Summary

Rationale for the report

This research was commissioned by the Ministry of Education as part of its initiatives aimed at reviewing ESOL provision, in order to contribute to the effective provision of ESOL services in the future. The research investigates the way in which schools make use of the targeted funding (the funding is part of these initiatives and has been operative since 1998).

ESOL support is provided for NESB (non-English speaking background) students. The term NESB students, includes, but is not restricted to funded students. Other more proficient students, not deemed to require such funding, who come from non-English speaking backgrounds are also referred to as NESB students. NESB students may or may not be New Zealand born. For the purposes of the present study we generally restrict our use to Ministry of Education terms as above when we refer to students in New Zealand schools. To refer to students who are private fee paying students of international origin, we use the term, International Fee Paying students (IFP).

Students eligible for funding are those in their first four or five (in the case of refugee students) years in a New Zealand school, and whose performance on language based mainstream curriculum tasks is not close to the performance of the national cohort. In the case of non-refugee students, their total entitlement to funded support is twelve terms (3 years); for refugee students it is twenty terms (5 years). This funding is paid to schools by the Ministry of Education on the basis of twice yearly reports of the students' performance on assessment tasks, and on the basis of the submission of relevant background information on the students such as date commenced at the school, date of birth etc.

Education Govt's webpage: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) has information about applying for ESOL funding, using the funding and a range of ESOL associated publications.

ESOL Online has resources for primary, intermediate and secondary school teachers of students from non-English-speaking backgrounds. The site is for all teachers, including ESOL specialists.