The British Council is an organization that promotes English language learning and cultural exchange in the UK and abroad. The organization recently published a National Recovery Strategy for Languages, which advocates for more people in the UK to learn foreign languages and gain an understanding of other cultures. The report focuses on schools in England that are beating the odds in terms of boys' participation and achievement in modern foreign languages at GCSE. The research was commissioned to find out more about the schools that are doing well in this area, particularly those that are serving disadvantaged boys. The report highlights the gender gap in language learning, with boys being less likely than girls to take languages, particularly French and Spanish, and girls outperforming boys in terms of achieving top grades. The report concludes that there is a need for more support and resources to be directed towards schools that are serving disadvantaged boys in order to close the gender gap in language learning and improve boys' participation and achievement in modern foreign languages.
