Integrating students who speak English as another language

Children who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) represent over a fifth of the school population, yet they are overlooked in education policy. Diana Sutton, Director of the Bell Foundation, outlines key actions for the government to ensure their inclusion in learning strategies

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Bell Foundation

In 2011, when The Bell Foundation began, EAL support services were being decimated. Since then, the number of EAL learners has almost doubled and most recently, schools have welcomed and worked to integrate new refugee arrivals from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. This, along with the removal of the reference to inspect EAL in the Ofsted framework, the short-lived two-year introduction of the Proficiency in English scales, and the lack of reference to EAL in initial teacher training has meant a de-prioritisation of EAL learners in education policy.

So, what can be done to help both teachers working in schools and children who have the double job of learning English and learning the curriculum through English?

Address the issue

Why has this group been deprioritised?  One reason for the lack of focus is the overreliance on aggregated data by policymakers. EAL pupils may include a bilingual child of a wealthy French banker and a refugee who might have no prior education or no first language literacy. EAL pupils are more than 20%, and rising, of the school population and schools need to meet the needs of newly arrived refugee communities.

Assess English proficiency

Proficiency in English has the greatest impact on EAL learners’ attainment. Proficiency in English for EAL pupils explains four to six times as much variation in achievement as gender, free school meals and ethnicity combined.

Early support initiatives

Early language support is particularly important for EAL learners, as is preserving the child’s home language. Schools need to understand the distinctive nature of EAL and to train teachers to have a better understanding of English as a first language compared to those for whom English is an Additional Language. Multilingual classrooms are now the norm, with over one in five children in schools speaking EAL. Yet teachers tell us they don’t feel prepared or supported to teach them.

In conclusion, addressing the needs of children who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) requires a multifaceted approach that integrates early language support, acknowledges the diverse backgrounds of EAL learners, and provides adequate training and resources for teachers.