What is ESOL?
For people seeking sanctuary, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), can play a fundamental role in obtaining the communication skills needed for them to thrive in their everyday life. It can give people access to key support services, education, and employment as well as enabling community participation opportunities that were previously unavailable to them due to language barriers.
What are the issues affecting access to ESOL?
A 2024 review commissioned by West Midlands Combined Authority outlines how ESOL provision in the West Midlands is failing to meet the increasing demand. A lack of adult skills budget funding and a short supply of college classes has consequently created long waiting lists for access to ESOL education. This limits who can reap the benefits of this resource, leaving many without the essential skills they need to fully participate in our communities.
While college-based ESOL plays an important role in helping learners gain accredited qualifications and progress into further education, training and employment, it may not meet everyone’s needs straight away. For people who have had limited access to education, formal classroom settings can feel daunting and additional support may be needed before they are ready to progress into college-based learning. Additionally, the focus on learning English for employment and the generalised teaching style and content of accredited courses can result in inconsistent learner outcomes.Â
Ultimately, these challenges suggest that formal ESOL provision alone cannot meet the diverse needs of all learners.
Why does community matter for ESOL provision?
A more community-based approach can help address some of the challenges currently affecting access to ESOL. A community-based approach to ESOL can be defined as English language learning that is delivered in informal, community spaces like libraries and community centres; rather than in formal educational institutions like colleges. This community-based form of ESOL provision encourages English learning in a more accessible, less pressure based and more socially inclusive way.
Effective community-based ESOL should support learners to develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. While conversation practice is important, literacy skills are equally essential for accessing employment, education, digital services and everyday tasks such as completing forms. Without opportunities to develop literacy skills, many people can remain digitally excluded and face ongoing barriers to participation.
This structure of ESOL learning allows for flexibility, practical language learning and a more targeted approach, focusing on giving learners the skills and confidence to navigate everyday life and feel included in their communities. Evidence shows that when ESOL is conducted through a community-based model, it improves learners’ English skills, boosts social integration, self-confidence and wellbeing. By complementing formal education with community-based learning opportunities, issues regarding a lack of: targeted support, out of classroom practice, collaboration and limited capacity can be overcome.
Providing a more community-based approach also results in immersion of people who migrate, which can help increase relationship building and a sense of belonging for both those who are integrating and those hosting. This further improves community cohesion.
The level of social inclusion, English development growth, targeted support and greater capacity also creates greater engagement with community-based ESOL for learners too. Highlighting the role community-based ESOL provision can play alongside colleges and other providers in addressing gaps in current ESOL provision.
What is RMC doing for community-based ESOL?
RMC understands that community-based ESOL plays an integral role in language learning for people who migrate. RMC delivers many community-based provisions outside of teaching in an formal classroom setting, providing targeted support for those at various fluency levels. We provide opportunities such as literacy focused classes and trips to supermarkets and local events where there is an opportunity to practise English in a real-life scenario, whilst also learning more about life in the UK.
The success of this work can be clearly seen through the outcomes for those attending:
- 99% of those surveyed say they speak English more after RMC’s classes
- 91% of those surveyed say they felt more confident speaking English after RMC’s classes
This demonstrates the impact community-based ESOL can have on people’s learning journeys.
What can be done going forward?
Reflecting on the limitations of current ESOL provision, it is vital that we work together to change the narrative of where it is possible to learn English. More must be done to show education does not just occur within the classroom, it happens everywhere.
Community-based ESOL and accredited ESOL provision should be viewed as part of the same learning journey. Community provision can provide the confidence, practical experience and tailored support that help learners progress, while colleges and other formal providers enable learners to gain recognised qualifications that support further study, employment and citizenship or visa requirements. Ensuring that learners can move between these different forms of provision is key to people achieving their goals.
It is also important that learners can access qualifications that align with their goals. As demand grows for recognised language qualifications such as B1 and B2, learners need affordable and accessible pathways that support employment opportunities, citizenship applications and visa requirements.
By making changes to formalised provision, and by increasing more community-based ESOL provision, learners can build confidence in a supportive environment. The positive impact of this includes, increasing their ability to speak English, their ability to feel included in their local community and their sense of independence to navigate the resources needed for them to thrive.
You can explore how community-based ESOL initiatives, such as those delivered by RMC, can work alongside other organisations to address gaps in provision for non-reading learners, through Susan’s story.
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