Launch of the National German A Level Class: How German is rewriting the rules for under-pressure schools and colleges
Imagine you have done your GCSEs and would like to continue with your German studies to A Level. However, only one other student wishes to do so alongside you. Your school decides that, regrettably, it makes no financial sense to timetable an A Level German class for such a small group, and decides to close the course.
This is becoming a familiar scenario across the country, as schools and colleges face increased financial pressures and restrictions on small group sizes mean that motivated students cannot continue with German beyond GCSE.
We have found a solution! From September 2026, the National German A-Level Class (NGAC) will be launched to address this challenge.
“For German to thrive in the future, young people should be able to continue studying the language beyond GCSE. The National German A-Level Class, led by the Goethe-Institut UK in collaboration with our partners, reflects our commitment to supporting that progression and to strengthening the wider infrastructure that sustains German language education across the country. Today’s learners are the future of tomorrow’s international cooperation. Through this pilot, we are working to explore new ways of expanding opportunities for learners and to develop an approach that can be adapted and adopted more widely across the sector. Our ambition is not only to support the students taking part today, but to help secure a strong future for German in England for years to come.”
Nicolas Ehler, Director, Goethe-Institut UK in London.
The NGAC is a pilot programme led by the Goethe-Institut UK in collaboration with the National Consortium for Languages Education, the Anglo European School , Ingatestone and Languages For All. Drawing on its expertise in language education and digital learning, the Goethe-Institut is adapting a collaborative delivery model for the German context and developing a comprehensive suite of high-quality teaching and learning resources aligned with the AQA A-Level German specification.
NGAC brings together students from multiple schools into a shared national cohort, combining local teaching with live online lessons delivered by a central team of teachers commissioned by the Goethe-Institut UK and NCLE.
By enabling schools to pool students across institutions, the programme aims to ensure that access to A-Level German is not determined by the number of students in a single school and to support the long-term future of German language learning in the UK. It helps overcome a key barrier to sustaining and expanding A-Level German provision.
Michael Slavinsky, Managing Director at Languages for All and the creator of the delivery model behind the NGAC, explains: “The current A-level and Sixth Form structure creates “missing linguists”; students who have their language learning cut short by logistics, timetabling issues, or lack of numbers. Collaborations like this reduce the inequality of access.”
Desperate times, intelligent measures
The NGAC is a potentially game-changing model for language learning where access to continued study is at risk.
When the number of future candidates is low, combined with financial pressures and a shortage of teachers, individual schools can feel pressurised to cease offering A Level German to save money, resources and time. From now on schools no longer need to operate alone. We have NGAC – the National German A Level Class!
Overcoming this problem is good news for the country. The UK needs more young people with German skills. German remains the most in-demand language skill among UK employers, and Germany is the UK’s largest trading partner outside of the US with over £150 billion in total annual bilateral trade.
When we lose small cohorts of A Level students, this creates a ‘cliff edge’ moment which can then have a negative impact on the viability of university programmes.
These issues are being tackled head-on through the NGAC and this solution for German could equally be relevant for other languages too.
It is important to emphasise that the model is regarded as a temporary solution: expanding access to German A Level in parts of the country where traditional provision is not possible under current circumstances and helping schools and colleges to maintain provision if they face serious pressures. However, our shared ambition is that uptake will increase again in the future, and current pressures will ease.
Learning from proven success
The NGAC model has been inspired by an existing project developed and pioneered by Michael Slavinsky from Hounslow-based Languages For All. Building on its success, Anglo European School in Ingatestone, Essex – an NCLE Network lead school – has been selected to be a lead school for the launch of the NGAC pilot from this September.
Michael Slavinsky, Languages for All, explains further: ”Languages For All is a non-profit initiative to bring together schools and universities to share A-level teaching, trips, and open pathways to language study at degree level for students from all backgrounds. We are proud to support the NGAC pilot as it is an effective way to make German accessible to small numbers of students in any given school to continue on their language learning journey.”
For Jo Gee, Headteacher at the Anglo European School, the NGAC is an opportunity to explore innovations in language teaching: “The Anglo European School is delighted to be a Lead School for the National German A Level Class. This is a hugely exciting new model that enables a hybrid of in-class and online provision delivered by experienced teachers of German A level, who recognise that to make languages classes viable and sustainable at Level 3 for schools, we must innovate and adapt our practice to enable young people, who have been successful in languages at GCSE, to continue their learning pathway in their own Sixth Form and beyond.”
Bernardette Holmes MBE, Honorary Professor at UCL Institute of Education and NCLE Director, says this is a new national opportunity for A Level German – and schools and colleges should take part if they can.
“The ability to speak advanced German is a distinctive skill that is highly sought after by employers. It can set young people apart, helping them stand out from the crowd, broadening their horizons, and enhancing their life chances.
“We know that there are many students who would like to continue with A Level German, but who do not always have the opportunity to do so. Due to financial constraints, some schools are struggling to run A Level German classes when student numbers in individual schools are small. Taken together across the country, this means that significant numbers of motivated students have limited access to German A Level. No student should have to end their language learning journey abruptly due to small class size restrictions.”
“To address this challenge, the Goethe-Institut, the NCLE, the Anglo-European School, and Languages for All have developed an innovative hybrid model for A Level German. Expert teachers will deliver part of the course online through a shared national class, while students will complete the course with their own teachers in their own schools, combining expertise from national experts and class teachers.”
“Languages do not only open doors; they expand possibilities for personal development. If you wish to fulfil your ambition to continue with German A Level, please take up this opportunity!”
Bernardette Holmes MBE, Honorary Professor at UCL Institute of Education and NCLE Director.
Find out more about the NGAC and how to apply here.