Mandarin: Primary Education

Ben Chapman
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to promote the teaching of Mandarin in primary schools.

Jim Knight
The Children's Plan, published in December 2007, confirmed that the primary curriculum will be reviewed, including introducing languages as a compulsory subject. This takes forward the recommendation in Lord Dearing's Languages Review that languages should become a compulsory part of the primary curriculum, and builds on the existing entitlement for all Key Stage 2 pupils to learn a language in class time by 2010.