A Budding Partnership Between the Education Division in the UK and the Harris Federation
The seeds of friendly collaboration have been planted between Taiwan and the Harris Federation. The Harris Federation, which is the UK's largest multi-academy trust, describes itself as: “an education charity led and run by teachers. We opened our first school in 1991 and now run 52 primary and secondary academies in London and Essex, and train thousands of teachers per year. It has a commitment to delivering high-quality education, implementing effective curricula, and ensuring consistent teaching and learning practices, and students from all backgrounds benefit from its exceptional outcomes.
In 2016—with generous support from the SWIRE Chinese Language Foundation—the Harris Federation established the SWIRE Chinese Language Centre London. It is dedicated to enhancing “the quality, quantity, and reach of Chinese language teaching” and at least two dozen of its academies have integrated Mandarin Chinese into their curricula.
The Harris Federation invited Andy Bi, Director of the Education Division, to a dinner at the House of Lords on May 24 where he discussed possible avenues for cooperation between the Education Division with leading figures from the Harris Federation The focus of their discussion was on school-to-school exchanges and the promotion of Mandarin Chinese language education.
Mr. Bi congratulated the people from the Harris Federation for its remarkable achievements promoting Mandarin Chinese teaching in the UK and expressed his optimism about the future of Mandarin Chinese education. He emphasized the importance of also teaching traditional Chinese characters, highlighting the potential for partnerships between schools in Britain and schools in Taiwan. This resonated with the people from the Harris Federation, who commended Taiwan for its Bilingual 2030 policy. They reaffirmed their commitment to facilitating language immersion experiences and fostering exchanges that would benefit all the participating students in the UK and elsewhere. Notably, their exchanges extend beyond co-curricular activities and encompass areas such as art, sports, and traditional culture.
The Education Division looks forward to playing a pivotal role in facilitating language-learning cooperation between the Harris Federation, and primary and secondary schools in Taiwan learning English within the context of Taiwan’s bilingual 2030 policy. This will help nurture future generations of global citizens and benefit both Taiwan and the UK.
