Industry News
Schools push for Mandarin lessons
Posted on 24th May 2007
Mandarin lessons should be part of the curriculum so that future generations can prepare for a shift in global dynamics, a government advisor has suggested.
European languages would not be as useful as Mandarin in coming years and decades, Sir Cyril Taylor has advised. The chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust told MPs that Mandarin is "a strategic world language."
An early adopter of the language in the independent sector was similarly certain that such changes were necessary.
Brighton College was the first school in the country to introduce Mandarin as a compulsory subject, and headmaster Richard Cairns said that he remained convinced of its importance.
The "pecking order" of languages would soon see German fall behind Mandarin, Mr Cairns asserted, according to the Independent.
"We need to raise our game in languages in schools if we are to compete in an increasingly globalised economy," education secretary Alan Johnson said earlier this year.