Luke Bozier on Gove's SSAT speech and the importance of Mandarin and other languages for children's futures

Luke Bozier, the entreprenuer behind MyCllr and one of New Labour's brightest young thinkers, attended Michael Gove's keynote speech at the SSAT's Confucius Institute and has a blog post on the event well worth checking out. The Secretary of State's speech doesn't seem to be publicly available yet, but when it does appear on DfE website it's definetly worth a read. There is a very brief online summary of the event by the SSAT.

Luke Bozier himself feels it is imperative that it is not just politicians and business leaders but school leaders themselves who grasp the need to offer Mandarin at GCSE level:

"Considering that Mandarin is so prestigious for both private & public sector employers here in the UK (and around the world), in fact Mandarin is the 2nd most in-demand language to employers according to the CBI, wouldn't it make sense to promote Mandarin not just for its beauty and culture, but as a tool to equip young people from difficult backgrounds and areas to enter the workplace on a stronger footing?"

Bozier has also criticised the decision under the previous Government to remove the obligation on students to study a language at Key Stage 4 and argues that languages like Mandarin could help broaden the cultural horizons and boost social mobility for kids from poorer backgrounds:

"If we are struggling to give kids from deprived backgrounds the ladder they need to reach for the best jobs in this country, teaching them Mandarin might be part of the solution – languages focus the mind and are a good way for young people to demonstrate their mental and learning abilities to potential employers or to universities".

It's worth noting that a number of the proposed University Technical Colleges, including the flagship Aston University Engineering Business Academy, set to open next year, plan to offer Mandarin as part of their curriculum at 14-16 and 16-19, in reflection of the strategic importance of China as a key export market for UK engineering and technical services but also a hub of innovation in its own right.

Some of the UTC sponsors I've spoken to are enthusiastic about the potential for Mandarin lessons to be integrated with the practical learning components of the Engineering Diploma to allow students to use their linguistic skills in real world contexts. So for example students might be expected to deliver the first 5 minutes, or possibly the whole presentation, of an extended technical project demonstration or a product design contract pitch in Mandarin Chinese. To find out more about UTCS check out the Baker Dearing Educational Trust.