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ESOL Question Time Conference
| Date: | Monday 18 June 2007 |
| Venue: | Queens Hotel, City Square, Leeds LS1 1PL |
| Ref: | C15-28/06/07 |
| Fee*: | £225 -Non-NIACE Members, £198 -NIACE Members (includes lunch, tea/coffee) |
[Aims] [Format] [Context] [Audience] [Programme]
Aims
 | To consider the implications of the NIACE ESOL Inquiry recommendations in ‘More than a language…’ for policy and practice |
| To consider the impact of the LSC’s Annual Statement of Priorities, 2007 – 2008 |
| To share responses and approaches developed in response to the NIACE recommendations and LSC funding changes. |
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Format
This will be a lively and stimulating event, based on questions and answers, argument and debate. Guests will be asked to respond to questions from an interviewer and also questions from the floor. There will be plenty of opportunity to share views and experiences through round table discussions and as a whole conference. This will be a provocative and demanding day but one which will also provide a number of practical strategies to plan and deliver provision in September 2007.
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Context
NIACE’s Committee of Enquiry on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) reported in October 2006 on the current state of ESOL provision, and its importance to a wide range of government policies. Underpinning the Committee’s recommendations was a view that migrants bring a wealth of skills, knowledge and talent, and confidence in English helps them to thrive and make a substantial and positive contribution to the economic, social and cultural life of the nation. However, the committee found worrying evidence that current ESOL provision is not meeting their needs. Demand has overwhelmed what was already overstretched supply, costs and numbers are rapidly rising, the quality is very uneven, and teacher training and qualifications for learners and for teachers need urgent attention. This is an important matter because, as the report makes clear, fluency in English is crucial for individuals, families, communities, workplaces and the UK economy.
The LSC has announced that all ESOL learners will pay fees unless they can prove they are unemployed or in receipt of means tested benefits. This will have a negative affect on the most vulnerable in our society; the unwaged and women who traditionally do not claim unemployment benefit. This will also impact on the vast majority of migrant workers on very low pay, only 3% of whom claim working tax credit.
The NIACE ESOL Committee of Inquiry recommended that there should be free ESOL tuition up to and including Level 1. By ignoring this recommendation there is a risk that social inclusion and community cohesion, two Government priorities, will be at risk. Newcomers will be increasingly isolated if they cannot speak English to ask for their bus fare or buy a pint of milk. The rise of hostility towards immigrants may be fuelled. This is also likely to have an impact on those seeking to access ESOL Language with Citizenship courses. The issue of equity with literacy and numeracy has not been addressed.
The LSC also announced that, from September 2007, asylum seekers will no longer be eligible to access publicly funded learning provision on arrival in England. Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, subsequently announced that the government will support learning for asylum seekers who have been waiting more than six months for a decision on their asylum claim, or who have been refused asylum but are unable to leave the UK. This measure will exclude asylum seekers from any learning opportunities whilst they wait for a decision from the Home Office. The 25,000 annual applicants for asylum are amongst the most vulnerable and needy learners. They need survival English and the interaction with others that ESOL provides.
Other critical questions concern how to engage employers and secure their contribution to the costs of training their employees, how to provide a broader range of ESOL to satisfy wide ranging learner needs, how to improve the quality of provision, how to ensure that sufficient ESOL teachers are employed and that initial and teacher training and ongoing professional development meets their needs.
This event provides an opportunity for all those connected with the field of ESOL to voice their views, propose their solutions and share their approaches to responding to learners’ needs.
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Audience
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Programme
| 09:45 | Arrival and registration (Tea/Coffee available) | ||||||||||||||||
| 10:30 | Welcome and introduction to the
day from the chair Chris Taylor, Development Officer, NIACE |
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| 10:40 | Keynote address James Lee, Employment and Training Policy Adviser, Refugee Council |
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| 11:00 | Learners’ voices
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| 11:10 | Round table discussions: To formulate questions for the Question Time Panel |
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| 11:30 | Tea/coffee break | ||||||||||||||||
| 11:45 | Question Time Panel Panellists:
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| 12:45 | Round up | ||||||||||||||||
| 13:00 | Lunch | ||||||||||||||||
| 14:00 | A Principal’s perspective Paula Whittle, Principal, Barnsley College |
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| 14:50 | Round table discussions To discuss where we go from here and what are our priorities for action are |
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| 15:15 | Setting up an Agenda for Action
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| 15:35 | Close of conference (Tea/Coffee available) |
This programme is correct at the time of going to press. The organisers reserve the right to make changes to the published programme in the event of one or more of the advertised speakers being unable to attend. Delegates will have no claim against NIACE in respect of such changes.
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Also in June 2007...
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