Lack of funding prevents roll-out of Chinese as school subject

A sizeable number of principals are interested in introducing Mandarin Chinese as a subject, however a lack of qualified teachers, timetabling issues, and the absence of financial support prevents them from doing so.

That is according to new research published yesterday by the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies at University College Dublin (UCD). The study found that in the last 10 years, principals have become much more interested in introducing Chinese in their schools.

Over 40% of the secondary schools surveyed are now offering one or more Chinese courses. The study also found that growth of the subject has been uneven in the absence of state funding; Almost 70% of fee-paying schools surveyed offered Chinese, compared to 38% of non-fee paying schools.

A number of schools reported discontinuing or not offering Chinese because of the cost of paying teachers outside their normal allocation. However, despite the significant increase in the number of schools offering Chinese, the majority of courses offered are still in Transition Year.

According to the report, teachers believe this is an issue as it limits the progress that can be made in the language, and can make Chinese be seen as a novelty rather than a ‘real subject.’ Just 10% of the schools included in the study’s sample reported offering the Junior Cycle short course in Chinese Language and Culture, launched in 2014.

The current impossibility of qualifying or registering as a Chinese teacher also emerged strongly as a key issue among native Chinese and Irish teachers, the report found. Chinese should be named as a curricular language immediately so that criteria for teachers can be agreed by the Teaching Council of Ireland, the report recommends.