NATECLA response to TES article Friday 13th April 2007

Response to TES article Friday 13th April 2007 Bill Rammell’s comments in the TES on Friday 13th April that ‘ESOL sackings are a misunderstanding’ and that providers are making these cuts because they have misunderstood the policy on ESOL shows a total lack of understanding on the part of the government on the predicament facing ESOL providers. Providers have not misunderstood the policy on ESOL. They have been warning the government that the proposed funding changes and the diversion of funding to Level 2 qualifications would result in cuts in ESOL provision and therefore on reductions in staffing levels. NATECLA – National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults have been asking their members to survey their student body on the effect of the changes and their findings reflect the survey carried out by Ceri Williams reported in the TES. Providers are aware that the extra 4.6 million allocated to the learner support fund has to be spread across the whole of the country and will in no way cope with the likely numbers affected by the changes. Additionally, although the government has stated that the overall budget for ESOL has not been reduced, the diversion of funding towards initiatives such as Train to Gain and Level 2 provision has meant that funding for provision at the lower levels has been reduced. Much of the demand for ESOL provision is at the lower levels and this is exactly the area where provision has been forced to reduce. There is no ‘misunderstanding’ of the policy. Providers are just responding to the reality of the situation. The present policy on funding for ESOL provision is contradictory to say the least. If learners do not have access to provision at the lower levels, they will be unable to progress to Level 2 qualifications. This will have an impact on their employability and also on integration - exactly the areas which the government is trying to target. Whilst we welcome the steps the government has taken to ‘soften the blow’ of the impact of the introduction of fees, it is our opinion that the steps taken are not sufficient to protect the vulnerable groups across the country. The result will be that those groups will either not be able to access provision, or will not be to afford the more intensive courses needed to acquire language skills more rapidly. We urge the government to listen to re-think some of its proposals and adopt a policy on ESOL that will not lead to cuts in provision and provide sufficient support for learners to protect them against the impact of these changes. A good start would be to increase the level of money available to the learner support fund, consider not removing free tuition for lower level learners, particularly women and also ensuring that employers pay for the cost of training. Irene Austin & Anne McKeown Co-chairs NATECLA (National Association of Teaching English and Community Languages) 17/04/07