Migrants required to pass A Level Standard of English

it's ok to have higher standards for those wishing to emigrate here than are born here. It doesn’t have to be a race to the bottom.

The devil is in the detail. From the link in your OP:

Immigrants applying through certain legal routes must meet an A level equivalent standard in speaking, listening, reading and writing.

There is no clarification about what "certain legal routes" means. I think there are some jobs where a high standard of English is very important and I don't think it's unreasonable to make it part of the criteria for obtaining a visa. I think I'll wait and see how it turns out. I suspect it's Labour trying to appear as if they are taking action on controlling immigration but in reality this policy will affect very few people which will be a gift for Reform. I think Keir should apply to be their campaign manager for the next election, he seems to be doing it now without renumeration.

This press release is awful and has been designed to appeal to the flag shaggers. Go and read the actual white paper - it's available here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821aec3f16c0654b19060ac/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper.pdf - and look at the English requirements paragraphs 254 - 257.

They are increasing the English language requirements for most immigrants from B1 to B2 on the CEFR language scale. This is not the equivalent of A-level English Language but is approximately the same level as an A-level in a foreign language i.e. French or German.

FFS.

Or maybe it says reading abilities have deteriorated dramatically since they were originally set and they haven't yet reset the standards.

I expect that many of the migrants who are currently here and are not fluent in English are family members of those who are here to work, as presumably those who are here to work will have the requisite level of language skills to work here. Do these rules extend to the entire family? It isn't clear from the reportage.

This. I expect it's the equivalent of an A level in a foreign language. Which is not unreasonable at all.

But it doesn't make sense. If adults read with the ability of an 11 year old, and 11 year olds read at the standard of 7 year olds, then it just means our standards are set unrealistically.

It's like saying adults have the same expected height as 11 year olds, becase we expect 11 years olds to be 5 foot 7.

😂😉💐

I have an A in GCSE French. It wouldn’t get me very far in actually living, holding down a job, and participating in society in France, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to require those wishing to move to the U.K. to have fluency in English in excess of what I have in French, so an A Level standard MFL assessment. To whose benefit is it to have migrants who can’t participate in society fully? Not ours, and certainly not theirs.

Surely they'd need to be able to speak, read and write English to about that standard to do the jobs they're coming to do anyway? Speaking English to A Level standard isn't that high.

I think they should be asked to make a good curry 😂

Not necessarily. If they had a reading ability of a 7 year old at age 11, they could still improve. Equally, the ability of some could reduce if the don't read. At least, I assume it could.

It just means that half the population has reading skills below that which you expect from a 9-11 year old.

😂

I think they should have to be able to make a good roast dinner, a proper cup of tea and a Victoria sponge.

I did something similar - ironically in the 'pedant's corner'. Needless to say it did not land well! I think you can ask MNHQ to amend it for you, but you can't edit it beyond the first few mins.

I don't think we ought to take a race to the bottom approach.

I also don't think we need academic migrants, we need qualified and capable tradespeople who can plug skills gaps.

I suspect that you're a victim of autocorrect.

A level English feels like quite a high bar. But maybe we should be deporting anyone who can't scape a C in GCSE English.

I know some born and bred British people who've never so much as crossed their county borders who wouldn't succeed at this.

I'm all for encouraging proper integration into communities, and learning the language is a good start, but I don't think this is the way.

Surely they’re not expecting them to actually sit A Level English language?
I’m not sure I’m going to make much sense here but is A Level English language the same as, say, A Level Spanish? I didn’t do A Level English anything but obviously did GCSE English although I don’t remember much about it but it wasn’t about learning the English language unlike MFLs where you learn the words and phrases to converse. Surely it just means a good grasp of the English language, like an A Level in Spanish would teach you a good grasp, like at conversational level, of Spanish?

To be fair the metaphorical workforces aren't as productive.

Have heard that statistic before but it doesn't make sense to me. It implies that the population's average reading ability doesn't improve after age 11.Can't be true can it?

OP, given the context, I coudn't help chuckling at this "I'm all for having a literal workforce." :)