Education and Training Foundation (ETF)

Expert review of and selection of ESOL resources

2015

NATECLA highlighted the need for an ESOL tab alongside English and maths on the Excellence Gateway website. As a result, the ETF commissioned NATECLA to select and arrange the ESOL resources that were held in the ETF’s repository. Work package included detailed liaison with the web designer over content and arrangement. 

Resources for ESOL learners and teachers

2017/18

  1. A needs analysis-  a menu of resources needed for ESOL learners and teachers.

  2. Ten top tips leaflets/posters:

    • Supporting ESOL learners in class- for Vocational tutors, Functional Skills and GCSE tutors 

    • Teaching Basic Literacy to ESOL learners- for ESOL tutors.

  3. Two Interactive modules:

  • Grammar support for learners on Functional Skills and GCSE courses

  • Teaching Basic Literacy to ESOL learners

The above are not currently accessible via a link, but videos made as part of the project are available on Youtube:

Research project: ESOL learners on Functional Skills courses

2021

NATECLA conducted a survey which had over 100 respondents from providers across England, including FE colleges, adult education services and third sector organisations, and held focus groups for managers. 

The key findings of the study were:

  1. Over a quarter of providers reported that ESOL learners made up more than 60% of their learners on Functional Skills courses. This applied especially to 16-19 year-olds on study programmes.

  2. There is major concern in the sector that Functional Skills English courses do not meet the needs of people whose first language is not English.

  3. FS English teachers do not necessarily have the skills to teach learners of ESOL.

Action research mentoring project

2021-22

The OTLA (English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills) programme was delivered by ccConsultancy in partnership with That Reading Thing, NATECLA and Skills Digital. This was the 8th phase of OTLA projects delivered on behalf of the Education and Training Foundation and funded by the Department for Education. Here, Rachel Öner led a team of NATECLA mentors (Chloë Hynes, Emily Bryson and Cathy Clarkson) who supported ESOL teams through their action research projects.

Fifteen clusters researched new approaches for teaching English, ESOL and Essential Digital Skills (EDS) in the post-16 sector and focused upon driving professional development for staff through encouraging practitioners to use action research to explore and integrate those approaches into teaching, learning and assessment. NATECLA consultants mentored one cluster (7 projects).

Resource review

2023-to present

Although not funded, Jenny Roden and Mary Osmaston have been working in partnership with the ETF to review and assemble resources for the ESOL page on the new ETF LMS (Learning Management System) platform.