Mandarin excellence program
This Department for Education (DfE) funded programme aims to kick-start the teaching and learning of Mandarin in state secondary schools in England and to develop a cohort of English children on the path to fluency in Mandarin.
We have collaborated with MEP since shortly after its launch. Our work involves both formative and summative insight and evaluation approaches.
We have devised a mixed research methodology. Alongside analysis of internal and programme data, primary data is collected through school visits and classroom observation, pupil focus groups, in-depth interviews with programme leaders, delivery partners and stakeholders as well as an online survey distributed to relevant teachers and staff.
We publish annual reports and findings are presented at the MEP annual Webinar event delivered in partnership with the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, the British Council and DfE.
Annual MEP Evaluation Webinar
Delivered in partnership with the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and the British Council
Findings of the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) evaluation report are presented at the annual MEP Webinar event.
Mandarin Excellence Programme – Latest evaluation results | British Council
Express interest in the next MEP Evaluation Webinar here.
MEP Evaluation Report 2021/22
A report for the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and the Department for Education.
The latest MEP Evaluation report is now available.
In the latest evaluation Impact Stories collaborated with the Department for Education to analyse detailed pupil attainment data within the National Pupil Database (NPD) and developed a statistical model to evidence the positive impact on attainment of participation in MEP.
More details of the comparative analysis between pupils studying Mandarin as part of MEP versus pupils studying Mandarin in regular Mandarin school courses in England are set out in the most recent report.
More about the MEP Evaluation on UCL IoE MEP Independent Evaluation | IOE Confucius Institute.
The Mandarin Excellence Programme: Evaluation of the first five years
A report for the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and the Department for Education.
This report is a summative evaluation of the first phase of the Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP).
The report examines the achievements of the Mandarin Excellence Programme over the first 5 years of its funding beginning in 2016. It builds on two previous waves of formative research and evaluation already undertaken in 2019 and 2020. The aim of the evaluation is to assess the impact of MEP to date against its stated objectives and to identify lessons about the implementation, effectiveness and sustainability of MEP within schools.
These lessons will add to the existing evidence base of pedagogical and programme approaches to the teaching and learning of Mandarin Chinese in secondary schools.
More about the Mandarin Excellence Programme on IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society website.