Parents blamed for Asian study fall

SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has blamed parents for a national decline in school students studying Asian languages.

SCHOOL Education Minister Peter Garrett has blamed parents for a national decline in school students studying Asian languages.

Interviewed on Sky News's Australian Agenda yesterday, Mr Garrett also ruled out imposing compulsory competitive sport as a means of increasing Australia's Olympic prospects.

The minister agreed that take-up rates of Asian languages were in "a state of freefall and collapse" despite a $60 million effort to lift their profile. "We've spent over $60m and what did we see? I mean, let's be blunt about it, we saw (a) decline," Mr Garrett said.

"The fact is that we don't have a driving culture in this country at this point in time which is saying from a parental point of view we want our kids to be in these schools learning these Asian languages."

Recent audits have revealed 5.8 per cent of Year 12 students are studying Asian languages, with Chinese languages being studied by only 300 students with a non-Chinese background.

Fewer Year 12 students studied Indonesian in 2009 than in 1972, and undergraduate Indonesian language enrolments at university dropped 37 per cent from 2001 to 2010, despite a 40 per cent surge in undergraduate numbers.

Mr Garrett said Labor had convened a working group of business and academic leaders to examine the issue, and would consider inserting Mandarin into the national curriculum. The matter would also feature in a forthcoming white paper on Australia's role in Asia, authored by former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, he said.

Asked about Australia's disappointing performance at the Olympics, Mr Garrett ruled out forcing schoolchildren to take part in competitive sport, but said physical education would also be considered for the new national curriculum.

"There should be the provision of appropriate opportunities for kids to have exercise of one kind or another, but I don't think we should be forcing kids out on to a sporting field if they've got other interests," he said, noting the importance of the creative arts.

"But we've got to marry and match and balance the requirements for a curriculum that delivers kids with the right academic qualifications and skill potential as well as them being well-rounded kids who've got good wellbeing on board as well."