The government has proposed slashing funding to EAL pupils. Its new consultation School funding reform: Next steps towards a fairer system (DfE 2012) introduces a proposal to limit local factors in schools' budget calculations. Whilst EAL will be included as a factor, it is proposed that EAL pupils can only be funded for up to 3 years from their entry into compulsory education. NALDIC estimates that this will reduce the number of pupils eligible for EAL funding nationally from nearly 1 million to less than 150,000.
Key points from the document include confirmation that the government will not introduce a national funding formula as early as previously planned but will work towards this in 2013-14 and 2014-15 through simplifying local funding arrangements as outlined below.
1.3.5. We have been working closely with partners from across the sector to consider which factors are most crucial when distributing funding to schools. Our starting position has been that formula factors should only exist where they directly impact on attainment or address significant, unavoidable costs.
1.3.6. The regulations will be amended so that funding can only be distributed based on the following 10 factors:
1) A basic per-pupil entitlement – which allows a single unit for primary aged pupils and either a single unit for secondary pupils or a single unit for each of Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 (see below);
2) Deprivation measured by FSM and/or the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)7;
3) Looked after children;
4) Low cost, high incidence SEN;
5) English as an additional language (EAL) for 3 years only after the pupil enters the compulsory school system;
6) A lump sum of limited size;
7) Split sites;
8) Rates;
9) Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts; and,
10) For the 5 local authorities8 who have some but not all of their schools within the London fringe area, flexibility to reflect the higher teacher cost in these schools.
The government argues within the consultation that:
Restricting the factors that can be used in local formulae will mean that funding can be focussed on the pupils that need it rather than being diverted towards factors that have little or no impact on attainment.
It also argues in relation to EAL learners that:
1.3.35. We know that pupils who have EAL often require additional support in order to learn the English language.
1.3.36. In July we consulted on whether, in a potential national funding formula, we should fund EAL pupils for a fixed period only. The responses showed that just over half of respondents thought we should limit EAL funding and around a third thought that funding should be limited to 3 years. With earlier intervention, we think that pupils with EAL can achieve well earlier on and fully integrate with their peers.
1.3.37. We think that 3 years of additional funding should provide enough time for a school to support a pupil with EAL. Local authorities will be able to continue to provide funding to pupils with EAL but only for a maximum period of 3 years from when they entered the compulsory school system.
Set against the government's view that '3 years should provide enough time for a school to support a pupil with EAL' we have significant and long term national and international research evidence. All the research evidence points to the fact that bilingual pupils take from 5 to 7 years to become fully fluent in English. UK evidence also suggests that the stage of fluency in English is a major factor in students attaining at the expected levels in examinations at the end of statutory schooling. This proposal will remove EAL funding from bilingual pupils from Years 3-11, except where they are very newly arrived to the country. And yet these are the years in which bilingual students are most likely to encounter the academic language they need to master in order to become successful learners.
Whilst the proposals allow schools to continue to retain or pool centrally funding for support for minority ethnic pupils or underachieving groups, this is small comfort when the monies available in relation to bilingual and ethnic minority pupils will be decimated.
Ethnicity is not included as a factor but the proposals allow local authorities to include a 'low cost, high incidence SEN' factor based on prior attainment. For primary schools this will be children scoring below 78 points in the EYFS. For secondary pupils this will be those achieving Level 3 or below in both English and Mathematics. Approximately 30 percent of bilingual pupils in primary schools could be funded through this factor and 28 percent of bilingual pupils in secondary schools. Whilst the funding will be welcome. NALDIC is concerned that this measure categorises almost a third of all bilinguals as 'SEN' rather than as pupils who need to learn English. We did not understand this to be the government's intention when they promised that future funding would follow pupils' needs and characteristics more closely.
NALDIC will be responding strongly to the consultation. The deadline for responses to the questions is Monday 21 May 2012.
