Executive summary - October 2021

Post-16 education and training

outcomes for young people who use
English as an Additional Language
(EAL): aspirations and trajectories

Report authors

Olga Cara

With the assistance of Antonina Tereshchenko,

Vera Hutchinson, Laura Cook and Diana Sutton
About the UCL Institute of Education
The UCL Institute of Education is a world-leading centre for
research and teaching in education and social science, ranked
number one for education worldwide every year since 2014
in the QS World University Rankings. It was awarded the
Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2016. In 2014, the IOE secured
‘outstanding’ grades from Ofsted on every criterion for its
initial teacher training, across primary, secondary and further
education programmes. In the most recent Research Excellence
Framework assessment of university research, the IOE was top
for ‘research power’ (GPA multiplied by the size of the entry)
in education. Founded in 1902, the Institute currently has
more than 8,000 students and 800 staff. In December 2014 it
became a single-faculty school of UCL, called the UCL Institute
of Education. www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe

About The Bell Foundation

The Bell Foundation is a charity which aims to overcome
exclusion through language education by working with partners
on innovation, research, training and practical interventions.
Through generating and applying evidence, we aim to
change practice, policy and systems for children, adults and
communities in the UK disadvantaged through language. www.
bell-foundation.org.uk
Funded by

Dr Olga Cara is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer in

Sociology of Education with mixed methods and quantitative
methodology expertise and research interests in the
relationship between ethnicity, language, and education as
well as parental engagement. Olga has more than 15 years
of experience in investigating EAL and ESOL related issues
involving primary data as well as secondary analysis of large
administrative datasets.

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Published by UCL Institute of Education

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Executive Summary
Introduction
This study focuses on access to education, training and employment for young
people aged 16-25 who have English as an Additional Language (EAL). In
particular, the research examines their post 16 pathways and outcomes and how
they may differ depending on young people’s linguistic self-identification, if at all.
The Longitudinal study Next Steps, previously known as the Longitudinal Study of
Young People in England (LSYPE) was used to investigate the post 16 education
and training trajectories and outcomes for young people born in 1989-90. The
analysis compares the outcomes and pathways of three groups of young people
based on their responses to the question if English is their first or main language
when they were aged 13/14. In our analysis we compare young people who in Year
9 reported English as their only language, those who self-identified as bilingual
or specified English as their first/main language and also speak other languages
and those young people that said they have another language as their first or
main language. The central group in this study is the latter or those who most
likely would be identified as having English as an Additional Language (EAL) in
school administrative data. Linguistic self-identification of these young people
in combination with their place of birth data allowed probing further into any
differences within a more generic group of young people identified as having
EAL in the NPD or similar administrative datasets that are frequently used for
the analysis of educational pathways and outcomes. Furthermore, this analysis
focuses on exploring not only individual attitudes and social characteristics of
these young people, but also broader family and/or parental factors that play a
role in their post 16 journeys.

Background
In 2020/21, 21% of primary and 17% of secondary pupils in England were classified
as having EAL (DfE, 2021). However, the EAL classification does not indicate a
pupil’s proficiency in the English language and that varies widely (Tereshchenko
& Archer, 2014; Demie, 2018; Strand and Hessel, 2018) and the group is very
diverse not only regarding their first language, ethnicity, family circumstances and
their prior educational and life experiences, but also regarding the age at which
they arrived in the English school system. Therefore, the average attainment
figures for pupils who use EAL are often misleading (Hutchinson, 2018). Some
pupils who have EAL and are at later or final stages of English acquisition and
where their families have sufficient knowledge of the education system and the
English language score well above the national average for monolingual English
speakers, but those who are new to English or at early acquisition stages tend to
underachieve and this is the group that we are focussing on in this study.
Currently, most young people face increasing levels of insecurity in work,
education and housing which affect their transition to adulthood. A report by
the Health Foundation (Jordan et al, 2019) has identified four assets that affect
how well young people make this transition: appropriate skills and qualifications,
personal connections, financial and practical support, and emotional support. As
evidence suggests, young people and adults who speak English as an additional
language, particularly those who are English learners at earlier stages, tend to
do worse on the labour market, and young people are more likely to be ‘not in
employment, education or training’ (NEET) (Fernandez-Reino, 2019; Anderson &
Nelson, 2021). Young people, especially those at the earlier stages of developing
their skills in English, may lack some or all of these assets, facing significant
barriers in gaining advice and guidance, and challenges in accessing Further

