The findings will reassure parents concerned that their children could lose out by being in classes with non-native English speakers, who can take up more teaching time.
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But the authors of the report, Professors Steve Strand and Victoria Murphy, warned the overall figures masked a huge range of results for pupils of different backgrounds. Speakers of Portuguese, Somali, Lingala and Lithuanian did badly at GCSEs but speakers of Russian and Spanish did well.
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The study criticised the way that children with English as an additional language (EAL) are currently categorised. The report, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy and The Bell Foundation said it was ridiculous that “the bilingual child of a French banker is grouped together with a Somali refugee who may not speak English at all”. Current classifications give no indication of a pupil’s English proficiency
Read her full coverage here
Read further coverage in the TES and Schools Week.
Read the report on English as Additional Language pupils at the EEF website here.
30 January 2015