The Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) is delivered by UCL Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council.
The MEP independent evaluation report covering the academic year 2023/24 has been published and is now publicly available. This report builds on a summative evaluation of the first five years of the programme (2016-2021) and the evaluation reports for the 2021/22 & 2022/23 academic years. Click here or click the image below to download the 2023/24 report.
The academic year 2023-2024 was the 8th year of MEP and marked the third year of the second phase of funding of the programme by the Department for Education.
The programme is continuing to achieve its delivery targets. The report showcases the impressive results that the MEP has achieved. The report findings of the report include:
- MEP is widely viewed as being a well-balanced programme addressing issues both of supply (teacher capacity and skills) and demand.
- Many staff see MEP as very much offering a model for how all MFL in school should ideally be organised and delivered.
- The programme has succeeded in its original aims of increasing the number of state schools offering Mandarin on the curriculum and increasing the number of pupils studying the language.
- MEP schools contributed in excess of 40% of all GCSE candidates from state schools teaching Mandarin on the curriculum.
- A notable achievement of MEP has been in widening access to the language to children without Chinese heritage and in lessening perceptions that Mandarin is ‘too hard’.
- The unique impact on GCSE attainment of MEP is clear and measurable. MEP makes a unique contribution to average GCSE attainment of more than half a grade on average per pupil.
- The programme has been especially influential in widening access to Mandarin language learning.
- MEP impacts on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Staff point to the programme’s considerable impact in broadening horizons and raising aspirations for these children.
- An increasing number of MEP schools are developing a Mandarin offer in KS5 including pathways to enable pupils to continue Mandarin learning alongside other A-levels.
Click here to read the independent evaluation report for 2021/22.
Click here to read the independent evaluation report for 2022/23.