Best Practice

SATs: Access arrangements for learners who use EAL

SATs EAL
A number of access arrangements are available for national curriculum tests for pupils using English as an additional language. Glynis Lloyd explains and offers some wider advice on how to prepare pupils for these tests
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Schools have seen an increase in the number of multilingual learners who use English as an additional language (EAL). Many are new arrivals who are new to English and to the English education and assessment systems.

If they take the national tests, they are likely to achieve better with special arrangements in place. But for many schools, this is a new challenge.

 

A diverse group

Multilingual learners are a very diverse group, with a wide range of proficiency in English. In addition to language challenges they may face, being a new arrival in England with no knowledge or experience of the English schooling and testing systems, puts them at a disadvantage in assessments that are designed for their English monolingual peers.

All learners who use EAL must be registered for the key stage 2 national curriculum tests, but they need not take them, as is set out on page 26 of the key stage 2 assessment and reporting arrangements document published by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA, 2023a).

For example, learners who are very recently arrived, especially those from very different education systems, regardless of language background, are not expected to take the tests. To guide headteachers in their decision-making about which multilingual learners should take the tests, learners need to be working at the overall standard of the English and mathematics tests, so that the tests assess each learner “…in a fair and comparable way” (STA, 2023a).

The sections below outline the key considerations for headteachers, in the updated access arrangements guidance from the STA (2024a), so that headteachers can lead, inform, put systems in place, and support their staff to prepare learners using EAL so that they in turn are fully equipped to sit the national tests.

Although the STA guidance mainly addresses the arrangements available to learners with SEND, it includes references to those available specifically to EAL learners.

 

Key dates

This year, the deadline for registering pupils for the tests was March 8. Headteachers have until May 16 to register any pupils arriving after the March deadline and until May 23 to apply for any timetable variations. The deadline for access arrangements, where required (see below), is April 22.

  • March 8: Deadline for registering pupils for the tests.
  • April 22: Deadline for access arrangement applications.
  • May 16: Deadline for registering pupils who arrive after March 8.
  • May 23: Deadline for applying for timetable variations.

 

Know what arrangements are available to EAL learners

Schools do not need to apply for all access arrangements. Applications (by April 22) are needed for additional time, early opening, and compensatory marks for spelling, for example. But other arrangements such as readers or rest breaks do not need approval – however schools must inform the STA after the test if arrangements were used (STA, 2024a).

Any arrangements must be part of the way the learner works every day in the classroom; this will be checked during inspection visits. For information about these visits see statutory guidance from the STA (2024b). Possible arrangements for EAL pupils might include:

  • Translation: A written or oral translation of the mathematics test papers can be prepared; the papers can be opened up to one hour before, to prepare a translation. Translations are particularly helpful for learners working at or above the expected level in mathematics, where they just need language support or oral instructions in their preferred language to access the questions. Translations can be made of the instructions of the English test, but not of the questions.
  • Transcription: Learners may write their responses in the mathematics tests in their preferred language and the translator must then prepare the transcript of the learner’s answers in English before the learner leaves the room.
  • Readers: Readers, available to all learners with a reading age considerably below their chronological age, for the mathematics and English spelling, punctuation and grammar tests are useful where translation is not an option and where the learner is more confident in listening than reading.
  • Extra time: Extra time is available, but not together with a reader, and is useful to allow learners time to get through the significant content in the reading test. Remember, schools must apply for extra time by the deadline (April 22, 2024).
  • Rest breaks: Supervised rest breaks can be arranged for children who find it difficult to concentrate or experience fatigue, for example because of trauma as a result of displacement in a conflict. Rest breaks can be used together with additional time to prevent fatigue.

 

Key elements of a whole-school approach

Observations and reporting: Robust admission and welcoming systems that include gathering information about previous education, proficiency in English, and curriculum knowledge will provide the baseline information about each learner’s needs and support requirements.

The school needs clear systems of communication, where class teachers have regular opportunities to report to the SENCO on their observations and concerns about children who will be taking national tests.

