts warn Australia has fallen behind in the study of languages at school, blaming the enrolment slump on NSW education policies that are pushing students away from choosing a language in their final years.
“It’s a loss for the country as it’s such a valuable resource to have multilingual citizens. We’re not capitalising on that or ensuring a pipeline of students with these critical skills,” says Merryl Wahlin, a language teacher at Sydney University.
“It’s a vicious cycle as course numbers go down, there are fewer schools that offer languages and fewer pre-service teachers coming through.”
In the 1960s, some 40 per cent of students took a classical or foreign language for their school qualification, often French, Latin or German.
This year’s HSC enrolment report also reveals a record 17,539 students are taking personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE), up 20 per cent in a decade.
Almost 20,000 students are enrolled in business studies, four times the number taking economics. Enrolments in business studies and community and family studies courses have skyrocketed 25 per cent in 10 years.
The number of students taking chemistry has slumped to its lowest in a decade, with 9834 taking the subject. Physics enrolments are up slightly, with 8291 enrolled.
Science education consultant Simon Crook said lower chemistry numbers were worrying, and likely reflected syllabus changes five years ago that made the subject more rigorous and maths-heavy.
“Increased difficulty is no bad thing, although it may have affected numbers,” he said, adding that a top chemistry mark scales the best among sciences for ATARs. Biology students are much less likely to get band 6 marks, he said, but twice the number of students take the subject compared with chemistry.
A record 80,166 pupils are taking one or more courses for this year’s HSC, for which students sit the first English exam on Tuesday.
English advanced numbers are largely steady, but English extension 1 – three-unit equivalent – enrolments have tumbled with 1000 fewer students compared with a decade ago.
Data from the NSW Education Standards Authority shows the most popular language courses this year are Japanese, French and Chinese. About 900 students are taking French, down from 1500 a decade ago, while just 31 students are enrolled in Indonesian continuers this year.
Wahlin said some languages, such as Korean, are bucking the trend, having risen to about 200 students taking beginners and continuers courses combined.
In NSW, students must do 100 hours of foreign language study in early high school, but it is the only state where languages are not compulsory in primary school.
A Sydney University research paper published this year described NSW as having a “weak but flexible” language policy in schools.
“NSW doesn’t mandate languages in primary years and, if students do take languages for the HSC, they are often worried languages won’t scale as well for their ATAR,” Wahlin explained.
“It’s also an equity issue as the bulk of schools offering languages are private or selective public schools.”
Ken Cruickshank, who with Wahlin leads the Sydney Institute for Community Languages Education at Sydney University, argues the ATAR is ruining language study as students turn away due to scaling concerns.
“There is also a cost of assessing so many languages and also the problems of validity when the enrolments in many languages are so small,” he says, warning changes to policies or scaling may be needed “to stop languages from extinction”.
Studying languages helps with understanding different perspectives, people and the world more broadly.
Pasi Sahlberg
The proportion of students taking a language has dropped from about 8 per cent a decade ago to 6 per cent in the past two years. About 700 students are taking a Chinese language course, down from more than 900 a decade ago, although Spanish enrolments are up slightly.
University of Melbourne education expert Pasi Sahlberg said relative to European countries, the study of languages is “less developed” in Australia, and is vital for deeper understanding foreign societies.
“Studying languages is so important as it helps with understanding different perspectives, people and the world. We need to elevate the importance of foreign languages, and promote its value.”
St Mary’s Senior High student Zopiah Salangi is one of 57 pupils at her school taking a language for the HSC.Credit: Jessica Hromas
St Mary’s Senior High School student Zopiah Salangi is taking Korean for this year’s HSC. The school has one of the largest language offerings, with 57 students enrolled in one of 10 languages this year.
“I have a Filipino and Chinese background and have always been really interested in studying Korean,” Salangi says. “Learning a language helps with connecting with other people in ways you couldn’t before. I don’t worry about the scaling because I enjoy the subject so much.”
A NESA spokesperson said students are encouraged to choose HSC subjects that they are interested in and passionate about and that align with post-school goals.
“While language enrolments have remained steady over six years, they have changed over time. It is anticipated that our new kindergarten to year 10 frameworks will support schools engaging their students in a range of languages.”
NESA said enrolments in Spanish, Arabic and Vietnamese were up compared with 2023, and Japanese and Latin were down.
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