ESOL for refugees: a toolkit for commissioners and practitioners
By Kate James, Migration Yorkshire
Back in pre-pandemic days, Migration Yorkshire staff spent early 2020 touring England, asking stakeholders in each region about good practice in commissioning and delivering ESOL for refugees. We were contracted by the Home Office to do this work, with the purpose of supporting ESOL commissioners and providers to: develop a shared understanding of good practice; meet specific challenges experienced by refugees; and deliver tailored learning for social integration and employment. The main output from the project was the ESOL for refugees toolkit.
It has been a truly collaborative project, with all 9 English regional strategic migration partnerships (SMPs) holding consultation events bringing together commissioners, providers and refugee support organisations. We talked to over 350 individuals, including those with relevant lived experience. The SMPs also identified case studies exemplifying some fantastic and innovative practice from up and down the country, ranging from a Language Café in Gateshead teaching practical English with peer mentor support, to women’s ESOL classes with an onsite crèche in Plymouth.
We wanted to make sure the toolkit was shaped by the latest research in this field, and despite the project’s time constraints, NATECLA and Leeds Beckett University produced an excellent comprehensive literature review. It provides an overview of the latest research on initial assessment, outreach and referral, content and delivery models, formal and informal learning, and overcoming barriers.
The final consultation event was held just weeks before the start of Covid-related restrictions, and the first lockdown was spent with our heads down writing the toolkit. Bringing together insights from the events, case studies and literature review provided a solid evidence base for us to produce a resource drawing on commissioner, practitioner and learner experience, as well as the latest research in the field.
So what’s actually in the toolkit? Here’s an overview of what’s included:
- Examples of innovative ESOL provision.
- A discussion of some of the challenges and ways to tackle them.
- Help with understanding your local refugee population: from issues refugees can face learning English to what an ideal learning journey looks like.
- A route map through the complex ESOL landscape – funding, commissioning and delivery.
- Ways to work together locally, with a checklist for ESOL steering groups.
- Dos and don’ts for ESOL commissioners and providers.
- Links to online resources for learners, volunteers and teachers – of particular relevance in the current climate.
We know the time pressure that everyone in the sector is under, and have tried to make the toolkit as accessible and easily navigable as possible. Hyperlinks from the contents page take the reader straight to sections of particular interest, and over 50 case studies and tools are listed at the back of the toolkit, again with links to each one. We were very lucky to team up with Inchpunch Design Limited and illustrator Nick Ellwood, whose work has given the toolkit the visual appeal we were hoping for.
How are refugees’ English language learning needs different from those of other ESOL learners? The toolkit considers barriers and challenges more likely to apply to this cohort, such as previous trauma, a lack of family or social networks here, and for some, limited literacy in their first language.
The bulk of the toolkit centres on 14 specific challenges identified during the project, with case studies offering possible solutions to these. For instance, aimed at commissioners: ‘How can I use my ESOL funding most effectively?’ There’s a great example of how Derbyshire County Council, facing the challenge of meeting need in a rural context, has offered bespoke provision for resettled refugees, and increased ESOL capacity, by combining resettlement and adult education budgets. ‘How can I make appropriate and effective use of volunteers?’ We hear how in Hertfordshire volunteers have complemented pre-entry and Entry 1 classes.
The toolkit also addresses the question ‘What kind of ESOL provision helps refugees to get into, or take steps towards, employment?’ There’s a Coventry case study of a project that delivers ESOL while helping refugees to demonstrate existing work skills. While English for work will be important for many, English for social integration is vital – read about Norfolk learners practising calls to emergency services, and classes in the North-East helping parents with vocabulary for communicating with their children’s schools. I could go on, and there are some real nuggets, such as the Brighton College case study describing their ESOL bolt-ons: two hour weekly lessons which teach young learners studying subjects such as IT and Hair and Beauty, the vocabulary they’ll need for next week’s class. In Oxford, men whose trauma or lack of previous formal learning were barriers to engaging in ESOL, were offered relaxed classes followed by therapeutic group sessions in Arabic.
If I had to choose two key learning points that I’ve taken away from this project, they’d be:
- ESOL provision for refugee learners needs to be as diverse as they are, and we should recognise that their needs change over time. There should be a range of complementary ESOL provision, for learning needs to be properly met. Participatory ESOL as part of a cookery programme alongside attending a conversation club might suit one learner, while another might prefer an accredited course to prepare them for returning to their chosen profession as soon as possible, supplemented with one to one conversation sessions with a volunteer.
- Coordination and partnership working are key, particularly in a challenging funding climate, for maximising effective use of resources, and ensuring good pathways for learners. There are some great examples of this in the toolkit, such as Manchester’s common assessment tool and shared ESOL waiting list, and the Learning English in Yorkshire and Humber web-based resource listing provision in the region. The Suffolk ESOL steering group has collaborated on successful funding bids, and Waltham Forest’s SPOC team made partnerships locally to help identify individuals previously unaware of English language learning opportunities. Shipley College works in partnership with the VCS to create pathways and flexible provision.
Pip Tyler, Policy and Research Manager at Migration Yorkshire, and toolkit co-author, says that the toolkit could be particularly helpful for people who fund or commission ESOL:
‘We hope this will fill a gap for commissioners and providers. It gives them something fairly comprehensive to refer to when they’re weighing up how best to allocate their budget, or wondering where to start with identifying needs among ESOL learners in their locality or how best to set up an ESOL steering group with a range of contributors. They can read up on the kinds of additional challenges that refugees face when learning English, and consider the innovative ways that others have tried to overcome barriers to learning’.
Reflecting on the consultation events, one of the highlights was hearing conversations starting between stakeholders whose paths hadn’t crossed before. We used the ‘world café’ approach, which involved participants regularly moving tables (when prompted by our trusty bell, which travelled the length and breadth of the country with us!) Each time they moved they’d discuss a different topic, and with a different group of people, maximising opportunities for mixing and networking. One discussion group bringing together participants from the same part of that particular region, resulted in some initial thoughts about joint working to deliver an ESOL for construction course. The organisations around the table wouldn’t be able to deliver this individually, but it could be financially viable as a partnership venture. Since the events we’ve also heard about the beginnings of other collaborations, such as a new ESOL networking group starting in the East of England.
As always with such projects, there were areas we’d like to have spent more time considering, such as how to reframe refugees as assets, and how to ensure learner progression. Overall our hope is that the toolkit is a practical, useful resource that will encourage partnership working and innovation in English language learning for refugees.
Final note: Migration Yorkshire is a local authority-led partnership which works across the whole of the Yorkshire and Humber region. Part of this is fulfilling the role of strategic migration partnership for the region. We work with national government, local government, and others to ensure that the region can deal with, and benefit from, migration. You can find the toolkit on our website, and see our latest tweets @migrationyorks.
Kate James
April 2021