Langauge expertise isn't there in Australia

"AUSTRALIA doesn't have the expertise to fulfil Tony Abbott's grand plan to have 40 per cent of students studying a foreign language in 10 years.
Thousands of teachers may have to return to university to get qualifications necessary to teach a second language, costing the nation millions."

Well this is an alarmist report adding fuel to the languages in school debate.  There are already at least two programs for teachers to gain accreditation and qualifications to teach Chinese.

Langauge expertise isn't there in Australia

It's adieu to the French language at schools as experts advise a shift of focus from European languages

Actually it was adieu (or au revoir) to French in the 1970s in Australia.  During the 1970s Indonesian was the popular language learned in schools. During the 1980s and 1990s it was selamat tinggal to Bahasa Indonesia and konnichiwa to Japanese. Japanese (and other LOTEs) was supported and funded until 2002 when most funding from the federal and state governments was discontinued. Languages have been largely unfunded and unimportant for many schools for a decade.The past decade  has seen a rapid decline in LOTE learning in schools and universities.

So the leader of the opposition has made an election promise.  To return languages to the curriculum. Quotes from the article include;

"Mr Abbott would focus on languages of key regional partners like China, Japan, South Korea and India (see the story at right).

 UNSW school of education Professor Chris Davison said anyone considering a career in business would have a competitive edge by being fluent in Mandarin, the most widely spoken language in the world."