Asking GCSE French pupils to translate a passage about a ‘bisexual sister, her divorced parents and jobless brother’ is more about social values than language, critics have argued.
One of the country’s largest examining boards, was lambasted by parents, teachers and school children alike for ‘engineering woke material’ into a recent listening and translation exam.
Pupils were left perplexed this week when an audio passage authorised by exam board Pearson Edexcel began to detail a fictional French family including a ‘bisexual sister’.
In the passage some pupils thought they heard the phrase: ‘my little sister is sexual’ and left the exam hall mystified as to the purpose of the description.
The exam’s commentary on the social conditions of France continued with reference to the bisexual sister’s jobless brother and divorced parents.
One mother of a 16-year-old boy who took the exam told The Times, parents and pupils want a balance between day-to-day phrases and understanding the origins of the language.
Asking not to be named, the mum said: ‘He was mortified, not at the idea that the concept of bisexuality came up, he is Gen Z and a 16-year-old, he is completely at home with everybody, you do you, what he was mortified by was that it was shoehorned into a French exam.
‘It’s just not appropriate in that context.’
Pupils were left perplexed this week when an audio passage authorised by exam board Pearson Edexcel began to detail a fictional French family including a ‘bisexual sister’ (stock image)
The mother added that exams at teenage years should focus on how to use a language to get around and not discuss complicated concepts such as sexuality.
‘At GCSE level, it should just be a functional thing that will enable you to have a nice weekend in Paris or to buy yourself something at a restaurant or not get lost,’ she said.
According to the mother the exam ‘casued a great debate’ afterwards amongst the pupils.
She added that the examination is not helping the collapse in interest in modern foreign languages.
‘This madness is just not helping,’ she said.
Once notorious for asking pupils to memorise phrases such as ‘comme ci, comme ça’ modern foreign language subjects have seen a drastic decline in uptake in recent years.
In 2015, nearly 150,000 pupils took GCSE French, but the latest statistics show that is now down to 125,000 across England.
A spokesman for the board said their exam material is: ‘developed by experienced subject matter experts and that language exams in particular are designed to represent and reflect a range of student experiences so that learners can understand and communicate effectively.
‘We regularly review our content, and we will continue to do so with the French listening exam.’
