The new GCSE French and Spanish: what changed, and how to prepare

In September 2024 schools in England began teaching new GCSEs in French, German, and Spanish, and in summer 2026 the first students sat them. Ofqual reported that results in all three languages were slightly higher overall than in 2025. That is good news, but it hides the real change, which is in what the papers reward.

What changed

A defined vocabulary

The words a student can be examined on are now set out in a published list: 1,200 at Foundation tier and a further 500 at Higher, drawn mostly from the most common words in the language. Revision stops being open-ended and becomes a finite list to know thoroughly, with a strategy for the small number of words deliberately placed outside it.

Dictation

Students hear short sentences and write them down, and credit is given for accurate spelling. It tests the link between the sound of the language and the way it is written, which is exactly the skill that gets skipped when vocabulary is learned only from a page.

Reading aloud

The speaking exam now includes reading a short passage aloud, followed by an unprepared conversation, alongside a role play and a photo card. A student who has only ever spoken from memorised answers meets unfamiliar French or Spanish in print for the first time in the exam room.

Translation both ways

Students translate into and out of English. Translation into the language is where accuracy is worth most, and where steady practice shows fastest.

The course still has broad themes, but the exam texts are no longer built around specific topics. A student cannot revise ‘holidays’ and ‘school’ as separate boxes and hope the paper matches.

How to prepare this year

1. ILearn the list, not a textbook.Ask the school which board your child sits, find that board’s vocabulary list, and work through it in small daily amounts. Knowing 1,200 words properly beats half-knowing 3,000.
2. IIPractise dictation weekly.Ten minutes of listening and writing, checked for spelling, every week. It cannot be crammed and it improves steadily.
3. IIIRead aloud to someone who corrects it.Pronunciation is fixed in the moment or not at all. Reading aloud weekly, with correction as it happens, is the whole preparation for that part of the exam.
4. IVChoose accuracy over ambition.A simple sentence that is right beats a complicated one that is nearly right. Forcing in a subjunctive to impress costs marks when it goes wrong.
5. VStart the speaking in January.Speaking exams are held in a window across April and May chosen by the school, before the written papers. Revision planned backwards from the written exams reaches it too late.

At A-Level

The A-Level courses in French and Spanish have not been reformed in the same way. They remain essay subjects taught in the language: literary essays on a novel and a film, and a spoken presentation and discussion of an independent research project. We have not found any announced changes to the set works for 2027 or 2028, but lists differ by board, so check your child’s.

Leah