Woke French GCSE exam asks pupils to translate a passage about a 'bisexual sister, her divorced parents and jobless brother'

Published: 23:54, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 23:54, 22 May 2026 Asking GCSE French pupils to translate a passage about a ‘bisexual sister, her divorced parents and jobless brother’ is more about social values than language, critics have argued. One of the country’s largest examining boards was lambasted by parents, teachers and pupils alike for ‘engineering woke material’ into a recent listening and translation exam. Pupils were left perplexed this week when an audio passage authorised by exam board Pearson Edexcel began to detail a fictional French family including a ‘bisexual sister’. Some pupils thought they heard the phrase ‘my little sister is sexual’ and left the exam hall mystified as to the purpose of the description. The exam’s commentary on the social conditions of France continued with reference to the bisexual sister’s jobless brother and divorced parents. Pupils were left perplexed this week when an audio passage authorised by exam board Pearson Edexcel began to detail a fictional French family including a ‘bisexual sister’ (stock image)  One mother of a 16-year-old boy who took the exam told The Times that parents and pupils wanted a balance between day-to-day phrases and understanding the origins of the language. She added: ‘He was mortified, not at the idea that the concept of bisexuality came up... (but) that it was shoehorned into a French exam. 'It’s just not appropriate in that context.’ A spokesman for Pearson Edexcel said: ‘We regularly review our content, and we will continue to do so with the French listening exam.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.