[lg policy] UK: Education leaders call for co-ordinated national ESOL strategy

Sat Feb 4 16:08:03 UTC 2017

 Education leaders call for co-ordinated national ESOL strategy
Alix Robertson <http://feweek.co.uk/author/alix-robertson/>
| 15:00, Feb 3, 2017
1
[image: Education leaders call for co-ordinated national ESOL strategy]

Two of the country’s most senior educators have called on the government to
produce a coherent national strategy for teaching English to immigrants,
and put a stop to wasteful competition between different ministries and
departments.

At present, responsibility for English as a second language is split
between the Department for Education and the Department for Communities and
Local Government.

Jenny Roden, the co-chair of the National Association of Teaching English
and Community Languages, and Sue Pember, director of policy at adult
learning provider membership body Holex and former senior civil servant
responsible for FE funding, have said that the situation is failing tens of
thousands of learners who desperately want to learn the language.

The DCLG provides funds for a selection of short-term English language
projects for non-native speakers, and the DfE provides separate funding for
ESOL classes in FE – which has been heavily cut alongside the adult
education budget.

Between the 2012/13 academic year and 2015/16, the DCLG handed out almost
£8.5 million for projects designed to “engage isolated adults”, according
to the apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon in an answer to a
written parliamentary question submitted in January.

A DCLG spokesperson told *FE Week* these projects are generally delivered
by unpaid “small voluntary and community groups” – as the department fears
learners may otherwise “be deterred from attending classes delivered by
local colleges in larger, more formal settings”.

Around 39,800 adults have received teaching so far, and the focus is on
people with “the lowest levels of English” rather than those “seeking work”.

Meanwhile, funding for the DfE’s ESOL classes, which the FE sector has been
delivering for decades, has significantly declined since 2009.

DCLG-funded projects, which are short-term and targeted at certain groups,
do not provide the sustainable funding which ESOL badly needs

Ms Roden warned that the six projects, funded to the tune of £8.45 million
over four years by the DCLG, were unlikely to reach enough of the people
who need them, particularly while college programmes continue to suffer.

“Unfortunately, DCLG-funded projects, which are short-term and targeted at
certain groups, do not provide the sustainable funding which ESOL badly
needs,” she said.

“The systematic reduction in ESOL funding from the Skills Funding Agency
since 2009 has left providers struggling to provide even a basic service,
with some closing down their provision completely.

“We believe that ESOL learners deserve better than this; what is needed is
a strategy for ESOL, as exists in Wales and Scotland.”
<http://feweek.co.uk/?p=55329>

Read more: What FE Week’s deputy editor had to say

Dr Pember, who was formerly the top skills civil servant, told *FE Week*
that she too believes there is an urgent need to establish a coherent
strategy for English language teaching.

“If we are to meet the government’s stated aims on integration, we really
need an English language policy for England,” she said. Recent
announcements about new funds for refugees are welcomed but these seem to
be done in isolation from the main body of activity.”

In December 2016, a report on social integration authored by Dame Louise
Casey found that English skills are “fundamental” to improving community
cohesion and opportunities for immigrants, but identified “a significant
gap in funding for pre-entry and entry-level English language courses”.

This isn’t the first time senior figures in the sector have called for
better ESOL provision. Martin Doel, the former boss of the AoC, pointed out
in January last year that there had been a 50 per cent drop in funding
available for ESOL courses between 2008 and 2015 – a massive fall of £160
million.

He made the observation in the wake of a controversial decision by the-then
prime minister David Cameron to provide £20 million for English language
tuition geared towards helping Muslim women integrate into British society.

Meanwhile in October, hundreds of college staff and students expressed
their frustration over ESOL cuts at the Houses of Parliament.

NATECLA will carry out a survey with the charity Refugee Action to assess
the effect of cuts to ESOL funding nationally, with results expected in
September.

http://feweek.co.uk/2017/02/03/education-leaders-call-for-co-ordinated-national-esol-strategy/

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