Page 17 - ELG1711 Nov Issue 452

YOUNG LEARNERS .
SPECIAL

Chinese whispers supply students to other schools, they are often Barbie brings English lessons
in a position to set up a consortium and spread
students out. Moreton Hall in Shropshire has
dealt with small groups of short-stay young
learners this way. to China’s tiny tot market
Taunton International Middle School, one
of the few ISCs to take under 12s, say that they
Are British boarding schools ready to take on too could also co-ordinate some projects but
the army of Chinese learners interested in ‘most schools don’t have a big English language Ninety per cent of all Chinese kindergartens are private and most of them
teaching department and can’t take low level
taster courses? Melanie Butler investigates learners.’ They are also doubtful about very need English language teachers, finds Melanie Butler
short courses of, say, two weeks. ‘It isn’t long
enough to learn anything.’
e need to send a group of 150 admissions officer told us ‘so we usually have a International schools which enroll only oy giant Mattel is the latest big-
15-year olds to a boarding school handful of spare places for girls’. A mainstream international students certainly have the name investor to plunge into China’s
‘Win the UK for four months. We school with 150 spare boarding school places, academic resources to cope with low-level growing pre-school market, according
would prefer Oxford, Cambridge or Central however, is almost impossible to find, she learners, but again tend to be small. Oldfeld Tto China Daily. Interest in the pre-
London.’ So reads one of the growing number confirmed, because ‘any school with that many school, for example offers high school ‘taster’ school market has soared following legislation
of e-mails received by the Gazette from empty places would go bust.’ programmes, for four, eight or 12 weeks and allowing private-sector providers working in
bilingual schools in China. The demand for Mainstream schools also struggle to deal has an integration programme with a local the sector to register as for-profit companies.
boarding school ‘taster courses’ in the UK, with large numbers of students who need to school. It even has plenty of beds: it shares a Early-years providers make up 90 per cent
where students join a school for a limited stay outside term time, require special leisure campus with Harrow House, a large residential of the 163,000 private schools in China,
amount of time so they can experience British language school which also runs residential according to Ministry of Education statistics
education, is not new. Private schools in China is the biggest activity courses for British schools. When it quoted by Reuters.
Germany and France have been doing it for comes to school students however, Oldfeld In a joint venture with the Chinese
years and agents from Brazil were active in the market for British currently only takes 50. A few more would be investment conglomerate Fosun, best known
market until quite recently. welcome but a large inflow of students of one as the owners of Club Med, Mattel plans to
What is new, though, is the size of the boarding schools. Of the nationality would be unsustainable. launch its network of ‘play clubs’, designed to
groups that are coming, especially from China. Indeed most boarding schools run strict combine pre-school education and shopping,
To put it into context, there are a total of 20 boarding schools we nationality quotas, and China is the biggest in Shanghai next year. No details of the
around 8,000 boarders aged 15 in British market for British boarding schools. Of the 20 educational programmes on offer have been
independent schools according to International spoke to, only two were boarding schools we spoke to, only two were released and it is unclear whether English
School Council statistics. One group of 150 looking to recruit more Chinese. language teaching will be included.
such students may represent only three classes looking to recruit more Only one of the schools we talked to, Language schools in China have long
in China – but in the UK it represents 2 per Chinese Buckwood in Sussex, is able to take large targeted the pre-school age group: Disney
cent of all the boarders in that age group. groups of a single nationality on a full English opened in 2009 and now has 27 Most Chinese
So where can they go? We talked to UK immersion or part immersion basis. It has a centres across the country, while EF’s Small kindergatens are private
schools to find out. Many boarding schools we programmes or want a ‘partial immersion’ separate centre where the groups of 50+ can Stars programme is offered in 55 Chinese
talked to are happy to squeeze in ten or twelve programme where they attend classes with be accommodated and can be taught by their cities – with fourteen centres in Beijing alone. private provision by promising ‘preferential Waldorf and the Reggiano approach from the
students for a term, though the highly selective their own teachers for half the day. own teachers part of the time if necessary. The traditional model has been for children policies to attract private capital into the Reggio Emilia region of Italy. Parents attracted
schools, which tend to be oversubscribed, are The International Study Centres (ISCs), All students take part in at least some of the to attend Chinese-medium pre-schools and sector’, according to official government by the idea of their child becoming part of
less likely to do so. schools which prepare children for entry lessons in the main school and many attend to enrol in a private language school as an website Xinhuanet. the global elite demand English lessons or
It is also worth remembering that many into the mainstream schools, have the right full-time. It is a market that the school, addition. However, the move by English Unlike private primary and middle schools, bilingual classes with native-speaker teachers
boarding schools are single sex and most co- academic requirements: specialised English which also has British day pupils and mostly language giant New Oriental into offering which must follow the Chinese national – preferably blonde and white, judging by
educational schools have more spare places for classes and subject teachers trained to deal international boarders, has been in for years bilingual pre-schools may signal a shift teachers’ comments on some websites.
girls than boys. ‘Overseas parents are just more with L2 but they tend to be very small, 200- and demand is growing fast. away from English as an additional subject The private sector Most schools, though, also cover the basics
likely to send boys to the UK to study,’ one 300 students at most. However, because they But then so is the market. towards English as a medium of instruction. of China’s pre-schools, such as with top-end
The Nasdaq-listed company has opened has been the engine for providers like Golden Cradle with 400 centres
five bilingual kindergartens so far. They are across the country.
branded New Oriental Stars and are operated the growth of pre-school They aim to give children a head start by,
separately from its ‘Pop Kids’ after-school education in China for example, teaching pupils 800 Chinese
study programmes and its K–12 bilingual characters rather than the 200 specified for
New Oriental Foreign Language School at Between 2003 and 2015, government schools.
Yangzhou. It is in the area of methodology where
The private sector has been the engine the number of centres schools may be most at risk of government
for the growth of pre-school education in interference. Although the Chinese
China. Between 2003 and 2015, the number soared from 55,000 to government needs the private sector to
of centres soared from 55,000 to 143,000, provide the facilities necessary to meet its pre-
according to business consultancy Research In 143,000 school expansion targets, it has been waging
China. Only 15,000 new public kindergartens a campaign against the teaching of ‘Western
opened over the same period. curriculum under new regulations laid down values’. It has even been inspecting branches
Private-sector growth seems unlikely to last year, pre-schools are not restricted in the of overseas universities (as we reported last
slow any time soon. Not only is the decision methodology they use. Around 10 per cent month).
to end the country’s one-child policy likely of all kindergartens now offer Western-style In March this year censors began to crack
to result in a baby boom, but the government curricula, according to SupChina magazine. down on the sales of foreign picture books for
has announced a plan to increase enrolments At the top end of the private sector, there young children, banning the majority of them,
in pre-schools by 10 per cent. Although is a panoply of provision on offer – from according to SupChina.
The most sought-after British central government will release some funds Confucian Kindergartens to those following Could Western-style pre-school
boarding school: Hogwarts for state provision, it is keen to increase Western programmes, including Montessori, methodology be next on the list?
16 November 2017 editorial@elgazette.com 17