2
Education (FE) and appropriate ESOL provision and support for further English
language development, potentially leading to a lack of engagement in education
and training. Some young people are especially vulnerable to experiencing
difficulties when making transitions from school and many young people embark
on post 16 courses that do not suit their needs and aptitudes, resulting in drop-
out and lower success rates (Hodgson and Spours, 2014).
The latest report from the DfE (Anderson & Nelson, 2021) concludes that post
16 outcomes and pathways differ based on one’s first language and that those
speaking English as an additional language have poorer outcomes than their
peers who have English as their first/main language. At the same time, the
research demonstrates that degree and/or Level 3 qualification achievement is
associated with better labour market outcomes for young people who have EAL.
However, to our knowledge, there are very few other studies that would link EAL
status in compulsory education at the point of leaving school sector to go into
the post 16 sector to progress, achievement and destinations information in the
post-compulsory educational context. Furthermore, there is no equivalent to
the EAL identifier, that would be ESOL status identifier, that is standardised and
collected consistently in the post 16 sector.
This research report is a part of a two-stage project investigating how current
ESOL provision and support meet the needs of and provides adequate
opportunities for, young people aged 16-25 who use EAL. The research combines
a literature review with quantitative data analysis of Next Steps data. This report
presents findings from the second quantitative project stage. The main research
question for the quantitative study was:

What does the available Next Steps (ex LSYPE) data indicate concerning
the aspirations, outcomes and pathways of learners who use EAL aged 16-25
compared to those with English as their first language?

Methodology
Next Steps, previously known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in
England (LSYPE), follows the lives of around 16,000 people in England born in
1989-90. The study recruited a nationally representative sample of Y9 students
aged 13/14 and interviewed them along with their parents/carers. Young people
were re-interviewed each year until 2010, with the most recent additional sweep
data available when they were aged 25, in 2015/16.
Next Steps has collected information about cohort members’ education and
employment, economic circumstances, family life, physical and emotional health
and wellbeing, social participation and attitudes. The longitudinal nature of
the Next Steps dataset, combined with all the detailed information on a range
of attitudes and outcomes of young people and their families, as well as the
dataset being nationally representative (Strand et al., 2015; CLS, 2021) presents
a unique opportunity to explore the context, experiences, and attitudes of young
people who use EAL and their families with regard not only to their compulsory
education, but also post 16 pathways taken and their outcomes.
Young people included in the Next Steps cohort at age 13 were asked if English
was their first or main language. We used young people’s responses together with
the data on their place of birth to identify six groups that we use in our analysis of
the post-16 educational trajectories and outcomes. The six groups are:
• Young people who report English as their only language (monolingual English)
born in the UK (1) or born elsewhere (2)

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• Self-identified bilingual and those who report English as their main/first
language, but also speak other language(es) (bilingual) born in the UK (3) or
born elsewhere (4)
• Young people who report having another language as their first or main
language (using English as an Additional Language (EAL)) born in the UK (5) or
born elsewhere (6)
Although, the Next Steps dataset provides very rich longitudinal data and the
cohort has been selected using robust design with oversampling of ethnic
minorities and accounts for attrition over time, there are some important
limitations to the use of these data. Firstly, we know all the young people had
arrived in the UK by the age of 13 as the Next Steps sample included young
people who were in schools in England at that time. Moreover, at the point of
the analysis we did not have access to arrival age. We do recognise this as a
shortcoming in the research. Secondly, the data represents a specific cohort of
young people in 1989-90 and their education pathways and outcomes need to be
contextualised in the policy and social events of that time. For example, until 2011,
local authorities received an Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) and were
required to use this to support the learning of EAL and bilingual pupils and the
achievement of ethnic minority learners. This cohort has benefited from this ring-
fenced funding for EAL when they were in compulsory education. Similarly, these
young people had access to Connexions, a UK governmental information, advice,
guidance and support service for young people aged 13 to 19 created in 2000
that has ceased being a coherent national service since 2012. Broader social and
economic events also have to be considered. For example, these young people
would have been 17/18 around the time of the 2008 financial crash which could
have an impact on education choices and going into employment.

