ESOL – our constant challenges POLICYVIEW By Nafisah Graham-Brown


The ESOL teaching sector has experienced a lot of change over a relatively short space of time. When I came into ESOL teaching in 2009, the way our courses were funded was based on the number of hours we taught. It meant I could design a course that gave my learners the time they needed to progress and achieve their goals. Funding changes mean that many tutors are now delivering qualifications


to the minimum guided learning hours (GLH). Funding was also restricted to those registered as unemployed and many people had to pay, or part-pay, for their courses. Tutors were also tasked with collecting eligibility evidence or collecting fees.


English language skills, previously called literacy, has continued to be fully funded and free, which is great. However, this has meant that some providers rapidly progress ESOL students to Functional Skills courses taught by ESOL teachers. This has meant that tutors trained in ESOL were suddenly expected to teach English skills without formal training, relying on limited in-house professional development instead. On top of this, frequent changes in our inspection framework (2015, 2016, 2018 and imminently in 2019), has meant that tutors are constantly readjusting to the next big focus: employability, Prevent, English and maths, personal behaviour and welfare, progression and destination. This has meant that tutors have had to adapt to meet the constantly changing requirements of Ofsted, funders and exam boards, on top of meeting the needs of individual learners, which should really be the driver. ESOL tutors have always been all things to their learners – the course administrator, the person they ask for help to read formal letters and fill in forms, the person to help signpost them to additional services and the sounding board for personal issues. More recently that list of expectations has increased and we are now social integrators and careers advisors. I wouldn’t change my subject for the world. It keeps me on my toes and no academic year is the same, although it would be good to have a bit of stability, and a bit of recognition of the crucial variety of services we provide. ESOL is integral to supporting social cohesion and future skills development.


All in all, ESOL teaching will probably remain challenging. However,


we have proved to be a resilient bunch and I’m confident our experience with change up to now puts us in a good position to adapt to whatever new challenges come our way.


Nafisah Graham-Brown is head of life skills and community at ELATT, an adult and community education provider. She is national co-chair of the National Association for Teaching English and Other Community Languages to Adults (NATECLA) and she is a Member of SET.


WELCOME FROM MARTIN REID


It has been another remarkable year for your professional membership body, with a series of landmark achievements benefiting you and the profession. The highlight of 2018 has to be the inaugural SET Annual Conference, held in Birmingham last month. I was absolutely delighted to meet many of the 300 people who attended the event and we’ve a four-page Conference Special report on pages 26-29 which captures the flavour of this wonderful day.


2018 has also seen the SET Corporate Partnership scheme move ahead and we feature some of our partners in a special report on pages 24-25. We are also delighted to announce that holders of Advanced Teacher Status (ATS), will also now be entitled to Chartered Teacher Status, as conferred by the Chartered College of Teaching (see News, page 5). And, just in time for Christmas,


we have launched our new PlayPass lifestyle benefit, which is free for SET members (see News, page 5).


Meanwhile the launch of


the Education and Training Foundation’s (ETF) EdTech Strategy heralds a step change in practitioner support around learning technologies. To mark this we are publishing the first inTuition EdTech Supplement, free with this issue. I wish you all a happy and restful


www.natecla.org.uk


festive period. See you all in 2019. Martin Reid is head of SET.


InTUITION ISSUE 34 • WINTER 2018 7


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