Since the government ended universal entitlement to free tuition in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses - the impact on black and other minority students has been devastating.

The NUS black students' and FE students' campaigns have been working with UCU and other trade unions to reverse the decision - and the government has responded to calls by holding a consultation about public funding for ESOL.

A survey carried out by UCU shows that overall enrolments have reduced, those who need entry or beginner level have been turned away as course provision has moved to higher levels, and the funds to support low income learners are inconsistent and complex.

The most damaging finding however is the impact it has had on the poorest and the most vulnerable sections of society, including women, single parents, and migrant (especially African and Asian) communities, who have been disproportionably penalised by the fees regime - excluding the very people the government claimed they wanted to help.

The change in policy smacks of complete hypocrisy, where ministers have been churning the rhetoric of ‘community cohesion’, the need to ‘integrate’ and adopting ‘British’ values - yet on the other hand are removing the most basic means to do this - by learning the English language. Both Hazel Blears and Ruth Kelly have made comments about reducing translation services and no longer providing interpretation, affecting those who would have benefited from free ESOL.

The black students’ campaign is asking all FE colleges who have been affected by the cut in the ESOL provision to the consultation launched by DIUS - which is looking to get views on:

• A new national approach to funding ESOL to help prioritise funding and ensure local areas develop plans which identify the needs of vulnerable people, such as legal residents who might be expected to stay in the country for the foreseeable future, excluded women, particularly those with young children, and refugees who have established their right to remain in the UK;
• suggested new national priorities for ESOL while local areas take responsibility to target funding to best meet the needs of their communities;
• the role of the voluntary and community sector in the provision of ESOL; and
• what incentives should be provided to employers to encourage them to contribute to their employees' ESOL needs.

NUS will also be submitting a response to the consultation - if your students union would like to feed any case studies, stories or any other information into a national response please email us. Below are a few questions to guide you.

1. Have individual students come to you to discuss ESOL issues?
2. How are the changes to ESOL effecting students experiences of other courses? E.g. a student is struggling in GCSE maths, because they previously intended to take an ESOL course alongside their other studies.
3. Do you know of students who have had to drop out/ not continue onto the next level of their course because of the new costs involved with ESOL ( e.g. they completed a level 1 qualification and wanted to do a level 2 qualification in the new academic year but couldn't afford to).
4. If you are on the college governing body (e.g. you are a student governor), have these changes been discussed at a board meeting, and if so what was said/the opinion?

Send your answers to either myself at ruqs@nus.org.uk or VP Further Education at beth.walker@nus.org.uk

For more information look at these:
ESOL for Work press notice

ESOL background

Race Equality Impact Assessment report

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