EAL stats: At what level would it worry you?

[Sylvie1980]

My local school - looking at for DCs - has 40% EAL. I never thought this was a major problem, kids learn languages quickly, having multiple languages can be a good thing for children in other areas of learning etc. However, someone with teaching experience has just warned me that this is a really bad sign, particular as my DCs are advanced verbally (not so in other areas really), as the teacher in reception and poss beyond will have to adapt their style to the lowest common denominator of language and this could cause issues for our DC - getting bored, not stretched etc.

Interested in any teachers experience, if you have taught this age group. Or parents who's children are in this sort of school - good or bad experiences.

The children referred to in the EAL are - I think - mostly of Somali, Nigerian, Arabic descent.

Depends. EAL students could speak no English or could be completely bilingual.
Better to ask how well EAL is resourced - are there bilingual TAs for example?
Also - are the EAL pupils there from the start (so will probably have funding for support if they need it) or do they join throughout the year (any extra funding very slow to appear).

I don't think any teacher would teach to the standard of the lowest in the class in anything. What do you do if the lowest standard of English is none? Does the teacher just point? Bit of a silly thing to say, especially from a teacher.

Thanks VJ. I think the teaching to the lowest point was that you can only ask a certain level of question when speaking to a child in the early stages of learning English (I'm not a teacher so can't think of an example - but maybe 'what colour is the dog?') but questions can be more indepth/stretching for other children, (e.g. 'what is the dog doing?' - probably a terrible example!).

Good questions to ask - thanks.

Even in reception, children would have differentiated work according to their ability so there wouldn't be any "teaching to a lowest common denominator". For schools with a higher than average number of children with EAL they will probably use TAs who have received specialist training to support children who require help with English.
The statistics for the end of primary school (KS2 SATs) actually show that children with EAL perform better than average by the end of KS2 so any effect is likely to be short-term.
In my area, take-up of pre-school or nursery education tends to be lower in minority ethnic communities so this can impact on early years, but most children do catch up.

Sorry, I'm really uneducated when it comes to the way primary classes are taught. I understand that the tables have work differentiated to ability -that's good - but there will be plenty of time that the teacher is having to talk to the whole class right?

Thanks crazymum - interesting info about attainment levels.

Bump

In reception the teacher would only talk to the whole class for a relatively short time. The concentration span for a 4/5 year old is typically 10 mins so talking for a long time wouldn't really work.

ok thanks.

Percentage of EAL pupils is not a very useful statistic on its own. What matters is whether the pupils in your DC's future class are well-supported at home and are of reasonable ability. Which might require a bit of delving (talking to other parents at the school and possibly to teachers) and a judgement call on your part.

Dd1 went into y1 in a school with well on excess of 40% EAL. I was totally bricking it. There were multiple languages spoken, with children entering the school every year into all age groups with no previous English experience at all.

I was completely freaking out (dd1 has similar profile)

In the event, I needn't have worried at all. The school was completely amazing, had truly brilliant EAL staff, and both English speaking and EAL kids made astounding progress. The EaL kids were pulled out for language based supports, and it just worked really well.

That said, every setting is different. This one was truly awe inspiring.

EAL could mean anything, from a child who arrived in England last week and had never come across the language before to a child like my dd who was reading Tolkien at 6 and has had top marks in English all her life, but happens to be bilingual. The forms typically require you to give one first language, without acknowledging the fact that you can have more than one first language, or that a second language can overtake your first language at a later point.

EAL covers such a range that it is impossible to generalise. The best school I have ever had the privilege to visit has 78% EAL intake. It is a non-selective state school which achieves outstanding results at both GCSE and A level.
You will need to visit the school and get a feel for it, then base your judgement on what you see.