The British government must do more to encourage young people to learn Chinese

As British trade with China increases, it is becoming more and more important that the country's schools provide a foundation in Mandarin for young people who might one day have dealings with Chinese businesses.

In recent years it has become fashionable among politicians to talk about the rising importance of China, but often without providing a plan for how the UK will adapt to this.

Despite some progress being made, there is a long way to go if the UK is going to be in a position to take full advantage of the economic, political, social and cultural opportunities China's rise offers.

If the UK doesn't act soon, it runs the risk of being left behind. Last year Sweden became the first European nation to announce plans to offer Chinese lessons to all schoolchildren across the country within the next decade.

In 2010 David Laws spoke about the problems being faced by schools who wanted to offer their students some Mandarin. "It is delusional to think that many children are going to benefit from Mandarin teaching when there are only a handful of such teachers in the country," he said.

I've talked to several head-teachers at schools which are encouraging a majority, or all, of their students to study Mandarin, and they tend to echo this point.

These head-teachers often have the same complaints. They say there is a lack of funding and resources for schools to expand on their Mandarin programmes. They also say they encounter problems trying to recruit native Mandarin speaking teachers, usually because of difficulties with visas.

Although a growing number of British nationals are learning Mandarin as a second language, while this might suffice when teaching primary school aged children, the country must be willing to allow more native speaking teachers to immigrate if we are to seriously expand upon Chinese teaching in the UK.

And we must be willing to provide these teachers with the suitable training to make the transition from teaching in a Chinese school to teaching in a British school.

I spoke to one such teacher at a school in East London, who spoke about the difficulties of adapting to a completely different teaching culture in the UK after previously teaching in China.

She noted that while teaching in China, students were happier to learn more passively, British students demanded more interaction in lessons, and would be more likely to switch off if the lesson turned into a lecture.

The solution here was simple: the teacher was paired up with a British colleague and they took the class together. But with schools increasingly lacking funding, this might not always be an option.

There is a danger that Chinese learning will become a privilege of the private sector, which is already beginning to build a monopoly on the few native-speaking teachers available.

What is required is a nationwide push. Although some might say the current economic situation might prohibit this, without an investment in this area now the country will be all the poorer a few years down the line.

Britain must develop stronger ties to China, and this begins in schools. There has been a lot of talk about the 'pivot towards Asia', often in reference to military spending, distribution of foreign office staff or trade deals.

But it is critical that this pivot starts in schools, and that action follows any pledges. There are around 250,000 Chinese students studying in the UK, many of whom would like to stay to work in the UK after graduation. It is time to get some of these graduates teaching in British schools.

If we don't act decisively now, we can be certain that other countries, such as Sweden, will.