Rising EAL pupil numbers requires proper response

Historically, there has often been a view that pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) outperform monolinguals and so need less support within schools.
Conversely, sometimes there is a belief that newly arrived refugee communities are putting pressure on overstretched schools.
Both views are highly simplistic and based on anecdotal insights that tell us little about the true educational attainment or needs of EAL pupils.
Understanding EAL attainment
This is why, over the last decade, we have commissioned Professor Steve Strand OBE at Oxford University to research the educational attainment of EAL pupils, analysing data in the National Pupil Database.
One of the key findings of the first wave of research conducted was that it is the pupil’s proficiency in English that has the strongest relationship with educational attainment for EAL pupils.
Overall, it found as much as 22 per cent of the variation in EAL pupils’ achievement compared to the typical three to four per cent that can be statistically explained by gender, free school meal status and ethnicity.
The research also evidenced that it takes pupils more than six years to progress from the lowest to the highest levels of English language proficiency required for academic attainment.
This is common sense - if you can’t access the curriculum because of limited or no English, then you won’t do as well as if you are proficient. What is surprising is that, unlike other jurisdictions, schools in England are not under a requirement to assess this.
Rising EAL numbers across schools
With the new government committed to enhancing opportunity through education, and EAL learner numbers continuing to rise, we have now published further research on EAL learners that underlines why this is an area of the system that cannot be overlooked.
- EAL pupils comprise 20.5 per cent of the school population and numbers are rising.
In 1997, just under 500,000 (7.6 per cent) of all pupils have EAL. In 2013, this number rose to 1.05 million (16.2 per cent) and is now at 1.68 million or 20.5 per cent of all pupils (2023).
- A greater proportion of schools now have EAL speakers in their classes.
In 2013, over half of all schools had fewer than 5 per cent EAL pupils - while in 2023, only a third of schools have fewer than 5 per cent EAL pupils.
EAL pupils make up 50 per cent of the roll in 10 per cent of primary schools and 8 per cent of secondary schools. London (47.9 per cent of schools) the West Midlands (13.2 per cent of schools) and the North-West (11.6 per cent of schools) have the highest number of schools with the majority of pupils (over 50 per cent) with EAL .
- Attainment at key stages - what does the evidence say?
The attainment of pupils with EAL trails behind that of monolingual pupils from the early years foundation stage to key stage 2.
By key stage 4, EAL pupils are just as likely to achieve a good GCSE in English and have higher attainment 8 and progress 8 scores, demonstrating clearly that bilingualism has positive associations with attainment. But without proficiency in English, attainment lags behind monolinguals.
What are the implications for policy?
EAL pupils are present in a greater number of schools and local authorities, and we are welcoming more new refugee arrivals.
Schools need to understand and meet the language support needs of this group. We know from this research that averages for pupils with EAL are misleading because they do not analyse the nuances of need and attainment within this diverse group - which might include a refugee with limited English and an advanced bilingual child of an expat banker, for example.
Support in the early years is key, but we also know from research that pupils recorded as EAL who arrive in England at later stages of education (Years 3-11) also require considerable support if they have limited proficiency in English.
The National Funding Formula (NFF) has an EAL weighting to support pupils in their first three years at school, whenever they arrive - though the EAL factor has decreased over time and is not ringfenced.
There are also questions about whether this funding is long enough for those pupils with the greatest need, as support may be required for up to six years or more for pupils who are new to English. Schools also need to be able to formatively assess EAL pupils’ proficiency in English in order to identify need and tailor support.
Proficiency data was previously collected in English schools between 2016 and 2018. This requirement should be reintroduced, bringing England in line with schools in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and other jurisdictions.
Support for EAL pupils has been overlooked in the last fifteen years and has suffered from cuts to local authority support and a loss of specialist expertise.
If the new government’s promise of opportunity for all is to hold true, it is vital that policy addresses this group.
Diana Sutton is director of The Bell Foundation
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