Why enrolment numbers are plummeting and what it means for national security
Two Australian universities offer Hindi language courses. In the five years to 2021, 17 Australians have completed honors Chinese language studies. Only 500 of 1 million indigenous university students in Australia are learning Indonesian. Priority Asian languages (Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese and Hindi) are studied by 3.3 percent of 12th grade students.
Australia is second to last in the OECD for language studies in year 10, and is well below the OECD average for speaking more than one language (68 per cent on average versus 38 per cent of Australians).
These statistics point to a dire problem: Australians have all but abandoned Asian languages; This poses a major challenge to its ability to dominate in the face of today’s increasingly complex geopolitical environment.
Lack of language skills also undermines national security, eliminates job opportunities, and weakens bilateral relations between government and business.
“Asian talent is now a vital sovereign talent. You wouldn’t know it by looking at our schools, universities or businesses,” says a standing committee report published Tuesday.
“As a result, the institutions that build Australia’s Asia capacity now face an existential crisis.”
All attempts by previous governments to solve the problem have failed. These include recognizing Asian studies as a priority in 1988, setting a target for all higher education students to learn an Asian language by 1995, a $62 million cash injection in 2009, and creating opportunities for all students to study a priority language under the Gillard government’s white paper.
Sydney Community Language Teaching Institute and University of Sydney Professor Ken Cruickshank said Asian languages had “low status” because they were not part of the state curriculum.
“The Commonwealth puts out great policies and programs but it doesn’t run a single school. The states control languages and language curricula and there’s no continuity between them,” he said.
Concerns about the perceived difficulty of Asian languages (despite Indonesian being on par with French for English speakers) and the impact on ATAR also contribute to this decline.
Tuesday’s report recommends significant structural changes to address this problem. “It is time for a different approach. The cost of inaction is no longer a matter for future parliaments.”
The committee made a number of recommendations that go to the heart of the education system, including five guaranteed bonus ATAR points for Year 12 students learning an Asian language that is new to them, bilingual high schools and teaching scholarships for those specializing in priority languages.
Changes are also proposed, such as a review of the visa system for prospective language teachers, an intensive program allowing existing teachers to specialize in a priority language, and a 10-year National Asian Talent Strategy to monitor participation in Asian languages across schools.
“Something has to give, or languages will die,” Cruickshank said.
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