13/08/09      Sarah Kennedy stresses the importance of language in primary schools.

This week's papers have been awash with statistics on the number of London primary students who do not speak English as a first language. Yesterday's Daily Mail reported EAL (English as an Additional Language) learners now make up 54 per cent of inner-London primary pupils and 48.5 per cent of secondary students. In The Telegraph, it was reported that in one of the most diverse London boroughs, Tower Hamlets, only 22 per cent of 5-11 year olds speak English as their first language.

These articles highlight a concern for the financial strain that high numbers of EAL students place on schools. How can schools and local authorities possibly help all these children improve their English, whilst still providing high quality education for children who speak English at home? Although these worries are valid, it is important for us to also consider the advantages for all British children - EAL and native speakers - that a diverse, multilingual classroom can bring.

In many schools throughout London, EAL students are quickly and successfully catered for through enrichment activities and every day in the classroom. For example, a toolkit developed and trialed in Hounslow schools can improve student's English, to the point where they can be identified as gifted and talented, within six to eight weeks. For gifted children, Islington schools have run community projects where students can sit GCSEs in their mother tongue whilst still in primary school – a scheme that raises the children's academic confidence and earns them qualifications.

The benefits of a diversity of languages in classrooms and schools is also important for challenging all learners to be creative in their expression. In multicultural Britain, with an increasingly global economy, it is good for children to learn at an early age how to communicate within and across different languages. But despite the many success stories, more attention needs to be paid to the needs of advanced learners of English, who may not be regarded as EAL at all. Academic success can be hindered for many children who, although fluent in English with friends and at school, do not speak English at home. This will be especially important when school starts again in September: for children who don't speak English at home, the summer holidays can leave them falling behind in their academic language.

Evidently, the issue of EAL education is a complex and important one. The Demos pamphlet A Common Language argues that the ability to speak English ‘empowers people to take control of their everyday lives’, and helping all Britons to learn English should be a ‘priority for policy in London and across the UK’. But being EAL does not create an insurmountable obstacle for children's achievement, nor does their presence in the classroom have to impede the education of native English speakers. Whilst educators may find this week's statistics worrying, teachers should remember the richness that multilingual and EAL students can bring to every school. Rather than being simply a burden on resources, EAL learners enrich the school culture and deserve the same high quality of education as all British children. To harness this richness and meeting the needs of all learners, we need to equip schools and local authorities with the time, skills and money to effectively train staff. Even more importantly, we need a widespread change in attitudes to EAL in order to harness the potential of all students.

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