Report on English Language Support Teaching in Secondary Schools Launched in TCD
Posted on: 20 May 2009
Report English Language Support in Post-Primary Schools: Policy, Challenges and Deficits launched.
The results of the findings of a survey of English language support teaching in secondary schools along with a new website of language support material for both students and teachers in post-primary schools was launched on May 20th last by TCD Provost, Dr John Hegarty. Both initiatives form part of the Trinity Immigration Initiative‘s English Language Support Programme (ELSP).
Ensuring that newcomer pupils and students can access mainstream education is one of the greatest challenges posed by the recent increase in immigration to Ireland. At post-primary level the challenge is particularly acute for three reasons: (i) the older newcomer learners are when they first enter the education system, the more they must learn in order to catch up with their English-speaking peers; (ii) the post-primary curriculum is delivered by subject specialists whose formation has not prepared them to take account of non-English-speaking students in their classes; and (iii) in many post-primary schools English language classes are assigned to teachers who do not have a full timetable, which can mean that English language support is both marginal and haphazard. The ELSP has responded to the challenge in two ways: by carrying out an extensive survey of current practice and by developing a website of teaching materials based on a detailed analysis of the linguistic demands of the post-primary curriculum.
English Language Support in Post-Primary Schools: Policy, Challenges and Deficits by Dr Zachary Lyons and Professor David Little, (of TCD’s Centre for Language and Communication Studies and the Trinity Immigration Initiative) reports on the ELSP’s survey of English language support teaching. The findings do not make encouraging reading. In many of the schools represented in the survey the provision of English language support was poorly coordinated; in some it was downright haphazard. Effective and sustained communication between language support and subject teachers seemed to be a rarity, and in some cases responsibility for the integration of newcomer students fell entirely on the language support teacher. There was a widespread tendency to assume that newcomer students belong in the same category as students with special educational needs. These inadequacies of understanding and provision were not helped by serious deficits in the system, in particular a lack of appropriate teacher training and learning materials related to the different curriculum subjects.
The ELSP website went live in March 2009. All the materials it contains can be freely downloaded by post-primary schools, teachers and students. By the end of April it offered some 65 subject-specific units as well as many other language teaching and learning activities, including exam preparation. The subject-specific units are based on the ELSP’s analysis of Junior Certificate textbooks for Science, CSPE, Geography, History, English, Home Economics, Business Studies, Mathematics, Music and Religion.
English Language Support in Post-Primary Schools is critical of two aspects of the Department of Education and Science’s policy response: its adoption of a one-size-fits-all approach to the allocation of English language support, and its failure to take account of the specific characteristics of curriculum language. The ELSP’s website is an attempt to make good this second deficiency.
In March 2009 the Department confirmed a reduction in funding for English language support, which increases the pressure on schools in general and language support teachers in particular. According to the report, the short-term prospect is bleak. Nevertheless, the Trinity Immigration Initiative’s English Language Support Programme will continue until the autumn of 2010, and during that time it will seek to alleviate the burden of both language support and subject teachers by completing its research and development agenda and further developing the ELSP website.