Funding available to extend Mandarin teaching in Plymouth

Schools in Plymouth are being encouraged to apply for funding to extend Mandarin teaching in the area.

As part of the Mandarin Excellence Programme – a Department for Education initiative which aims to see 5,000 pupils on track towards fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020 – financial support for state-funded secondary schools is available for its successful delivery.

The programme is being led by participating schools, supported by the UCL Institute of Education, in partnership with the British Council. Hundreds of secondary school pupils in England have already begun the initiative – which was launched in September 2016.

Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world, and is seen as important for young people in the UK to master in order for the country to remain globally competitive in the future.

And with a number of state schools in Plymouth already teaching Mandarin Chinese, the programme offers an unprecedented opportunity to extend the reach of the language for pupils in the area.

Speaking after the launch of the MEP, School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

“A high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese will become increasingly important in our globally competitive economy. As part of our drive to extend opportunity, we want to give young people the opportunity to study the language and to acquire fluency in both spoken and written Mandarin.

“The Mandarin Excellence Programme helps us achieve this, offering intensive study in the language which will not only be personally enriching for students, but will also give them a significant advantage when they enter the world of work.”

In addition to improving students’ fluency in the language, the UCL Institute of Education, in collaboration with other providers, aims to have trained at least 100 new qualified Chinese teachers by the end of the programme.

The Confucius Institute, based at the UCL Institute of Education, already has a network of 45 Confucius Classrooms across England and supports schools in starting and developing the teaching and learning of Mandarin Chinese and the study of China across other areas of the curriculum.

Katharine Carruthers, Director of the UCL Institute Of Education (IOE) Confucius Institute, said:

“The UCL Institute of Education is delighted to be delivering the DfE’s Mandarin Excellence Programme. Over the last decade, our work in schools has inspired increasing numbers of secondary school pupils to take up Mandarin Chinese. This programme provides a real boost and unique opportunity for more motivated pupils to be on track towards fluency in Mandarin.

“We are also developing new innovative teaching methods which will benefit the young people on the programme as well as the wider cohort of pupils learning Mandarin Chinese in our schools. The Mandarin Excellence Programme will undoubtedly further the UK’s relationship with China at all levels.”

Mark Herbert, Head of Schools Programmes at the British Council, said:

“Language skills are crucial for work and life in the global race, and Mandarin Chinese is one of the frontrunners when it comes to languages that matter most to the UK’s future prosperity. If the UK is to remain competitive on the world stage, we need far more of our young people leaving school with a good grasp of Mandarin in order to successfully work abroad or for businesses here in the UK.”

As the first programme of its kind, secondary school pupils on the Mandarin Excellence Programme will study Mandarin for eight hours a week over the course of the programme – a significant increase on the time pupils currently spend on the subject.

In order to take part in the programme it is highly desirable that schools should:

·         Have an Ofsted rating in its most recent inspection of ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’
·         Be committed to developing a strong curriculum presence of Mandarin Chinese
·         Have a strong presence of two or more languages on the curriculum

Schools in England can find out more about the programme and register their interest here: http://ci.ioe.ac.uk/mandarin-excellence-programme/