1. English as an additional language
Mark Sims HMI
NATT+ Conference
The Aston Business School Conference Centre, Birmingham
Friday 13 March 2015

2. Ofsted and EAL A Survey on Roma Pupils (published December 2014)
Additional fieldwork in Bradford, Kent and Peterborough (unpublished)
EAL briefing and training for Ofsted inspectors
Good Practice Gypsy and Traveller Pupils (to be published in 2015)
Findings from recent research

3. Ofsted and EAL
Overcoming barriers: ensuring Roma children are fully engaged and achieving in education
Ofsted published this survey on 19 December 2014

4. Key Findings
The local authorities and schools in the sample all demonstrated a strong commitment to improving the engagement and achievement of pupils from Roma backgrounds. The most successful of these local authorities and schools worked in effective partnerships with other agencies and developed specific strategies, led by well-informed senior leaders, to meet the needs of this group of pupils.
The schools visited were welcoming to new pupils, whatever their background, and integrated them as quickly as possible. However, approaches to initial assessment and induction, and arrangements to help Roma pupils make a smooth transition between primary and secondary phases, were variable in their effectiveness.

5. Key Findings
Where newly arrived Roma pupils have had little prior experience of formal education, schools and local authorities reported that initially they had difficulty in engaging the pupils to adhere to school routines and meet expectations for good behaviour. Conversely, Roma pupils who were well integrated into school and did not have interruptions to their education made good progress in their learning. However, their attainment remained low due to exceptionally low starting points.
School leaders reported that there had been no adverse effect on the achievement of other pupils already settled in their schools. However, they had experienced problems accessing available funding such as the pupil premium for new pupils quickly enough. This was a particular challenge when a large number of pupils joined or left during the school year.

6. Key Findings
Although good practice exists, the schools and local authorities were struggling to find the necessary resources to fully meet Roma pupils’ needs. In some instances, there was insufficient specialist advice or support available to schools.
In the local authorities and schools visited, almost all Roma pupils arriving from Eastern Europe were new to speaking English. In some schools, there was a shortage of qualified teachers with the relevant expertise to support Roma pupils learning English as an additional language (EAL). In addition, although bilingual staff were often effective in supporting parents and pupils, not all were sufficiently qualified or fluent in English themselves.

7. Key Findings
Senior officers at the local authorities told inspectors that it was difficult to accurately keep track of pupils from highly mobile families. This was particularly difficult at secondary level, where high dropout rates among Roma pupils were not uncommon.
The Roma parents spoken to by inspectors consistently said that they were reluctant to state their children’s ethnicity for fear of discrimination. This leads to under-reporting of Roma pupil numbers that, in turn, makes it difficult to target resources effectively.

8. Recommendations for local authorities
ensure that there is a dedicated and knowledgeable senior leader who can drive the local authority’s strategies for improving outcomes for Roma pupils
ensure that all key services work in partnership effectively so that outcomes for Roma pupils are improved
develop sufficient expertise within a specialist support service to provide advice and training for schools
review strategies for improving Roma pupils’ attendance and attainment, and for keeping track of pupils from highly mobile families
encourage schools to ensure that pupils receive an initial assessment and induction when they start school in England and ongoing specialist support to meet their needs.

9. Recommendations for the Department for Education
consider how the allocation of existing funding can more accurately reflect the changes in the number of eligible pupils on roll throughout the school year
consider how the classification of pupil groups can encourage more accurate recording.

10. Recommendations for
assign a knowledgeable, informed leader to improve the achievement of Roma pupils
recruit qualified teachers with relevant expertise to provide high quality teaching and support for Roma pupils who are learning English as an additional language
check that staff who support Roma pupils or teach English as an additional language are well trained and sufficiently fluent in English
strengthen the links between partner primary/secondary schools so that Roma pupils remain engaged in education as they move from one key stage to the next.

11. Briefing for inspectors
Paragraph 40 of the report stated:
Her Majesty’s Inspectors found no evidence that the arrival of Roma pupils in these authorities has had an adverse effect on the attainment of other pupil groups. However, many headteachers expressed concerns about the potential adverse impact on their school’s inspection judgement for achievement. Ofsted will ensure that inspectors take into account the issues arising from any increase of new arrivals when inspecting schools and local authorities.
HMCI has therefore asked for all inspectors to be briefed on the issues arising from the survey.

