As the Conservative party forms a new Government, there is some good news for Mandarin in schools today, whatever your political leanings:
‘We will increase the number of teachers able to teach Mandarin in schools in England so we can compete in the global race.’
– Conservative Manifesto 2015 [1], p.34
Whether your school is already teaching Mandarin, or you are just curious at this stage, the Annual Chinese Teaching Conference 2015 is the place to be this 12 and 13 June.
This series of posts will introduce the speakers for plenary sessions on the main stage.
No.1 in the world
Chris Husbands
Professor Chris Husbands will extend a warm welcome and introduce the UK’s new ‘Model Confucius Institute’.
In December 2014, we signed a formal agreement to become a ‘Model Confucius Institute’:
• a national centre of excellence for Chinese pedagogy
• an international centre of excellence for the teaching and learning of Chinese in schools.
Chris Husbands is the Director of UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and Vice-Provost (Academic Development) for the whole of UCL. The new Model Confucius Institute will draw on IOE’s teacher training expertise (rated ‘outstanding’ across the board by Ofsted [2]), as well as our world-leading research (REF 2014 [3]). We currently rank number one for education worldwide (QS World University Rankings 2014 [4]).@Director_IOE
Global engagement
Nicola Brewer
Dame Nicola Brewer will inspire us with the emerging Global Engagement Strategy. We are delighted to have merged with UCL, and share in the UCL vision for 2034.
Dame Nicola is UCL’s Vice-Provost (International) and brings a wealth of senior diplomatic insight and experience to the UCL vision. She is responsible for developing UCL’s International Strategy and continuing to expand the university’s global profile. You can read more about Nicola here. @nicolambrewer
China and Britain
Shen Yang
We are honoured that Minister Counsellor Shen Yang has agreed to speak too and share his own senior diplomatic wisdom and experience.
As we prepare for the UK-China High-Level Joint People-to-People (P2P) Dialogue this autumn, Mr Shen will share his valuable insight.
Minister Counsellor Shen heads the Education Section of the Chinese embassy in the UK. Education is a key area for the future of strong Sino-British relationships and Minister Counsellor Shen has been most supportive through the years in helping schools in England to develop Mandarin teaching.
You, Your School, and Beyond
Katharine Carruthers
Katharine Carruthers will share the vision for this year’s conference theme, You, Your School, and Beyond.
Katharine is a familiar name to Mandarin school teachers in the UK and to increasingly greater numbers across the globe. She is the Director of the UCL IOE Confucius Institute for Schools and an international expert on the teaching of Chinese and about China in schools.
This is an unmissable session if you wish to understand the context of Mandarin in schools in 2015 and how everyone has a part to play.
Visit again next week when we’ll reveal details of Friday’s second plenary speaker…
We look forward to welcoming you all, familiar friends and new ones, for our 12th Annual Chinese Teaching Conference for Schools!
