Embedding ESOL Progress Within Other Courses
A Birmingham & Solihull ESOL Pathfinder Project
At the beginning of the Pathfinder, almost none of the providers had programmes systematically embedding ESOL in wider programmes, nor any work targeting the ongoing language needs of priority groups e.g. 16-19 year olds. Some offered specific programmes for asylum seekers that went beyond 'just ESOL'. Where there was ESOL combined with vocational areas, these tended to be restricted to child care, beauty, nursing and NVQ Early Years Care and Education.Embedded ESOL formed one topic on the ESOL Day held in May 2003.
Outcomes from development sessions include:
- managers and tutors need to be clear (and upfront with learners) about the language skills to be learnt; will need to get better at describing these skills and reviewing them
- organisations need to take a view on their approaches re e.g. when to put in double staffing, or training vocational staff; parallel Individual Learning Plans or integrated ILPs; who does the assessment and when
- managers and tutors need to be clear that from January every programme of learning that is inspected will be reviewed in terms of how it includes support for language (and literacy and numeracy) needs of learners
- where basic skills teachers are to play a wider vocational support role, organisations will need to induct them in to that programme's curriculum.
- To be arranged:
- guidelines re embedding ESOL to be produced and circulated
- training sessions re ILPs to make specific reference to need for clarity of approaches and practices re embedding language.
- if exemplar materials exist, copies will be circulated.
- guidelines re embedding ESOL to be produced and circulated
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