Key numbers
• 7
 0% of young people who use EAL and 80% of those who are bilingual were in
education at the age of 19 compared to 41% of young people who speak English
only born in the UK and 51% of monolingual English speakers born outside the UK.
• 2
 3% of young people who use EAL and were born outside the UK are not in
employment or education at the age of 25 compared to 15% of young people who
are monolingual English language users and 11% of their peers who are bilingual.
• 6
 4% of young people who were born in the UK and use EAL and 59% of those
born outside the UK who are EAL speakers achieved first degree or a higher level
qualification at the age of 25.
• A
 t the same time young people who use EAL include the highest proportion of
those with no qualifications (14% UK born; 12% born elsewhere) by the age of 25.
• 7
 5% of parents using EAL felt very involved or fairly involved in their children’s
education in Year 9. This proportion increased in Year 11 when 84% of parents who
use EAL agreed that they are involved in their children’s education.
• H
 owever, 14% of parents who use EAL strongly disagreed that they know all they
need to know about how they can help with their children’s education in Year 9.

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Key findings
• The evidence suggests that a group of young people who speak English as an
additional language is heterogeneous in terms of their post 16 outcomes. The
Next Steps data shows that, while bilingual young people were more likely to
be high achievers across the range of outcomes at age 25, young people who
use EAL and speak another language as their main language were likely to be
more polarised in terms of their post 16 outcomes. The young people surveyed
who use EAL include a relatively high proportion of those who are seen as ‘high
achievers’ (more than half achieving first degree or higher by the age of 25) and
‘success stories’ (70% in education at age 19). Yet at the same time there is a
significant number of those young people who are struggling, particularly in the
labour market, and are being put at risk of social exclusion (around one fifth not
being in employment or education at the age of 25).
• Young people who use EAL as well as those who report being bilingual
stay in education longer than monolingual English young people. 70%
of young people who use EAL and 80% of those who are bilingual were
in education at the age of 19 compared to 41% of young people who
speak English only and born in the UK, and 51% of monolingual English
speakers born outside the UK. A slightly higher proportion of young
people using EAL (8% UK born; 10% born outside the UK) and their
bilingual peers (7% UK born; 8% born outside the UK) aged 25 were in
education compared with young people who are monolingual English
users (4% UK born; 9% born outside the UK).
• The group of young people who use a main language other than English
also has the highest proportion of those with no qualifications (14%
UK born; 12% born outside the UK). At the same time there is a high
proportion of young people who use EAL (64% UK born; 59% born
outside the UK) or are bilingual (67% UK born; 68% born outside the
UK) who achieved a first degree or higher at the age of 25. However,
young people who use EAL were less likely to have their degree awarded
by a Russell Group university (14% UK born; 21% born outside the UK)
compared to their bilingual (28% UK born; 32% born outside the UK) and
monolingual English user peers (27% UK born; 25% born outside the UK).
• The group of young people who use EAL have the highest proportion
of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) at
the age of 25. Young people using EAL had higher rates of being in
education (8% UK born; 10% born outside the UK) and at the same
time being unemployed or reporting economic inactivity (21% UK born
and 23% born elsewhere) compared to 5% of young people overall
mentioning education as their main activity and 15% of young people
being in NEET category at the age of 25. Also, young people who use
EAL not only were more likely to be unemployed but also were slightly
more likely to be looking after their home or family, compared to young
people with English only, or those who reported being bilingual.
• The occupations of young people using EAL at age 25 are comparable
to those of the monolingual English group that were born in the UK.
Bilingual young people, particularly those who are born outside the UK,
have the highest occupational status on average; they are more likely to
be in higher managerial or professional occupations at the age of 25.

