Memorandumm by Dr Janet Dobson, University
College London
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 This paper offers a perspective on the
impact of immigration on schools, with a particular focus on the
economic aspects. It is concerned with the entry into the school
system of non-British children arriving in the UK from overseas
and not with longer-term implications of migration for birth rates
and pupil numbers. It refers specifically to the English school
system since the evidence cited relates to England rather than
other parts of the UK, though most of what is said will apply
elsewhere.
1.2 The following topics are briefly covered:
— Immigration of children: patterns
and flows.
— Resource implications for the school
system.
— Some specific school situations.
— The issue of pupil mobility.
— Some benefits of immigration for
schools and society.
— The adequacy of resourcing.
2. IMMIGRATION
OF CHILDREN:
PATTERNS AND
FLOWS
2.1 There has been a significant inflow
of children from overseas into the English state school system
throughout the last half-century. While a review of the resourcing
aspects is to be welcomed, the impact of international migration
on schools should not be viewed as a new phenomenon, still less
as a national crisis.
2.2 Statistics from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) in Table 1 show fluctuating rather than increasing
numbers of non-British child migrants arriving in this country
over the last thirty years but suggest that fewer are leaving.
These estimates are derived from the International Passenger Survey
(IPS), a small sample survey at ports of entry, and the age range
is not the same as that for compulsory schooling. However, the
IPS is the only source from which we can derive a broad indication
of change in inflows and outflows of children over time.
Table 1
INFLOWS AND OUTFLOWS OF NON- BRITISH CITIZENS
AGED 0-14 IN THE UK 1975-2005
|
| Years | Inflows (000)
| Outflows (000)
|
| Total inflow
in 5 year
period
| Average per
annum
| Total outflow
in 5 year
period
| Average per
annum
|
|
| 1975-79 | 83.5
| 16.7 | 48.0
| 9.6 |
| 1980-84 | 108.5
| 21.7 | 60.3
| 12.1 |
| 1985-89 | 108.4
| 21.7 | 70.4
| 14.1 |
| 1990-94 | 95.3
| 19.1 | 67.7
| 13.5 |
| 1995-99 | 85.7
| 17.1 | 45.1
| 9.0 |
| 2000-04 | 99.5
| 19.9 | 38.6
| 7.7 |
| 2005 | | 15.0
| | 4.0 |
|
| Source: ONS International Passenger Survey
|
Table 2 below shows a net loss of British children and a
net gain of non-British children in the period 1995-2005. This
has been the pattern since 1975.
Table 2
INFLOWS AND OUTFLOWS OF BRITISH AND NON-BRITISH CITIZENS
AGED 0-14 IN THE UK 1995-2005
|
| Inflows
(000)
| Outflows
(000)
| Net flows |
|
| British citizens | 137.7
| 182.1 | -44.4
|
| Non-British citizens | 200.2
| 87.7 | 112.5
|
| Total | 337.9
| 269.8 | 68.1
|
|
2.4 Foreign conflicts, recruitment of workers overseas
and European Union expansion have all been factors leading to
specific inflows in recent times. For example, hostilities in
former Yugoslavia led to substantial numbers of young asylum seekers
from that country joining English schools in the 1990s, while
Afghan and Somali children are well-represented among current
newcomers. The expansion of the European Union in 1994 increased
movement from Western Europe—the number of Portuguese-speaking
children in Lambeth schools more than tripled between 1994 and
2002 (LB Lambeth 2004). The large-scale recruitment of foreign
health professionals in the wake of the NHS Plan 2000 resulted
in the immigration of children accompanying or joining their parents
in different parts of England. The further expansion of the EU
in 2004 has also brought new migrants to the classroom in many
local authorities. Data collected by Slough LA on the origin of
children arriving in its schools from non-English speaking countries
in the 18 months prior to January 2007 showed Poland topping the
list.
2.5 Some of the inflow comprises children whose parents
have come to the UK for a fixed period. Examples cited by schools
in research carried out at the Migration Research Unit (MRU),
University College London, include professors, circus performers,
employees of international corporations, diplomats and other embassy
staff and post-graduate students (Dobson et al 2000, Dobson and
Pooley 2004).
2.6 The geographical destinations of migrant children
from overseas are widespread but ONS statistics suggest that London
and the South East receive greatly disproportionate numbers. A
postal questionnaire sent by the MRU to all 150 local education
authorities in England in 1999 asked about groups of children
contributing to high pupil mobility in schools—that is,
children joining and leaving schools in large numbers at non-standard
times. Of the 127 LEAs who answered this question, 44 identified
refugees and asylum seekers, and of these nearly two-thirds were
London boroughs. Overseas migrants coming to work or join relatives
in the UK were identified by 31 LEAs, of which over half were
in London. Outside London, responses citing this group came mainly
from the West Midlands and parts of northern England (Dobson and
Henthorne 1999). Since 1999, there has been a programme of dispersal
of asylum seekers and inflows of migrants from Eastern Europe
to many areas but numbers entering London schools remain high.
