Introduction
Multilingual children often develop multiple languages simultaneously. Studies show that maintaining and further developing children’s home languages and other languages they know results in greater cognitive flexibility and stronger academic performance.
With this mind, children of GCSE age often benefit from taking an additional GCSE in their home language. These exams can also celebrate multilingualism, as well as supporting your multilingual children to feel included in your school and giving them the opportunity to gain an additional valuable GCSE.
These GCSEs are the similar format to other standard language GCSE your school is likely to be administering, such as Spanish and German. Edexcel and AQA are the most common exam boards for home language GCSEs and can be taken either as a higher or foundation examination, of which there are 4 papers to complete.
Languages
Pearson Edexcel: Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu
AQA: Bengali, Mandarin, French, German, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Polish, Urdu
Please refer to the exam boards for updated information on languages.
Structure of home language GCSEs
Both Pearson Edexcel and AQA follow a similar examination structure.
The exam consists of four externally-examined papers based on the following skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Students must complete their speaking assessment in April/May and all other assessments in
May/June in any single year.
Each paper is available at Foundation tier or Higher tier. Students must be entered for a
single tier across all papers and the use of dictionaries is not permitted. For Paper 2 this includes during the preparation time.
- Paper 1 – Listening and understanding
There are two sections. One section is in English and the other section is in the chosen other language, with both sections needing to be completed. Listening audio files can be found on exam board’s portals.
- Paper 2 – Speaking in the chosen language
Students are assessed on their ability to communicate and interact effectively through
speaking in their chosen language for different purposes and in different settings.
There are three tasks, which must be conducted in the following order:
Task 1 – a role play based on one topic that is allocated by Pearson
Task 2 – questions based on a picture stimulus based on one topic that is allocated by Pearson
Task 3 – conversation based on two themes. The first theme is based on the topic chosen by
the student in advance of the assessment. The second theme is allocated by Pearson.
The assessments are conducted by teachers in one session within a prescribed assessment
window, the recordings are then submitted for external marking.
Foundation tier: 7–9 minutes plus 12 minutes’ preparation time
Higher tier: 10–12 minutes plus 12 minutes’ preparation time
- Paper 3 – Reading and understanding
There are three sections. One section is in English, another in the chosen language and the third entails a translation task from the chosen language to English.
- Paper 4 – Writing in the chosen language
Foundation tier – three open-response questions and one translation into Arabic.
Higher tier – two open-response questions and one translation into Arabic.
Please review the sources below regarding all aspects of assessments. It is likely that your MFL team will also be able to provide support in aspects of understanding the assessments.
Source Pearson Edexcel / Source AQA
How EDEAS can support you with Home language GCSEs
EDEAS reviews its offer for supporting Home language GCSEs annually. EDEAS ensures the Bilingual support workers who conduct this support have L3 in Interpreting and translations, L2 in Safeguarding and are trained in Home language GCSEs.
For the Summer 2025 EDEAS are able to support with Arabic and Russian GCSEs only. Please return to this page annually for an updated language list that we can support with.
All support for Home language GCSEs is chargeable for all schools, including maintained schools.
- Online Home language GCSE preparation sessions
Schools can purchase 2hrs, 3hrs or 6hrs (which will be split into 2 or 3 sessions) of online preparation sessions. This is Bilingual support worker time which can be allocated to your school.
During these sessions, children will be able to practice aspects of the Home language GCSE using sample and past papers. These sessions can have up to 4 children who are taking the same Home language GCSE and it is the schools responsibility to ensure children have access to technology, including Teams for the sessions.
Please complete a booking request form and in the additional comments section at the end, include that this booking request is for online Home language GCSE preparation sessions.
- Paper 2 Speaking in April/May– Conversational/role play support only
Paper 2 comprises of tasks that require conversations/role play in the chosen language. This is similar to an English Speaking and listening task. Your exams officer will need to ensure there is a professional who speaks the chosen language to support this paper. Only communication in the chosen language will be assessed for marks.
The EDEAS Bilingual support worker will arrive at your school and will require 20-30mins in a room on their own to prepare using the teacher’s booklet, provided for the exam. The Bilingual support worker will then facilitate the conversational/role play aspects of this exam with the child only. During booking you can state your preferred time and day, however, please note that this may not be possible and alternative dates maybe provided.
You will need to book 1hr of onsite interpreting at a cost of £116. If due to delays due to the school this exceeds the agreed 1hr, the school will be invoiced for the subsequent time in blocks of hours. For multiple bookings in the same language, please email: educate.educationethnicdiverseachievement-mailbox@devon.gov.uk to discuss your purchase.
Your schools’ responsibilities
- Ensure all other papers are administered within the same examination period, as outlined by the exam boards guidance.
- It is your school’s responsibility to enter the student for the exam within the timescales, which are provided by the exam board.
- Ensure you have booked a Bilingual support worker/interpreter and have viewed the service agreement.
- Ensure reception staff are aware of the Bilingual support workers arrival and school instructions.
- Ensure a quiet room is booked and the Teacher’s booklet is present for the Bilingual support worker on arrival.
- Ensure a school appointed invigilator is present during paper 2, including the child’s preparation time.
- Ensure that the school has the appropriate recording device and records the paper 2 assessment – ensure the invigilator knows how to confidently record the session. Ensure that the speaking exam has been recorded appropriately and send the recording to the exam board. EDEAS do no record sessions, and this is the sole responsibility of the school.
- Make sure you have the paperwork ready for the Bilingual support worker to sign on the day of the exam – please ensure that you print all paperwork provided by the exam board so the teacher can fill in the tasks and sign on the day of the exam. You may also need to provide a centre declaration form – please check with the exam board which paperwork is required for outside examiners.