GCSE Results Day 2025: Spanish surpasses French in popularity among students in historic first for language studies

New GCSE data shows that Spanish has overtaken French for the first time as the most popular language choice among students, following a sustained rise in entries of nearly 25% since 2020.

Spanish entries increased from around 109,594 in 2020 to 136,871 in 2025, while French uptake remained steady – climbing slightly from 132,036 in 2020 to 134,651 in 2024 before dipping to 132,808 this year.

The data is released today by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) and has been analysed by the British Academy, the national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It reveals wider trends in student choice across the curriculum. This year saw the first decline in overall GCSE entries in England, Northern Ireland and Wales since 2021, falling from 6.19 million in 2024 to 6.16 million in 2025. Despite this, SHAPE subjects continue to make up more than half of all entries (54%) – a figure that has remained consistent since 2019.

Further analysis shows:

• Performing and Expressive Arts saw the largest growth among SHAPE subjects (8.3%), rising to its greatest number of entries since 2021.
• Music followed closely, increasing by 6.1% from 35,861 in 2024 to 38,060 this year.
• Business Studies marked its seventh consecutive year of growth, increasing by 2.2%, from 135,090 in 2024 to 137,924 this year, with an almost 40% rise since 2020.
• After three years of steady growth, History entries have declined, falling 5.7% from a peak of 325,437 in 2024 to 306,759 in 2025.
• Media, Film and TV Studies dropped by 3.9%, going from 36,975 entries in 2024 to 35,553 this year.
• Entries in German fell by 7%, with a significant overall decrease of 21.2% since 2020, demonstrating a recognised decline in language uptake. However, the category Other Modern Foreign Languages, which includes Arabic, Chinese, Polish and Urdu, rose by 1.3% on last year, marking its fifth consecutive year of growth since a dip in 2020.

The British Academy has done further analysis of today’s JCQ stats in its School Indicators dashboard, which offers insight into uptake across the SHAPE disciplines and the differences in choices between male and female students.

President of the British Academy Professor Susan J. Smith said: “Congratulations to everyone receiving their GCSE results today. It is good to see that over half this year’s entries are in the arts, humanities and social sciences – subjects that nurture the flexibility, creativity and adaptability young people need to do well in a fast-changing world. Last week, however, we saw a concerning drop in the proportion of A Level students studying these all-important SHAPE subjects. It is disappointing to see young people’s choices, skill sets and capabilities constrained in this way.  We urgently need to ensure that students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to study a wide range of disciplines at every level of their education.”

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