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Raising the achievement of bilingual learners in primary schools: Evaluation of the pilot/programme
In January 2004, it was announced that the Primary National Strategy would work in partnership with the Ethnic Minority Achievement (EMA) Unit within the DfES, to develop a pilot project in 21 local authorities (LAs), with the aims of increasing ‘the confidence and expertise of mainstream primary teachers in meeting the needs of advanced bilingual learners’ and of closing the attainment gap between bilingual learners and those whose first language is English.
Within participating local authorities, the pilot was led, and the pilot consultant managed, by the respective managers of the Primary National Strategy and the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service. This helped to ensure that the pilot was embedded within the Primary National Strategy – and thus able to access its structures for professional development – while local specialist expertise was utilised. In some authorities, the collaboration between the two perspectives was innovative as respective managers/teams had not previously worked together.
The structure of support was that whereby pilot consultants, appointed by the local authority, and trained and supported by the local authority as well as by PNS regional directors, provided participating schools with a programme of whole-staff professional development sessions and an allocation of time to be used flexibly to meet the specific needs of the school. Once a consultant was employed, his/her input to particular schools was negotiated following a structured audit undertaken by the school’s senior leaders and relevant middle managers, the consultant and relevant local authority advisers. A leadership team within the school was responsible for implementation of the pilot.
The link to the evaluation report is: www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR758.pdf
The link to the research brief (summary) is: www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB758.pdf
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