Foreign language pupils put strain on Capital classrooms

Published on Wednesday 27 February 2008 09:41

THE NUMBER of Edinburgh school pupils who do not speak English as a first language is putting a strain on the city's schools, teachers have warned.

New figures show there are 3490 youngsters across the Capital for whom English is not their native tongue.

There are now 88 languages spoken by children in Edinburgh's schools, with Polish the most common after English, followed by Urdu and Punjabi. Across Scotland, the number of pupils who do not speak English fluently was up by 61.5 per cent in a year.

Ronnie Smith, the EIS union's general secretary, warned that teachers were struggling to provide added support.

"If there are insufficient resources put in to make it manageable then everybody loses."

The Scottish Government figures show that 15411 Scots pupils have English as an additional language in 2007 – up 5925 from 2006. In West Lothian schools, there are 44 languages spoken and 524 pupils with English as an additional language.

In East Lothian the figures were 35 and 144 respectively, and 33 and 175 in Midlothian, where Scots was listed as the most common second language.

David Eaglesham, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, called for translators to be brought in. He said: "We are doing the best we can, but it is all we can do without more resources."

Councillor Mrs Marilyne MacLaren, education convener for Edinburgh city council, said: "There is an increased pressure on our schools. To help ease this, last week we allocated an additional 60,000 to the English as an Additional Language service budget."

Last year, teachers backed a motion calling for a cap on the number of non-English speakers in the classroom, amid fears that their education was suffering.

A teachers' conference revealed that increased immigration had created classes without a single child who only speaks English.

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

Local authorities are required to meet the needs of all pupils, regardless of language.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said the increase in numbers was a result of better reporting of languages spoken by pupils.

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."