Update on activity in Modern Languages and ESOL

In light of the additional funding to be given for ESOL Colin, Jennie, Genevieve and I had a short meeting after the main meeting last week. We would like to apply for some of the money to enable SFEU to support ESOL in as effective way as possible. There are a number of issues: a shortage of provision which is not meeting the growing demand, a large number of small departments often with part-time staff and some in remote areas, a reliance on community provision often staffed by unqualified (or qualified at a basic level) volunteers, companies employing migrant workers with poor English skills. We have discussed the use of online learning or web conferencing to augment provision, online resources to support the new PDA aimed at upskilling staff particularly in the voluntary sector. We are conscious of not spreading ourselves too thinly (this is potentially a huge area) and we decided to focus on the issue of employees. Companies are not willing to spend money on ESOL training but there are serious issues of Health and Safety which we feel could be used as a lever. We are currently concentrating on the vocational areas of Construction and Tourism/Hospitality but there is also demand in the Food Processing industry. Jennie already has excellent online resources which could be used very effectively. Colin has written a very good paper to present to the Scottish Government, which will be developed in light of our discussion but is going to register interest with Peter Beaumont as a starting point. We will probably have to move fairly fast as the impression is that the previous additional funding was divided up very quickly and had to be used within a fairly tight time scale.
Next week I am going to Inverness to attend a national training event for ESOL NQs. This will be a good opportunity to gain an overview of practitioners' difficulties in delivering the new courses and possible support required. In the Highlands and Islands there are particular problems with small, remote departments which don't have the support networks of the Central Belt. I will do my best to promote the Subject Network and encourage people to get involved with Practitioners Plus.
I have agreed with Colin to postpone the ESOL event at SFEU until August/September.