I spent 20 minutes yesterday drafting a response to the Times reporter and
then just junked the whole thing because anything I said could and probably
would be distorted.
One group we see a great deal of in Southampton are women on spouse
visas who are disbarred from accessing ESOL at all in their first year in the
UK; by the beginning of their second year in the UK many of them are either
pregnant or have small babies. By the end of their second year they must
demonstrate progress in English through passing a Skills for Life speaking
and listening test. It is horrendously difficult for them to access ESOL as so
many of them need childcare - not all have family networks and friends they
can call on to look after their children, and ESOL courses that provide
childcare are few and far between, with demand wildly outstripping supply.
It is hardly surprising that some of these women have recourse to
organisations promising to get them through Entry 1 speaking and listening,
which they need in order to get Indefinite Leave to Remain. The alternative is
to pay a further £700 or £800 for a further 2 year extension to their spouse
visa, with no access to public funding for that entire period, thus
exacerbating child poverty.
This group is perhaps one that local authorities can pick up on as a priority
for ESOL in the New Approach to ESOL, but - given that there is no new
money in the New Approach to ESOL - until the government starts taking
seriously the needs of migrant women, and fully takes on board the positive
impact that providing real support for them to learn English the moment they
enter the country will have on the future of their children, it is hard to see
how things can change much.
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