Reading Supporting ESOL in Devolved Authorities, a report by the Association of Colleges and Bell Foundation, made me reflect on my early years in the English for speakers of other languages sector in the 2000s.
I had sold the fish and chip shop I ran for 10 years to follow my passion for education and retrain to become an ESOL tutor.
There was excitement in the air back then. The launch of the adult English, maths and ESOL core curricula brought significant funding, equipping classrooms with new resources and professionalising the sector. The Institute for Learning was established, ensuring teaching quality.
It felt like a national effort was underway to improve the lives of those left behind by illiteracy and low language skills.
The Moser Report (1999) called for a national strategy, sufficient funding and a well-trained workforce to support adult learners. Now, 25 years later, the same needs remain. Is this the moment England returns to a funded national ESOL strategy?
The Leitch Review of Skills in 2006 shifted the focus of funding towards vocational training for those who stood to benefit most.
Suddenly, ESOL learners – often those with the fewest resources – were expected to pay for their education. This marked a sharp decline in opportunities for many, with a stronger emphasis on employability at the expense of accessible language learning.
ESOL devo benefits
But the increasing recognition of ESOL within the devolved adult education budget through mayoral combined authorities is encouraging.
These authorities use localised place-based solutions to address ESOL needs within their communities.
At WM College, we’ve been able to use this flexibility to heavily subsidise course fees, meaning very few learners pay full cost.
However, despite the progress, we are constrained by a 56 per cent decline in real terms of AEB funding between 2009 and 2017, which limits the variety of courses we can offer and our ability to be demand led and innovative.
The government’s recent announcement of an additional £50 million to help fund FE teacher pay has again overlooked adult education providers and is another stark reminder of the challenges we continue to face to recruit and retain good tutors.
ESOL accreditation rethink needed
Providers like WM College are once again left out, limiting our ability to offer demand-led accessible provision for the adults who need it the most.
Employment-focused ESOL provision continues to be a challenge. Research by Schellekens reveals it could take up to 14.5 years for a learner with no English to reach employment-level proficiency. For many of our learners, securing higher-level employment is simply out of reach.
At WM College, we focus on practical, everyday language skills that support learners’ integration into their communities, building social cohesion and improving their wellbeing.
However, the emphasis on accreditation in language learning may need rethinking. While certifications are valuable, the broader outcome of building social and cultural capital can be even more critical for many learners.
For those learners who do possess the language skills needed to progress into higher-level employment, there should be pathways and funding for access to advanced qualifications, such as the international English language testing system (IELTS), or gateway courses that lead into vocational training or professional qualifications.
For our sector to be bold and innovative, funding must allow us to address the unique needs of our learners. ESOL courses should recognise not only learners’ starting points as English speakers but also the context of their entire lives.
At WM College we are incredibly proud that one of our ESOL tutors, Sam Pepper, was recently named Inspirational Tutor of the Year at the Mayor of London Adult Learning Awards for his dedication to helping learners achieve these wider life goals – an achievement that reflects the impact our staff have on the lives of our learners.
Our learners deserve funding that allows us to recognise the complexity of their lives and build courses that meet their real needs – not just their English skills but their ambitions and hopes for the future.
It is time for the government to consider how ESOL learners can be better supported, and ensure no one is left behind as the demand for English language skills grows.
It’s definitely worth someone taking a look at where the line between English courses and ESOL courses is drawn and what impact increasing devolution has.
Having seen that line drift one way and the other over the years, usually at the whim of funding commissioners or curriculum managers, based on reasons of funding or optimising achievement rates rather than educational benefit, I’d suggest that there is some way to go.
Exactly what is best for the learner and who / what dictates that?
In some places, ESOL learners are placed in English classes as there are no ESOL classes or the funding / performance measures aren’t fortuitous. In this instance, any class is better than no class for that individual, but can have a cost to others in the class and the teachers…
If you tried putting history students in a maths class, questions would be asked. Is this really any different and where is Ofsted on the issue?