MEP Independent Evaluation 2022

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After five successful years of delivery from 2016 to 2021 it was announced that the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) would continue to be delivered by IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society in partnership with the British Council from 2021-2024.

The MEP independent evaluation report covering the academic year 2021/22 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)  Click here or click the image below to download the report.

The academic year 2021-2022 was the 6th year of MEP and marked the first year of the second phase of funding of the programme by the Department for Education, and was also the first year in which pupils within MEP sat GCSE Chinese examinations.

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:

  • There were 74 schools in the programme portfolio at the end of 2021-2022.
  • MEP now accounts for almost 2 in 5 (39%) of all GCSE candidates in state schools in England who do not have a family link to China or prior exposure to the language.
  • MEP remains highly regarded by school leaders and teachers in schools delivering it.
  • MEP is meeting its primary goal of increasing the number of children on the path to fluency with more than 7,300 pupils on the programme in academic year 2021-2022 and a new, Year 7 cohort of over 2,200 enrolled.
  • GCSE results for MEP pupils in summer 2022 show that; 91% of MEP pupils attained grades 5+; 51% attained 8+ and 28% grade 9.
  • MEP pupils have significantly higher GCSE attainment than their non-MEP peers at every point of the grade distribution.
  • Multivariate analysis found that participation in MEP itself has a positive and statistically significant impact on attainment.

Watch a recording of the MEP independent evaluation webinar that took place on Wednesday October 4th below.

Click here if you would like to read the previous independent evaluation report covering the period 2016 to 2021.