1. up to 25 for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities

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• The analysis demonstrates the importance of parents and their social and
economic capitals, in the form of parental qualifications, occupations and
involvement in education. Firstly, the data show that many young people, but
particularly those using EAL, rely a lot on their parents for advice and role
models for choosing their future educational and career pathways. Secondly,
the study demonstrates how a large proportion of the differences between the
post 16 outcomes of young people with different EAL status is explained by the
qualifications, occupations and their parents’ involvement in education.
• Contrary to some previous research (e.g. Manzoni & Rolfe, 2019; Evans el al, 2020)
data from Next Steps suggest that parents from families using EAL feel that they
are overall engaged in the education of their children and have good relationships
with schools and teachers. This could be explained by the data coming from a
different cohort of parents and also linked to the discrepancy between subjective
views of parents and school concept of parental engagement (Schneider & Arnot,
2018) as well as the methodological approaches that different studies used.
• A higher proportion of those parents with another main/first language, both UK
born and those born outside the UK, report that they feel their knowledge is not
sufficient to help with their children’s education. Around two-thirds (percentage)
of all parents of Year 9 of pupils in the Next Steps survey felt they knew all they
need to know about how they can help with their child’s education at the same
time. However, 14% of parents who use EAL strongly disagreed. This identifies
a significant gap in the knowledge of a subgroup of parents who use EAL
that could be related both to their level of English language, but also to their
knowledge of the English education system.
• The pathways most young people in the Next Steps data take are very much
reflective of the aspirations they and their families have. Young people and their
parents from families using EAL and those reporting being bilingual included
in the Next Steps cohort are much more likely to aspire for the traditional
academic pathway than families and young people who are monolingual English
users. Young people who use EAL or are bilingual plan to stay in education for
longer and to continue to higher education. Based on the responses about their
aspirations, English monolingual young people and their parents are more likely
to consider learning a trade as early as age 13/14, getting a place on a vocational
training course or starting an apprenticeship after Year 11.
• Around 60% of young people using EAL or their peers who are bilingual planned
to start working full time if they thought of leaving full-time education at age
16 compared to one third of their peers who are monolingual English users.
Whereas slightly more than half (percentage) of English monolingual young
people planned to start learning a trade or join a work-based training programme
compared to one fifth (20%) of those young people who use EAL or report being
bilingual.
• A relatively high proportion of young people using EAL are likely to follow a
vocational, rather than a more traditional academic, education path and continue
their post 16 education in Further Education (FE) and Sixth Form Colleges rather
than schools, compared to their English monolingual and bilingual peers. Thus,
at age 16 around one third of young people who are bilingual and those who
reported English as their only language were in maintained schools compared to
one fifth of young people who use EAL. Almost half of young people (47%) who
use EAL and who were born outside the UK study in FE colleges compared to
around one third of their peers who are bilingual or monolingual English users.
• Very few young people using EAL are in apprenticeships between the age of 16
and 25.

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Main conclusions
This study demonstrates that many young people who use EAL are successful
in their education and employment pathways between the age of 16 and 25.
Although, young people who use EAL stay in education for longer, many being
in continuous education up to age 19, there is a subgroup who struggle to
achieve high and/or appropriate qualifications (18% with qualifications below
NVQ Level 3) or any qualifications (around 10%) by age 25, and cannot continue
into higher education, but also do not have appropriate skills and/or work
experience to successfully follow a vocational pathway and find employment.
Compared to a traditional academic trajectory, a vocational pathway that requires
navigating work-based training, FE sector, apprenticeships and/or labour market
opportunities is potentially a much more complex process, requiring more
knowledge about the system and qualifications. As this study shows, young
people using EAL and their families are more likely to opt for a familiar and more
established academic pathway. However, while the academic route is appropriate
for some, for others, they may have not been able to access the information on
other education and training routes, which may have been of benefit to them.
As the study findings suggest, growing up in families speaking EAL and who
do not have sufficient or any knowledge of the English educational system and
labour market, combined with lower achievement as a result of a lack of language
support, can present challenges for young people’s choices, pathways and post
16 outcomes, even though educational commitment is very much there. Given
that ever-more complex forms of education and routes into the labour market are
likely to define employability in the future, not only the social context in which
a family’s social capital is acquired becomes increasingly important, but also
the coherent system of support, advice and guidance engaging with the young
people who use EAL and their families and ensuring that the information that
they need is clear and accessible is essential. While the proposed legislation in the
Skills and Post-16 Education Bill (Department for Education, 2021) would ensure
that all school children, from years 8 to 13, have at least two opportunities to meet
with further education colleges and training providers, these opportunities and
information provided must also be inclusive to young people who use EAL.
To conclude, there are several key points arising from this study that add to
already existing knowledge. The study demonstrates that the educational success
of a group of young people identified as using EAL on average is detracting
attention from a subgroup of young people using EAL who struggle and need
support. These young people are more likely to have another language as their
main language, rather than defining themselves as bilingual, and they are likely
to have arrived late into the English speaking education system, possibly as
refugees, and have lower proficiency in English. There are challenges for them
to follow a traditional academic pathway, but equally there are barriers for them
in choosing an appropriate vocational pathway and gaining work experience.
Their families may not be sufficiently fluent in English to be able to support their
children English learning and, more importantly, do not often understand the
British education system and labour market, especially the post-16 vocational
training options and their links to employment.
Finally, the findings suggest that the value of education is related to the level
and type of education achieved, and its relevance for young people’s lives,
development and employment, as well as current labour market opportunities.
This study shows how young people using EAL are more likely to stay in full-time
education for longer, but at age 25, when it is time to move on and into the labour
market, there is a relatively large group that struggles as their education (and
their parents’ social capital and knowledge of the UK system) does not provide a

7
sufficient basis for successful employment. In this context, advice and guidance
given to young people and their families is central. Finally, not only effective
advice and guidance services, but also investing in work with parents who use
EAL becomes ever more vital as the means of bridging the gap.

