There are hopes that a youth experience work scheme with the European Union will make it easier for schools to recruit modern foreign language (MFL) assistants and improve the teacher pipeline.
The British Council has welcomed government plans to work with the EU to develop a scheme that could enable more young people to become language assistants in schools in the UK.
The move comes as latest figures show the number of schools applying to host language assistants from the British Council has declined this year, following a post-Covid surge.
There are well-established concerns about both the take-up of languages and MFL teacher recruitment.
A showed 60 per cent of schools reported challenges finding language teachers.
British Council schools adviser Vicky Gough told Tes that enabling more language assistants to come to the UK would not only “enrich the modern foreign languages curriculum, but would also strengthen the pipeline of future MFL teachers, as many language assistants - both from the UK and overseas - go on to pursue teaching careers as a result of their experience.”
Schools left paying surcharge after Brexit
Since Brexit, language assistants from the EU who are on placements of longer than six months have faced an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which is paid during their visa application and then reimbursed by the host school.
The British Council has introduced a shorter placement for language assistants of less than six months where these charges do not apply.
However, it now hopes that government plans will make it easier for EU citizens to come to work as language assistants for longer periods.
on the new youth experience scheme says it could see young people able to work and travel freely in Europe again.
Ms Gough said the development was “very welcome news for the sector” and “could open up greater opportunities for young people in the UK to gain European experiences, while also enabling more EU students to become language assistants in UK schools”.
Decline in school applications for language assistants
The British Council’s latest figures show a decline in the number of schools applying to have language assistants through its scheme.
It received 641 applications from schools to host language assistants for the 2025-26 academic year, down from 799 in 2024-25.
Before this, it had seen year-on-year increases over a four-year period from 2021-22, when it received 534 applications from schools.
The number of assistants actually placed in schools increased from 474 in 2020-21 to 718 in 2023-24.
Who can become a language assistant?
Language assistants in UK schools typically work alongside teachers or with small groups of students.
The British Council said the assistants can help to improve students’ confidence in foreign languages and enhance their cultural awareness.
Fluent speakers of French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish are eligible to become language assistants via the British Council.
In recent years, London and Yorkshire schools have made the highest number of requests for language assistants.
This year, there were 136 schools in the Greater London area followed by 72 from Yorkshire.
In Yorkshire, applications have increased by 53 per cent since 2020-21 from 47 in 2020-21 to 72 in 2025-26. This is also higher than the numbers of applications before the pandemic.
Covid lockdowns hit spoken language skills
Joanna Barber, faculty leader of modern foreign languages at Prince Henry’s School in Otley, West Yorkshire, said that spoken language and conversation had been lost during the periods of lockdown and schools had made a conscious effort to bring this back using language assistants.
She said: “They bring a whole new perspective to language learning and can really help inspire our students. For the older students, they see people who are not many years older using languages for a real purpose.
“Because the assistants are not much older than they are, they can be less intimidated, more willing to try and to risk making mistakes.”