2.7 As far as schools are concerned, a significant feature
of change in the last two decades has been that children often
arrive from a wide variety of countries and speak many different
languages, rather than coming from a particular country or countries
of origin. In one London local authority study just completed
(LB Barnet 2007), a primary school listed the countries of origin
of recent arrivals as:
Poland (four children), Czech republic, Turkey (2), Romania
(3), Nigeria (4), Pakistan, Sweden, Indonesia, Bulgaria (2), Afghanistan
(3), Somalia, Lithuania, Taiwan, South Africa, Russia.
Data collected by Slough LA referred to above showed similar
wide diversity, with Pakistan, India and Somalia following Poland
as the sources of the largest numbers in the 18 months prior to
2007.
2.8 Many of the difficulties that schools identify have
less to do with the numbers of children entering the country and
more to do with their uneven distribution between areas and between
schools within those areas. The diversity of languages, cultural
backgrounds and educational experience is a further factor.
3. RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS
FOR THE
SCHOOL SYSTEM
3.1 Where inflows of children into the English state
school system exceed outflows, an increase in education spending
is required simply to maintain the same per capita level of funding.
If school capacity in particular localities is insufficient for
the newcomers, then capital expenditure may be needed for additional
accommodation, though in many parts of the country at present
school rolls have been falling and there are spare places.
3.2 At school level, there are specific costs in terms
of staff time associated with school admission, such as meetings
with parents, explaining school routines and rules, recording
information about the child and actions to help the child to settle
in and make friends. Where parents and/or children lack fluency
in English and are new to the English school system, these basic
procedures are more difficult and time-consuming and may require
an interpreter and the translation of written information.
3.3 Assessment of the skills, knowledge and previous
educational experience of newcomers is crucial to placing children
in the appropriate classes or groups and organising any additional
support they may need (Ofsted 2002). If the child arrives with
no information on prior achievement, which would normally be obtainable
if s/he were changing school in England, and speaks little English,
an assessment is hard to do and the help of bilingual staff and
others may be required to facilitate it.
3.4 The cost of providing language or learning support
to pupils arriving from overseas varies significantly from child
to child. Some are fully fluent in English, while others are beginners.
Some have been well-educated in country of origin, while others
have had little, or disrupted, schooling. The latter can require
substantial help if they enter the system during the secondary
phase and schools are often reluctant to take in young people
in years ten and eleven (aged 14+). Some children who come from
war-torn countries need psychological help. Those who arrive as
unaccompanied asylum seekers need particular care and attention.
3.5 Basic books and equipment must be provided for new
pupils. Additional costs are involved in respect of such items
as bilingual dictionaries, translated learning materials and books
in other languages.
3.6 Many schools also invest resources in developing
home-school relationships and links with migrant community organisations.
The support of parents and others for the children's schooling
is seen as likely to contribute to their success. International
migrants often have high aspirations for their children and many
parents are themselves well-qualified, including some who are
only able to obtain low-skilled jobs when they come to this country.
However, at the other extreme, there are parents with little formal
education who see early entry to employment by their children
as desirable.
3.7 Schools sometimes put time and effort into arranging
with other education providers for specific learning activities
for parents to take place on school premises, such as English
language lessons. These can have wider benefits in terms of social
integration and access to jobs. For adult migrants, and mothers
in particular, the primary school may offer a more user-friendly
environment than other alternatives in which to take up such opportunities.
3.8 School staff often spend a good deal of time advising
recently-arrived migrants on problems they have encountered and
on access to local services such as health care.
3.9 Local authorities, too, have additional demands on
time and resources arising from international migration. Assisting
children to find school places and providing advisory back-up
to schools are just two relevant areas.
4. SOME SPECIFIC
SCHOOL SITUATIONS
4.1 Many schools now have well-established structures
and procedures to manage the reception, integration and support
of newcomers from abroad. However, there are a number of situations
where schools can find themselves in difficulties and some are
described in this and the following section. All have funding
implications.
4.2 Schools receiving non-English speaking children for
the first time have to adapt rapidly to new needs. They are likely
to require additional staff with appropriate expertise in language
teaching, training for existing staff and help to communicate
with parents and children. Where there is local hostility to the
new arrivals, this may be lessened if it can be seen that the
necessary resources have been put in.
4.3 Schools which are already organised and staffed to
support newcomers from overseas may neverthless suddenly and unexpectedly
take in large additional numbers in a short space of time. They
may need more staff to cope with this increase.
4.4 Small primary schools can find it difficult to organise
the necessary support to migrant pupils because their budgets
and staffing are smaller and less flexible than in a large school.
5. THE ISSUE
OF PUPIL
MOBILITY
5.1 Many migrant families from overseas who take up low-paid
employment or seek asylum move around from place to place in the
early period of their stay in the UK. Thus, children may spend
a few days, weeks or months in one school and then move to another
and then to another. Initially, the family may live with relatives
or friends and then move on. In the case of asylum seekers, the
National Asylum Support Service may assist with accommodation,
necessitating a further move or moves. Setting aside the particular
circumstances of asylum seekers, much of the movement results
from the imbalance between the volume of low-paid jobs and the
availability of affordable housing, particularly in London.
