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Dear James and Karen Many thanks for alerting us to this article. Let us hope it has some impact where it most needed. Yet again, the official policies on 'integration and social cohesion' are contradicted by funding policy and decisions at regional and local levels. These cuts are occurring at the same time as there is considerable rhetoric about the expense of interpreters in the health service ..... Joined up thinking - where are you??? Best Celia Celia Roberts Professor of Applied Linguistics King's College London ----- Original Message ----- From: James Simpson To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 1:32 PM Subject: Cuts to ESOL and New Approach Hello all Karen Dudley has drawn my attention to an article in this week's Guardian about cuts to ESOL in colleges. (Thanks Karen). The link is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/14/beginners-language-courses-cuts-english I'll just quote briefly from the article. I particularly like the quote from Perdita Patterson at Tower Hamlets (my favourite part is in bold). For me it articulates really well one of the main problems with the New Approach to ESOL: "The government has already suggested that local authorities should have a stronger role in improving English for non-native speakers. Perhaps mosques and charities will also step up to the task. "Perdita Patterson, an Esol teacher at Tower Hamlets College, says she "doesn't know where to begin in response to this argument". "It is beyond me to understand how a miscellaneous collection of private providers, charities and religious organisations could possibly replace an established mainstream educational institution with decades of specialist expertise, relationships all over the borough, and the ability to identify barriers to learning - from dyslexia to domestic abuse. There is simply no case to be made," she says." The New Approach to ESOL requires local councils, authorities and other bodies to reinvent the wheel regarding ESOL provision for 'hard to reach groups'. The implications of the policy are beginning to crystalise. Cheers! James Dr James Simpson School of Education University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT United Kingdom +44 (0)113 343 4687 [log in to unmask] http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/people/staff.php?staff=39 *********************************** ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask] *********************************** ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds. To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to [log in to unmask]