On Wednesday 13th May, the Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton TD and HMA Kara Owen, launched Language Trends Ireland, a report commissioned by Post-Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) and British Council Ireland on behalf of the department. The research was conducted by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast and examines modern foreign language provision, uptake and learner attitudes across post-primary schools in Ireland.
The report was launched at Mount Carmel Secondary School, Dublin, and presents evidence-based insights drawn from responses from school leaders and students nationwide. It provides an important overview of current language provision, participation at Junior and Senior Cycle, and emerging challenges and opportunities within the system. British Ambassador to Ireland, Kara Owen’s speech highlighted the strong bilateral relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom, and the shared commitment to advancing language learning. The Ambassador also noted the value of comparing Language Trends findings from Ireland and the UK by drawing on the British Council’s wider Language Trends research programme to support future educational collaboration and expanding linguistic opportunities for young people.
The launch brought together representatives from education and government to consider the report’s findings and to explore further opportunities to strengthen modern foreign language provision across schools in Ireland. The full report, including in-depth analysis and methodology, can be found below. The reports seek to provide schools, academics, inspectors and policy makers with the necessary support to make research-informed decisions on the future of language education.
Key findings include:
- Languages remain a popular choice in both Junior and Senior Cycles, with 91% of fifth years choosing a language for the Leaving Certificate.
- Between 75% and 80% of responding students state that they enjoy learning languages.
- French is the most taught language while Spanish is growing in popularity, as it can be perceived as easier than other languages.
- International engagement is high across Irish schools, and students see the greatest benefit of language learning as being able to speak the language of the countries they visit.
- The main challenge identified by school leaders is learners’ limited perception regarding the relevance of language learning.
Citation: McKelvey, H., Finlayson, N., Collen, I., & Duff, J. (2026). Language Trends Ireland 2025-26. British Council. https://doi.org/10.57884/KGZN-G249
Edited by David Vescio for British Council Ireland.
© British Council 2026. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses /by-nc/4.0/).
Following the launch of the Language Trends Ireland report, British Council Ireland is organising a follow up webinar to discuss the findings of the Language Trends report with education stakeholders. To register for this event, please follow this link.