12. New reports: EAL and educational achievement (January 2015)
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Unbound Philanthropy and The Bell Foundation commissioned this research to address two main questions:
Who are the most at-risk groups of learners with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and what are the predictors of low attainment for these learners?
What are the most promising programmes and interventions to address EAL achievement gaps on the basis of causal evidence?
These questions were addressed by researchers from the Oxford University Department of Education in two detailed reports.
The full reports and an executive summary are available here

13. How well are EAL learners doing ?
English as an Additional Language (EAL) and educational achievement in England: An analysis of the national pupil database
Professor Steve Strand , Dr Lars Malmberg , Dr James Hall
University of Oxford
Department of Education
29th January 2015

14. What works ?
A systematic review of intervention research examining English language and literacy development in children with English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Professor Victoria A. Murphy
Adam Unthiah
University of Oxford
Department of Education
January 2015

15. Key findings
The percentage of pupils who were recorded as EAL has more than doubled from 7.6% in 1997 to 16.2% in 2013.
Pupils recorded as EAL are very unevenly distributed and concentrations of EAL students can be very specific to a small local area. A quarter of schools (22%) have less than 1% EAL pupils but in 8.4% of schools, EAL pupils make up over half of the school population.
There is no evidence that pupils whose first language is English suffer from attending a school with a high proportion of EAL pupils, an outcome that is consistent at both Key Stage 2 (age 7-11) and Key Stage 4 (age 14-16)

16. Key findings
On average, EAL pupils catch up with their peers by age 16. At age 5 only 44% of EAL pupils have achieved a good level of development compared to 54% of other pupils. By age 16, this gap has narrowed significantly with 58.3% achieving five A*- C GCSEs including English and maths compared to 60.9% of other pupils.
The achievement of pupils with EAL varies widely. Average attainment figures mask a huge range of results for different groups of EAL pupils. Speakers of Portuguese, Somali, Lingala and Lithuanian have especially low outcomes at age 16 but Russian and Spanish speakers do particularly well.

17. Key Findings
The achievement of pupils with EAL varies widely. High risk factors include:
Entry to England from abroad during the key stage
changing school in the last two years of a key stage
Black African or White Other ethnicity
Romanian, Lithuanian, Turkish, Portuguese and Polish recorded as their home language
Yorkshire and Humber
FSM, SEN, economically deprived neighbourhood, Boys as with FLE

18. West Midlands
In the West Midlands there were 74,445 pupils recorded as EAL in January 2013 (19.9% of school population of 374,400) – second only to the London region
The West Midlands has the highest number of primary and secondary schools with an EAL population of 50%+ outside of London
Attainment for EAL at Key Stage 2 in West Midlands was the third highest region ( behind London and South East) with APS Level 4B+ in RWM but -0.8 APS behind all FLE pupils nationally
Attainment for EAL at Key Stage 4 in West Midlands was the third highest region ( behind London and South East) at 57.5% GCSE 5+ A*C incl EM but 4.6% behind all FLE pupils nationally
Attainment in EAL at KS2 and 4 is below EAL nationally (London factor)

19. Key Findings
The definition of EAL reflects exposure to a language other than English at home or in the community, it gives no indication of a pupils' proficiency in the English language. On the one hand, those recorded as EAL include second or third generation ethnic minority pupils who may be exposed to a language other than English as part of their cultural heritage, but may use English as their everyday language and be quite fluent in it. At the other extreme it includes new migrants arriving in England who may speak little or no English at all, and may have varying levels of literacy in their previous country of origin.

20. Key Findings
A systematic review of effective interventions for EAL pupils identified 29 studies that demonstrated an impact. 27 of the studies were conducted in the United States; only one was conducted in the UK. This highlights the need to increase the evidence base of effective interventions for EAL pupils in the UK at risk of low attainment

21. Recommendations
The provision of funding for EAL pupils in the last ten years has contributed to improving overall attainment for this group of children. Local authorities should continue to prioritise it in their funding formula.
However, EAL funding should be targeted at those most at risk of under-attainment. Schools should review how they identify the language and learning needs of children within the EAL category to ensure that funds are targeted towards those at particular risk of low achievement.
Schools should be held to greater account for how their EAL funding contributes to improving pupil attainment in a similar way that they must demonstrate that Pupil Premium spending is improving outcomes for pupils from disadvantaged families.

22. Systematic review of the research literature on EAL interventions
Of 29 in-depth review studies, only one was carried out in the UK:, it is unwise to assume effective interventions in the US would be equally effective in the UK. There is an urgent need for carefully conducted intervention studies which examine best practice aimed to improve EAL students’ English language and/or literacy within the UK context.
Most of the studies in the in-depth review were aimed at primary school pupils, with many fewer directed towards early secondary and only one specifically targeted for late secondary pupils.
Academic vocabulary and word analysis strategies figured prominently in a number of language and literacy interventions.

23. Systematic review of the research literature on EAL interventions
The explicit teaching of vocabulary was developed through text-based activities and word analysis strategies aimed to enhance pupils’ understanding of the relationships between wood roots and derived forms.
While none of the interventions received uniformly high ratings in the security of evidence, there are a number of interventions aimed at enhancing vocabulary knowledge in children with EAL that could be appropriate for implementation in the UK.