Sharp rise in pupils lacking English 'could risk education of all children'

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2008 00:03

A HUGE rise in pupils who do not speak English as a first language is threatening to undermine the education of all children, teachers have warned.

In just a year, the number of children in Scottish schools who do not speak fluent English has risen by 61.5 per cent, according to Scottish Government figures published today.

The surge, particularly in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, has been attributed to immigration, especially from Poland.

Local authorities are required, under the Additional Support for Learning Act, to meet the needs of all pupils, regardless of language.

Many teachers warn that they are finding it increasingly difficult to balance teaching those with no English, while educating the remainder within the curriculum without sufficient specialist support. New figures show there were 15,411 pupils identified as having English as an additional language in 2007 – a rise of 5,925 from 2006.

David Eaglesham, the general-secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said the huge mix of languages – there are 138 spoken in Scottish schools – was increasingly proving a problem.

He said: "If it was only one language we could maybe begin to look at it from a bilingual point of view, but it is a multiplicity of languages. We are doing the best we can, but it is all we can do without more resources. The education is there, and the kids are there, but it is about enabling them to access it, particularly in the younger age group when they have no English at all."

Mr Eaglesham called for translators to be drafted into schools. He said employing teachers from Poland was not necessary, as incoming communities would pick up English.

Ronnie Smith, the EIS union's general-secretary, warned that children would suffer as teachers struggled to cope without extra support.

He said: "It doesn't benefit any of the youngsters, whether they need help with their English or not, if teachers are being asked to do something they cannot reasonably manage to do on their own. If there are insufficient resources put in to make it manageable, everybody loses."

He added: "It would be wrong to think all non-English speakers are migrants – they might be born and bred here, they might speak some English, but speak Urdu or Punjabi in the home."

The issue was raised by education leaders at the EIS annual conference last June.

The Scotsman revealed that teachers had backed a motion calling for a cap on the number of non-English-speaking pupils in the classroom, amid fears that their education was suffering. The motion was proposed by the union's branch in Glasgow, where swathes of eastern Europeans had recently enrolled.

It was revealed at the conference that immigration had created classes without a single child who speaks only English.

One solution mooted by teachers is to send non-English-speaking pupils to special "immersion" units, where they can improve their English.

Labour's schools spokesman, Ken Macintosh, called on the Scottish Government to commit more funding to solve the "growing problem".

The Liberal Democrats' education spokesman, Jeremy Purvis, and the Conservatives' schools spokeswoman, Liz Smith, both called for more training for teachers to help them cope.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government insisted the increase was due to improved reporting of the languages spoken by children.

She said: "It is clear that the increase in number of non-fluent pupils is causing pressure within authorities. As this is the second year in which statistics on English as an additional language have been published, this information should help authorities plan for and manage such pressures."

ROLLS FALL BELOW 700,000

SCOTLAND'S falling population has resulted in the number of school pupils dropping below 700,000 for the first time, official statistics reveal.

New figures published by the Scottish Government show that in September last year there were a total of 692,215 pupils in publicly-funded education in Scotland – 375,946 in primary, 309,560 in secondary and 6,709 in special schools.