In a widely reported speech on migration and integration, Ed Milliband has called for more teaching of EAL in schools. Outlining a major initiative to support integration, the Labour leader pointed to the negative impacts of cutting funding for English language teaching for both adults and children and argued that: And English language is particularly important for the next generation. In schools, teaching of English as an additional language is essential. And the earlier that support is given the better for all the children in a school.
The Labour leader joins a wide group of commentators who are arguing for greater resources and emphasis on the teaching of EAL in schools. In our most recent online poll in November 2012, 98% of respondents agreed that EAL teaching should be available to all EAL learners who need it, regardless of location or type of school. Back in March 2012, the think tank Civitas called for changes in the way schools are organised in order to respond to the needs of pupils learning EAL in UK schools.
'It is vital that schools are organised in such a way to adequately accommodate pupils who start school in the UK with weak English language foundations. In our often highly standardised classroom situations schools are frequently asked to side-step language barriers. This significantly and needlessly hampers the progress of those children without secure English, as well as the progress of their peers.'
Similarly, Language expert Dr Nick Saville from Cambridge ESOL called for the UK to move away from a 'sink or swim' approach to EAL in a major conference in May..
NALDIC and the NUT highlighted the damage that funding cuts have had on EAL teaching in October 2011. Since that time, significantly more local EAL services have been closed and anectdotal evidence suggests that current teaching support for EAL learners is diminishing daily.
In his speech, Ed Milliband made reference to Home School Agreements, noting that
Where there are Home School Agreements, English language learning should be included. Which too often doesn’t happen at the moment. That would ensure that both schools and parents share the responsibility for helping foreign-born children learn how to speak English.
Whilst parents always want their children to develop the English they need to do well at home, we are concerned that the Labour leader's comments may be interpreted as arguing that teaching English is the responsibility of parents. As we have noted before, no-one expects parents to be responsible for the teaching of mathematics, so why should EAL be treated differently?
The full text of Ed Milliband's speech can be found at http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2012/12/14/ed-miliband-immigration-speech-in-ful