Recommendations
Advice and Guidance
• Department for Education needs to take a lead in ensuring the provision of
comprehensive and personal information, advice and guidance for young
people (16-25 years) who use EAL. This should include targeted careers support
for Post-16 institutions to help them signposting young people to appropriate
programmes of study, including apprenticeships. Department for Education
must ensure that future legislation around information, advice and guidance,
as proposed in the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, are inclusive for pupils
with EAL.
• The Department for Education should, as part of the level 3 and below
qualification review, consider differences in content and focus of ESOL and
Functional Skills (FS) qualifications, and how all these qualifications can serve
as steppingstones for a range of young people to enter the labour market. The
ESOL part of these qualifications needs to recognise and support transitions for
young people who use EAL. The reviewed qualifications have to be integrated
with information, advice and guidance on further and higher education,
technical and academic education and training, and employment options to
ensure young people who use EAL are empowered to make decisions on their
future education and employment beyond compulsory education.
• The information, advice and guidance (IAG) for young people speaking EAL
aged 16-25 years needs to identify a more diverse range of future education
and training pathways that will provide a route to employment. Here a
particular focus needs to be on explaining various vocational qualifications,
their levels, and routes to employment, including apprenticeships.
• There is a need for an online comprehensive guide translated into several
languages that explains post 16 sector qualifications, type of providers, funding
and various pathways in and out of further education and training for young
people who use EAL and their families who are not familiar with the UK system.
A similar guide is necessary for Higher Education sector.
• The Government needs to evaluate various existing support mechanisms to
harness existing good practice and ensure effective coordinated support for
young people who use EAL and their families. Where the Government is setting
up various hubs (e.g. integration hubs for refugee resettlement and Youth Hubs
for young people), it needs to consider embedding support and advice and
guidance for young people who use EAL in these.
• Schools need to be included in the information networks and be provided with
training and resources to work with parents who use EAL during the early
years of secondary education to ensure parents receive appropriate advice and
guidance regarding various post 16 education and training options to enable
them to support their children most knowledgeably and effectively.

2. .Over 110 new Youth Hubs offer job help - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

8
Data
• There is a need for a cross-government national English Language Strategy to
coordinate all the different Government policies and funding streams, which
provides an overarching vision for the future of the ESOL landscape on a
national scale to local and combined authorities. The strategy needs to take
account of the education and training needs of young people aged 16-25 years
and be underpinned by an understanding of young people’s lives, including how
they develop English language skills, their post 16 pathways, and the support
they and their families need.
• The Government needs to introduce a mechanism for ensuring that an EAL
identifier is collected for students on the NPD beyond compulsory education
and that marker is transferred across to ILR and HESA datasets, where
appropriate, for the purposes of recording the education and employment
outcomes of young people who speak languages other than English. Some
form of an EAL identifier is necessary for post-compulsory education and
training essential to provide opportunities for monitoring outcomes and further
research.
• Department for Education, in line with the devolved nations, and other
countries, should introduce a statutory requirement for post 16-education and
training providers in England to assess and record level of proficiency in English
for young people who use EAL. Collecting standardised data on EAL identifier
combined with English language assessment would be better positioned to
enable Government, FE, training and ESOL providers to plan vocational and
ESOL provision and support for young people aged 16-25 years who may need
support with their English language or some specific advice and guidance.
• As there are a range of practices that already exist in post 16 sectors regarding
English language assessment as a part of initial assessment and individualised
learner plans (ILP), there is a need for research and development that would
allow for exploration of existing best practices and creation of a standardised
way of recording the results of the English language assessment in the ILR
dataset.

Research
• There is a need for recognition of bilingualism and its advantages, but also for
commissioning some further research into intersectional factors, particularly
parental support and practices that may explain the link between multiple
languages in families and their impact on educational and labour market
outcomes of young people.
• The Department for Education should test and conduct a robust evaluation of
ESOL embedded with vocational options, particularly apprenticeships, that are
available for young people using EAL and how they may work for effective and
successful transitions to the labour market. This information is a prerequisite for
the development of effective advice and guidance services.
• More research is necessary on the support mechanisms for post 16 transitions and
pathways for young people speaking EAL who do not have their families and/or
other established broader social links in the UK considering the essential role parental
involvement and support plays in the successful post 16 outcomes.