Best Practice

Supporting EAL pupils: Ideas and resources for your teachers

EAL CPD Pedagogy
How can we empower and support teachers who are new to teaching learners using English as an additional language? Glynis Lloyd advises
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As school communities across the country become more linguistically diverse, many teachers who are new to their school find themselves with responsibilities, for the first time, for teaching multilingual children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL).

This can be a bewildering time, but help is at hand in the form of policies, guidance, and networks of practitioners ready to share their extensive experience.

In this article, I will consider how primary school leaders can ensure that teachers new to supporting multilingual children can equip themselves to deliver best practice by drawing on existing resources, knowledge, and experience.

Expertise in EAL pedagogy draws on an ever-widening body of research. This shows that best practice occurs in schools with clear language policies in place, that celebrate multilingualism, that include children new to English in all aspects of school life and learning, and that devise language support to build proficiency in English by drawing on the rich linguistic repertoires that multilingual children bring to their learning (see Chalmers, 2022; Evans et al, 2020; Sharples, 2021).

 

Share details of policies, personnel, and resources in your school

Supporting learners who are new to English is a whole school effort and your school may already have resources for new teachers and EAL provision in place.

But the type of EAL systems and amount of support will vary so start by identifying key staff with whom your new teacher can talk to get advice and information. Key staff may include an EAL coordinator or lead, a year leader, or the inclusion or pastoral lead. In some instances, your SENCO may have responsibility for EAL even though SEN and EAL are distinctly different.

The following questions will help you to identify the information a teacher new to EAL will need to get started:

  1. What EAL policies and procedures does your school have in place? Most importantly, is there a clear language(s) policy that sets out your school’s approach to including the diversity of languages that learners, parents, and staff speak? This policy will help the new teacher understand the school’s values and strategies regarding multilingualism.
  2. What procedures are in place for the induction of families new to the UK? What information about each learner’s background and experience (for example, about recent displacement from their home) is collected in that process? This information will help each teacher get a better sense of the unique needs of each individual learner.
  3. What information is gathered about new pupils regarding their linguistic profile, their previous education, and any English education they may have had so that language support strategies can be built on clear information and be tailored to meet each new learner’s individual needs? Who holds that information and how is it shared? This information will help teachers get a sense of the resources and knowledge that each learner can bring to their learning.
  4. Does the school or multi-academy trust have shared curriculum resources that have been adapted for learners using EAL? If so, how are resources, strategies, and expertise shared? Existing resources will save teachers new to the school from having to create or find their own resources.
  5. Are there teachers and teacher assistants in the school who speak the languages of the multilingual learners? These bilingual and multilingual resources can be harnessed to support teachers new to EAL teaching.
  6. How does the school define the role of the teaching assistants? Their role should be regularly evaluated. They can be most usefully engaged where they work with multilingual learners in ways that build learners’ independence and ownership of the tasks they are set. Teaching assistants can supplement and support the work teachers do with multilingual learners.
  7. What procedures are in place regarding communication with families on their children’s progress (for example, using interpreters or translation apps where necessary) and who is responsible for that? Clear procedures and regular, accessible communication can help teachers to make sure that families provide as much support for children as possible.

If your school is brand new to implementing EAL provision, you may well not have a lot in place yet in terms of procedures, policies, and resources. As a good starting point, you could explore these resources from The Bell Foundation:

  1. The school self-evaluation toolkit of resources can help you evaluate your schools’ current practice in making provision for learners who use EAL. The various templates will help you identify areas for developing and extending current practice. Find this here.
  2. Guidance on creating an EAL language policy. Find this here.
  3. A resource for creating a profile of multilingual learners. Find this here.

 

Support access to external provision

Once teachers have a good sense of the procedures and policies already in place and can access the resources that are available in-school, the next step is to support teachers to look beyond your school and trust to access further resources, guidance, and training that they may still need to bolster EAL provision.

Headteachers can play an important role in creating opportunities for teachers to access external support, for example, by investing in whole school training and arranging time off and teaching cover while teachers attend training.

  1. Your local authority may have expertise in EAL provision and be able to connect teachers new to EAL teaching with colleagues in nearby schools or with existing networks willing to share expertise and resources.
  2. Your local authority may still offer EAL training and audit opportunities and point teachers to external providers.
  3. The Bell Foundation provides freely available teaching resources, developed by EAL specialists, that teachers can use in subjects across the curriculum. Find these here.

 

Encourage teachers to join professional networks

Reaching out to subject-specialist organisations can put teachers in touch with professional networks and communities that share resources and expertise and can provide a supportive home.

NALDIC is the national subject association for EAL. NALDIC is a professional forum, open to all teachers who work with multilingual learners. Its Regional Interest Groups (RIGS) have been set up to create networking forums in which teachers, researchers, local authorities, and supporters can meet and share information and ideas. There are 13 RIGS across England, so do check them out.

 

Final thoughts

Given the depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise, alongside the availability of resources, guidance, and training in the field of EAL pedagogy, no teacher new to this work should feel alone or ill-equipped to provide quality support to multilingual learners.

When headteachers identify the right people, share information about policies, procedures, and resources, support teachers to access resources and training from external providers, and encourage teachers to network with subject specialists, they will create opportunities for teachers new to EAL teaching to grow and thrive.

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 all the The Bell Foundation's articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/emily-curran

 

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