ACCESS to free English language classes in Britain will be severely limited from next year. It brings to an end a five-year period during which the provision of English language teaching "for all" has been a foundation of the government's social inclusion policy.
This sea change in the way English training for migrants and asylum seekers is paid for was recently announced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the UK government agency that allocates education funding.
English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), as the ELT provision is called, "will no longer attract automatic fee remission," the LSC stated in its Annual Statement of Priorities. From next year only the unemployed and people receiving income-based benefits will have their fees waived.
While the LSC's announcement has stunned the asylum support community, there is less surprise among migrants. Large numbers of migrants have moved to Britain in recent years. Their take-up of free classes has put the ESOL sector under severe pressure. A consensus has been building that migrant workers with the means ought to pay, and this has been endorsed by the LSC.
Some ESOL students have already made the switch to private courses. After a year of studying at a college in east London, Lilka, who gave only her first name, decided to enrol at the Callan School in central London, where 262 Polish students have signed up in the past two years.
Sylwia, who didn't give her surname, is a graduate of Warsaw University, Poland. In spite of her professional qualifications, she lacks the language skills that would enable her to get work in her field. "I started by paying for English as a foreign language courses, but moved to ESOL because it was free. If it turns out that I also have to pay for ESOL, I will probably start a course that gives me a more valuable diploma an IELTS or Cambridge course."
Some students, however, are willing to stay at the college in spite of the burden of fees. "I am not surprised that I have to pay to study English," said Pawel Boruszka. "My own country, Poland, couldn't organize free English courses so why should Britain do it? I work, so I can afford to save and pay for the course. The only downside is that I will have to keep working as a decorator for a Polish company, since this is the only job I can find until my English is good enough to take up a job in accounting, which is my profession."
