New fall in numbers of A-level language pupils

The trend emerged as business leaders said the drop-off in the number of students taking science and languages was a national disgrace. Many candidates are opting for what have been termed "softer" subjects, such as such as media studies and psychology.

Exam boards are expected to announce a record pass rate for the 24th year in succession, and a further rise in the percentage of students obtaining A-grade passes.

Sir Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said: "The strength and future success of the UK economy relies on the education system producing students of a high calibre in disciplines like science and languages."

The number of students taking French has almost halved from 28,942 to 15,149 in the past decade. German has dropped from 10,832 to 6,390 candidates in that period and is set to fall further on Thursday.

In the same period there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of pupils taking media studies, up from 5,647 to 26,894.

A CBI analysis published today says the number of physics candidates has halved during the past 20 years, while chemistry numbers have gone down by a third (although the subject has shown a slight revival in the past two years).

Sir Digby criticised ministers for allowing 14-year-olds to drop languages. He urged them instead to encourage youngsters to take languages such as Mandarin, Russian or Spanish, which were needed by business.

"Youngsters need to be equipped to compete with the skills to make their way in the competitive globalised economy of the 21st century and business must have them if it is to meet the onslaught from countries like China and India," he said.

"These issues must be tackled by the Government, teachers, careers advisers and companies: we cannot allow it to blight the UK's future economic success. Anyone who can clinch a deal in Argentina because of a grasp of Spanish or work with a Chinese sporting delegation in London for the Olympics will be of immense value to business and Britain. The decline of French and German would be of limited consequences if young people were instead learning Spanish or Mandarin."

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "I strongly agree with the CBI. We need more candidates in languages, single sciences and maths because this is what the country needs."

This year's results are set to show the number of A-grade passes rising from last year's figure of 22.4 per cent to about 23 per cent. Girls will outperform boys, with their A-grade rating nudging up to nearly one in four from 23.5 per cent in 2004. Boys lag about two per cent behind. The overall pass rate is also set to increase from last year's 96.4 per cent to nearer 97 per cent.

The anticipated rise is increasing pressure on ministers to make the exam harder. In response, Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, is expected to announce in the autumn that top pupils will have the option to sit a half-hour extension paper in a bid to help university admissions tutors select the brightest candidates for more popular courses such as medicine and law.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills defended the Government's record on science and languages. Science continued "to be amongst the more popular courses at A-level", she said. Applications to study it at university were up 10 per cent this year.

On languages, she added that 15,000 more pupils were getting top-grade A* to C-grade passes at GCSE than in 1997.

Meanwhile, a report by the independent right-of-centre think-tank, Reform, published today, claims that independent evidence shows standards have declined.

It quotes research published by Durham University earlier this year showing an E grade in maths in 1988 would have been worth a B grade last year. It also cited a poll showing 46 per cent of all voters believed A-levels had become easier.

The Conservatives warned that there would be thousands of disappointed candidates failing to obtain the university place of their choice as a result of the increased pass rate.

The number of candidates has risen by 8.2 per cent to more than 480,000 this year - the year before universities can introduce top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year.

'In Russian, I can talk to musicians'

Hilda Woolf can testify to the advantages of learning a foreign language.

The 33-year-old from Dover studied Russian at McGill University in Montreal before moving to the Sorbonne in Paris to study Russian civilisation for a year.

She now works in France as a musicians' agent. "A lot of classical musicians are Russian," she said. "So, yes, I do make a lot of use of the language in my work now.

"I was fixing up a concert at a Polish concert hall and didn't speak Polish and was also arranging a festival in Lithuania. They don't mind speaking Russian to you - as long as you're not Russian yourself. "I don't think I'd be doing what I'm doing now if I hadn't learnt Russian and I'm certainly enjoying it," she said.