 

Decisions about who will sit the tests: Decisions about whether learners using EAL should take national tests should be based on a reliable assessment of their proficiency in English and their curriculum knowledge in mathematics (as learners can be entered for mathematics tests only, regardless of their proficiency in English).

A clear system of decision-making should be put in place; headteachers can approach their local authority who may offer guidance on this matter.

Research (Strand & Hessel, 2018) shows that learners who are developing competence in English are likely to score below the national average and headteachers can use information about a child’s proficiency in English, gathered from their EAL coordinators where they have them, or class teachers, as part of the information they use to decide whether learners should take the tests.

 

Identifying challenges in making arrangements: Schools, especially those new to making access arrangements for learners using EAL may experience challenges, for example sourcing suitable translators. Headteachers can enquire about services that other schools in their trust or region use or could contact local community groups to find out about available translators.

Where translators, scribes or readers are needed for multiple learners, schools will need to devise appropriate timetables for multiple sittings on the day (for further details, see STA, 2023b).

Schools may also be new at assessing multilingual learners’ proficiency in English. This is an opportunity to introduce an assessment framework (such as The Bell Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework) and organise training for staff to use it, as it will have value in supporting learning English and in English beyond national curriculum tests.

 

Sharing of information to all relevant staff: Headteachers need to make sure that decisions about access arrangements are shared with and understood by all staff who work with each learner. This will help class teachers make access arrangement practices the normal way of working.

 

Communication with families: Where schools have decided that a learner is working at the required level in English to sit the tests, they need to communicate clearly with families so that they can support their children through what may be a stressful period.

Depending on the family’s country of origin, they may have no experience of high-stakes testing for young children, nor understand the impact of these tests in the English system, so addressing confusion is important. Headteachers could arrange for parents who speak the same language to inform new parents.

Similarly, where a decision has been taken that a learner won’t take the tests, this needs to be communicated and explained to families.

 

Transition: Families will be concerned about the impact of these decisions and about the impact of test performance and scores on their child’s access to secondary school. Headteachers should communicate with secondary schools once results have been released if they are concerned that the results have been unfairly affected by language and other barriers, such as being a new arrival.

 

Identify multilingual learners who also have a SEND

Learning EAL is not a SEND. However, some multilingual children may have special needs in addition to their linguistic needs.

Multilingual children who are in England as a result of displacement because of conflict may have experienced trauma and be in need of mental health care.

If they are waiting for an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) they may still qualify for access arrangements. Classroom teachers should be trained to recognise the signs of trauma (including erratic behaviour, difficulty concentrating, or being tired) and to communicate their concerns to the SENCO so that arrangements such as rest breaks or extra time can be put in place.

Headteachers need to ensure that the relevant staff work with outside agencies and that their school has systems in place for communication and cooperation between class teachers, EAL staff, SENCOs and families.

For further support in this area, you can see The Bell Foundation’s EAL and SEND integrated provision guidance (see further information).

 

Support teachers to prepare their learners

There is a lot that teachers can do to prepare multilingual learners. Headteachers can offer CPD and make resources including time available to class teachers to practise the following strategies:

  • Build consistent classroom practice to develop meaning-making strategies: Teach strategies such as skimming and using visual clues for prediction, reading a text more than once, scanning to find key words, reading more deeply to access figurative meaning, and reading longer texts to develop resilience in reading. For further guidance on the need for learners using EAL to develop vocabulary, see our recent article in Headteacher Update (Hopkins, 2022).
  • Practise an inclusive pedagogy in which learners draw on their full linguistic repertoire, for example by sketching out an answer using key words in their preferred language, before writing in English.
  • Teach the full range of question types so that learners are confident to answer true/false, multiple choice, matching, and other question types.
  • Make sure learners have a chance to practise working with a translator under test conditions.

 

Glynis Lloyd is a trainer at The Bell Foundation, a charity working to overcome exclusion through language education. Visit www.bell-foundation.org.uk. Find previous articles from The Bell Foundation's experts via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/the-bell-foundation

 

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