5.2 The consequence for schools is that some have continuous
inflows and outflows of pupils, which are partly made up of recent
arrivals from abroad and partly of children from other families
moving home, splitting up or transferring their child from one
school to another. For example, one secondary school in Westminster
took in 120 children during the school year 2002-03, in addition
to those joining at the start of Year 7 (at age 11) and had 59
leavers, in addition to those leaving at the end of Year 11 (at
age 16). Of those joining, 50 had come direct from overseas.
A similar picture was found in a Haringey school. (Dobson and
Pooley 2004).
5.3 This level of mobility is exceptional but not unique.
The local school system in most urban authorities operates in
a way that results in a minority of schools taking in a disproportionate
share of children seeking places at non-standard times for whatever
reason. This is more marked in secondary than in primary schools.
Some high mobility schools are located in areas where foreign
migration is virtually non-existent, such as coastal resorts like
Blackpool. A recent study (Machin et al 2006) found that about
a quarter of a million children in England, 4.4% of all pupils,
made non-compulsory moves from one school to another between one
year and the next. These figures do not include children joining
from abroad. However, high mobility has been discussed at some
length here because it is relevant to understanding the scale
and complexity of the task that some schools face as they welcome,
integrate and support new arrivals from other countries.
5.4 The pressures on high mobility schools are very great
as they endlessly repeat the routines outlined in Section 3 on
the admission of each new pupil, who may then stay only a few
days or weeks. They must also seek to establish the destinations
of children who depart, in the interests of child safety. Vast
amounts of staff time and effort are diverted by these activities
in schools where, in most cases, there are large numbers of pupils
who are economically deprived. Individual local authorities and
local authority associations have made representations to government
in the past about the resource needs of high mobility schools
(Association of London Government 2003).
6. SOME BENEFITS
OF IMMIGRATION
FOR SCHOOLS
AND SOCIETY
6.1 Education in a school which draws children from around
the world provides all its pupils with a breadth of outlook they
would not otherwise have and a preparation for living and working
in a global society.
6.2 Children coming from other countries often have high
aspirations, value educational opportunity and work hard, which
helps not only themselves but also their schools in seeking to
establish a "can-do" ethos where children strive to
achieve their potential.
6.3 Investment in staff to support the achievement of
children from overseas enhances the quality of education for all
pupils since, like other staff, they contribute to the life and
work of the school as a whole, to learning in the classroom and
to extra-curricular activities.
6.4 Schools which regularly admit new pupils often involve
children already in the school in welcoming and looking after
them. Some schools provide formal training and recognition for
those who act as "buddies". The skills and attitudes
thus acquired have personal and wider community benefits.
6.5 Given the ageing demographic profile of the UK, migrant
children who settle here benefit the country by adding to the
pool of future workers. Educated in English schools, they have
the chance to learn the English language (where necessary) and
to acquire skills and qualifications. Many pupils from overseas
achieve well in the English education system, particularly if
they arrive in the primary phase. Ultimately, they may fill highly-skilled
occupations, reducing the need to take highly-skilled workers
from other countries.
7. THE ADEQUACY
OF RESOURCING
7.1 The Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) funds
much of the work that supports children who join schools from
overseas. The substantial increase in general funding that all
schools have received since 1997 and the expanding employment
of teaching assistants and learning mentors have also helped in
this respect, as well as particular projects focussed on raising
achievement. Some local authorities take account of pupil mobility
in their funding formulae for distributing money to schools but
this element is a minor part of the total.
7.2 Many schools with large numbers of pupils not fluent
in English, as well as small schools with limited budgets, argue
for higher levels of resourcing through EMAG to give concentrated
help to those needing it, individually or in small groups. The
Lambeth report (2004) noted:
"In spite of the consensus that children can take between
five and seven years to acquire the same levels of proficiency
in academic English as their native-speaking peers . . ...provision
is inevitably concentrated in the early stages in schools where
resources are already overstretched." (p.110)
It is reasonable to suppose that higher investment in this
area would receive a good return in terms of higher achievement.
7.3 Schools also argue for additional resources to manage
high pupil mobility, for instance to employ a full-time induction
mentor to carry out and co-ordinate work identified in section
3 above and provide on-going oversight and support to new pupils
(DfES 2003b, McAndrew and Power 2003). This would release more
time for senior managers and teachers to focus on their primary
roles of strategic leadership, management and teaching, as well
as giving children a better start and chance of success. High
mobility schools generally have more disadvantaged intakes than
the norm, both among mobile and non-mobile pupils.
7.4 Investment in the education and training of young
people who arrive in the UK in Years 10 and 11 (aged 14+) is important
if they are to be able to make a contribution in the labour market.
This is an area that may need more attention.
7.5 One of the principal problems for local authorities
and for individual schools is that they can receive an increase
in pupil numbers through international migration very rapidly
whereas funding mechanisms respond more slowly to changes in numbers.
Flexible funding arrangements are needed which recognise the vital
need for speed of response.
12 November 2007
| 
