Schools should get a “late arrival premium” for each pupil they teach who speaks English as an additional language and enters the school system late, a think tank has said.

In a report published today, the Education Policy Institute says that the year an EAL student arrives in school “systematically predicts attainment levels”, and that there is an “urgent unmet need” to support those children arriving in England late in their schooling.

The think tank also suggests that strong headline performance by EAL students could have been boosted by generous funding for specialist EAL provision in the past - which has since been cut back - and that England lags behind other countries when it comes to developing EAL expertise in schools.

According to the EPI’s research, “arrival within the English state school system systematically predicts attainment levels for children with EAL, both at Key Stage 2 and at GCSE level, with a severe attainment penalty for children arriving closest to the time of the tests or exams.”

In 2016, at key dtage 2 children with EAL who started school in reception scored two points above the expected standard in reading and maths, where the highest possible score would be 20 points above the expected standard.

By contrast, those children with EAL who arrived in English state-funded schools in Year 3 scored an average of two points below the expected standard, those who arrived in Year 4 scored three points below and those who arrived in Year 5 were seven points.

Those who arrived in the final year of primary school were 17 points below expected, where the lowest possible test score was 20 points below the expected standard.

At key stage 4, children with EAL who had arrived in the English state-funded school system by the first year of secondary school achieved an average grade of around 5 in Attainment 8, which equates to around a C in the old pre-reform GCSEs.

Children with EAL who arrived during Years 8, 9 or 10 achieved an average Attainment 8 grade of around 4, or a D grade. Those who arrived in the final year of GCSE study achieved an average grade of just below 3, equivalent to E grades in the old system.

While a basic EAL premium is included in the government’s national funding formula, the EPI calls for a “late arrival premium”, which it says is needed to “boost support for children with EAL arriving in English schools late in the primary or secondary phase”.

In the report, the EPI suggests that strong average GCSE results achieved by EAL students may have been boosted by ringfenced funds which the think tank says are now being cut back.

“The current good GCSE results observed on average for EAL pupils must be interpreted in the light of the fact that recent GCSE cohorts underwent primary education during the era in which the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant provided local authorities with ring-fenced funds,” the report states.

“In 2011, the EMAG funds were absorbed into general school funding, ending the requirement to spend them on black and minority ethnic pupils and/or those with EAL.”

The report says that while a “small minority” of local authorities now receive more funding for EAL central services than they were permitted under the previous system, in most councils there has been a trend for councils “to reduce or cease funding” these services, with the number of local authorities with no central EAL spending increasing from 39 to 72 since 2011-12.

The report also reviews EAL policies in other English-speaking jurisdictions, concluding that England lags behind these countries. 

“In their contrasting level of detail, the EAL policies in these jurisdictions highlight a policy vacuum with respect to initial teacher training, specialist qualifications, and oversight of professional development specific to EAL education in England since 2010,” it states.

Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the EPI’s report showed that the government “should be doing much more to help schools support pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL), especially those arriving relatively late in their schooling”.

“It is a disgrace that the government has not sought to bolster EAL teaching and support for schools,” she said. “Instead, as this report notes, there has been a reduction in central EAL support services provided by local authorities who are starved of funds as a result of government cuts.”

A DfE spokeswoman said: “Academic standards are rising, with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. The recent secondary school performance results show pupils with English as an additional language are performing well in their GCSEs and the attainment gap index between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed by 10 per cent since 2011.

“Through the new national funding formula, schools will attract extra funding for these pupils, equating to an additional £515 per primary school pupil and an additional £1,385 per secondary school pupil. This will help ensure these children can make the most of their education and is part of our efforts to continue to raise standards for all pupils.”