The Project
Analysis of publicly available and individual level National Pupil Database data to understand relationships between English as an Additional Language (EAL) and educational achievement in England.
Additional Information
In England, pupils who are recorded as having English as an Additional Language (EAL) were exposed to a language other than English during early development and continue to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community. These pupils are nonetheless educated in English, the majority language. The percentage of pupils aged 5-16 who speak EAL has risen almost threefold from 7.6% in 1997 to 20.2% in 2023 (DFE, 2023), constituting 1.7M pupils aged 5-16 in England classified as speaking English as an additional language. Teachers in an increasing number of schools are tasked with supporting children in need of additional language support, often with limited training or professional development in this area.
Despite the increasing number of children speaking EAL in English schools, comparatively little research has focused on their achievement in more recent years. The most comprehensive analysis was undertaken by Strand, Malmberg & Hall (2015), who looked at data from the entire population of pupils in compulsory education in the England National Pupil Database (NPD) in 2013. This project updates that evidence 10 years on, analysing more recent aggregate, publicly available (national, Local Authority and school) data from England as well as individual pupil-level data from the entire population of pupils in compulsory education (aged 5-16) in the NPD in 2023.
