The evaluation was funded through a partnership with The Bell Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy, which aimed to build the evidence base on how best to support pupils with EAL.
The trial of EAL in the Mainstream Classroom, led by a team from the University of York, the University of Dundee and the University of Leeds, investigated the impact of the programme on Year 10 pupils’ (14 – 16-year-olds) science and history attainment.
The training programme was designed to build teachers’ expertise in how to plan and deliver whole class lessons that cater to EAL pupils’ needs, making purposeful use of grammar, core vocabulary, and spoken language to support these children.
223 teachers and 5,340 pupils took part in the trial, in which schools were randomly allocated to either receive the training programme, delivered by Challenge Partners, Hounslow Language Service, Lampton School and regional Delivery Centres, or continue with their usual teaching.
The evaluation found that pupils taught by teachers who received the programme made some additional progress in GCSE science, compared to those in the control group. Whilst these findings have an overall moderate to high security rating, difficulties in the evaluation, such as recruiting schools for the trial and including all EAL pupils in the evaluation process meant the results are not as secure as anticipated.
This evaluation adds to the research supporting the achievement of EAL pupils, who currently represent approximately one-fifth of the student population in England. The findings tentatively suggest that CPD programmes could be an effective way to improve teaching and EAL pupils’ outcomes, at a lower cost than specialist support.
The full report is available here.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chief Executive Officer of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:
Diana Sutton, Director of The Bell Foundation, said: