Middlesbrough a 'subject desert': Pupils unlikely to take exams that could be vital to job prospects

Pupils in Middlesbrough are unlikely to take exams that could be vital to their job prospects - such as sciences and languages - becoming a “subject desert”, a study has found.

The town has the lowest proportion of children studying at least one foreign language of all local education authorities in England – on average, only one child in every four in the town takes a language GCSE.

Additionally, Middlesbrough is in the bottom 20 local education authorities when it comes to pupils enrolled in triple science at GCSE, despite 86% of the town’s schools offering it as an option.

The Open Public Services Network, an independent assessor of public sector performance data, examined GCSE statistics from 2013.

Concerns were raised that limited subject choices could harm social mobility, including by Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust education charity, who called the findings “very worrying”, adding: “One important reason why bright children from low and middle income pupils miss out on the best universities is that they don’t take the right subjects at school. These new findings highlight even more the bleak correlation between educational opportunities and geography.”

The report found children in Kensington, London, were four times more likely to be enrolled for a language GCSE than children in Middlesbrough.

Data released in January showed that in 2014 in two Middlesbrough secondary schools - Ormesby School and Unity City Academy - only 1% of pupils achieved the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), which is awarded when students achieve A*-C grades in five core academic GCSE subjects, selected as those most valued by universities and employers.

Just 11.9% of Middlesbrough pupils achieved the EBacc, compared with the national state schools average of 24.2%. Stockton’s figure was 23.8% and Redcar and Cleveland’s was 16.9%.

If pupils cannot take triple science - which leads to three separate GCSEs in physics, chemistry and biology - it can make it more difficult to take A-level science subjects needed for careers such as medicine.

Modern languages are also seen as valuable for widening job opportunities.

Middlesbrough Council declined to comment on the report.