UK last in 'global knowledge'
Monday, 12 Nov 2007 07:31
The survey found that 30 per cent of British students thought that learning a foreign language was not important
A British Council report has found that students in the UK are the least curious about international issues among children in ten countries.
The survey conducted by Ipsos Mori interviewed children about their attitudes towards learning a foreign language and their interest in current affairs.
A total of 4,170 children between the ages of 11 and 16, from nations including Brazil, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the Czech Republic and China, were asked for their opinions and results ranked by country placed the UK at the bottom of the table.
The poll also revealed that only 28 per cent of British pupils said they would go out of their way to understand international issues in comparison with 69 per cent of respondents in Brazil.
When asked about whether they thought it was important to learn a foreign language, 70 per cent of UK students said yes while 100 per cent of children in Saudi Arabia and 97 per cent of children in Brazil gave the same answer.
Commenting on the findings, British Council chief executive Martin Davidson said: "Our schoolchildren cannot afford to fall behind the rest of the world.
"For the UK to compete in a global economy, it is vital that we encourage our young people to have an interest in and engagement with the world around them."
Children from Nigeria, India and Brazil respectively finished in the top three in the report. Countries were ranked on a scale from one to seven and the UK finished with a score of 2.19, behind the United States with 2.22 and the Czech Republic with 2.51.