PDA In ESOL Tutoring

Practitioner Survey

Jennifer MacDougall

ESOL Development Officer

jennifer.macdougall@sqa.org.uk

http://www.sqa.org/pdaesol

Sectors-managers

• Highest sector -community based

• 2nd highest FE sector

• Others mainly schools

• One respondent from independent sector

Community-basedEducationFurtherEducation

FE comm-basedEd

Voluntary

Other

Profile of Managers

• Senior lecturers

• Adult literacy managers

• ESOL coordinators

• Community learning and development managers

• Curriculum leaders

• Principal teacher learning support

• Project coordinator

• Adult Basic Education Coordinator

• Acting Depute Head

• Director of Studies

• 56% of managers were not ESOL specialists (held no ESOL qualifications)

• 4 respondents held a Masters level qualification

• 11 held a Diploma (Cambridge/Trinity) level qualification

• 7 held CELTA level qualifications• 4 had Intro level certificates• 2 held EAL qualifications

– E.g RSA Diploma teaching English across the curriculum in multilingual schools

Tutors’ Profile• Female (88%)• Aged between 40 and 60 (79%)• Almost all have knowledge of a

second language• Most speak 2 other languages

(65%)• Most act as main tutor with

ESOL learners

Community

38%learnerw/

place5%

FE College

29%

Other17%

learner's home11%

Other venues:

School

At home

Prison

university

Other venues:

School

At home

Prison

university

Highland 24 Moray 4

Aberdeenshire 17 Angus 6

Perth and Kinross 10 Dundee 7

Stirling 4 Clackmannanshire 3

Fife 10 Falkirk 7

Edinburgh 49 East Lothian 2

West Lothian 3 Argyle and Bute 2

Glasgow 42 East Renfrewshire 3

Renfrewshire 6 West Dunbartonshire 3

East Dunbartonshire 1 Inverclyde 3

East Ayrshire 6 South Ayrshire 3

North Lanarkshire 9 South Lanarkshire 10

Borders 7 Dumfries and Galloway 23

Total 264

Location of Tutors responding

Qualifications of Paid Tutors (1)

• Most tutors hold CELTA or Equivalent• Some tutors have Diploma level qual but this is not the norm• Most Diploma level tutors work in FE colleges• 3% of organisations had no tutors with ESOL quals• 3% of organisations unsure if any tutors had ESOL quals

• 56% of organisations stated they had tutors with non ESOL quals– PGCE– TQFE

However a number of organisations cited PDA:ITALL as the qualification (6 respondents)

Qualifications/training of Tutors (2)• Majority of tutors educated to degree level• 85% of tutors have Higher English• 62% have an ESOL qualification (CELTA/equivalent in main)• 38% have no ESOL qualification• 42% hold non-ESOL teaching qualification (however not all were valid as

TQ).• 70 respondents cited non-accredited training given

– Stevenson College Home Tutor Training Course– Intro to Working with ESOL Learners– EAL training sessions– LC/sound Scotland - Using Sound in ESOL– SQA Launch Training days– Weekend TEFL (i to i)– Course run by WEA– Fast Track training (GESOLF?)

Qualifications in FE•99 respondents in FE

05

101520253035404550

All (99) FTP (31) PTP (22)

TQ+ESOLTQESOLNone

Volunteer TutorsIs there a minimum academic level for volunteer tutors?

• From Manager Survey• 30 respondents.

– Yes (33.3%) No (66.6%)- only one respondent mentioned CELTA- Most mentioned PDA:ITALL - One cited Higher English- GESOLF Volunteers course

Volunteer Tutors

• 55 responses (20.6%)• Most worked fewer than 10

hours, majority 0-5• Most had Higher English (88%)• Almost 70% main tutor (or

both)• Most tutoring 1-1

Qualifications of volunteers

ESOL TQ (√)

Non-ESOL TQ (√)

7 (1 nv)

ESOL TQ (√)

Non-ESOL TQ (x)

13 ( 2 nv)

ESOL TQ (x)

Non-ESOL TQ (√)

5 ( 1 nv)

ESOL TQ (x)

Non-ESOL TQ (x)

26

Is there a need for a PDA in ESOL Tutoring?

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%

40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

Yes No Don'tknow

ManagersTutors

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

FTP(81) FTT(19) Sess(41)

Yes No Don't know

Is there a need for qualification?

Positive comments• Necessary particularly for volunteers who may not be linguists (T)• There is an increase in the number of ESL pupils in schools. We need more

professionals to teach first stage and Advanced learners and their families. It will also help to raise the profile of ESOL as a subject in its own right (T)

• Would help to convince employers that a degree in English, a general arts degree or merely someone who thinks their English is “good”/”educated” aren’t enough(T)

• It would offer tutors like me a chance to develop our skills and perhaps be a gateway to further qualifications (T)

• It would be a much needed introduction which other courses or experience in EFL don’t prepare you for (T)

• I have worked with volunteers and without exception all have asked for training. Also, students would benefit from more confident, trained tutors

• Appears to be a logical step to sit alongside other PDAs (M)• This could well be necessary if the number of non-English speakers in

school increases (M)

Negative Comments on Development• I think it would be quite wrong to preclude people from

volunteering if a formal qualification was a requirement to become an ESOL volunteer. At present providing volunteers are used only to support class tutors/on a 1-1 basis the training currently given be GESOLF is sufficient (M)

• There are already enough properly qualified ESOL tutors/lecturers available in the profession in Scotland. I think that it represents a dilution of the profession (T)

Negative comments

• I don’t see why every activity these days has to be certificated and assessed to within an inch of its life. What is the PDA for? How is it to be used? The profile of this type of volunteer (and I use the word advisedly ) is quite different from that of someone who works in an Oxfam shop one day a week. The training currently offered (e.g. a 24 hour course with the Glasgow ESOL Forum) distinguishes our volunteer from this person. Most of these volunteers genuinely want to give something back to the community and don't seek remuneration, but do welcome the training ( so it’s the process, not the end product that counts. I would be very opposed to this PDA if there was the slightest chance that it was seen as a way for someone to gain paid work without doing the full training, or for a charity or institution to get access to an ESOL teacher without a full CELTA/Trinity Cert (T)

Unsure/not clear• I’m not sure how it differs from CELTA (M)• Before commenting on this, I would like more information

around the currency of the qualification and whether it will become a necessary qualification for EESOl tutoring staff.(M)

• How would a PDA fit with those who are already CELTA or TESOL qualified? Who is it aimed at? (M)

• Difficult to know if existing demand will lead to uptake of course (T)

• Unclear what it would deliver, who would pay for attendance, how it would be delivered and by whom (T)

• Not sure if required. If instead of EFL qualification, then no, I don’t see why can’t do CELTA (T)

• Depends how intensive it would be, and if it were something extra to the Trinity/CELTA or something preliminary (T)

• I’m not sure how far the PDA goes (T)

Would you undertake course?

0

5

10

15

20

25

Yes No Unsure

^ 30 (6)30-39 (12)40-49 (24)50-59 (38)60+ (14)

Potential uptake volunteers

YesNoDon't know

Potential uptake community

yesNoDon't know

Important Components of PDAManager:Teaching methods and techniques 80.9%How English works 77.9%Phonology 57.4%Choosing and adapting materials 57.4%Observation of exp. teachers 57.4%Working with low level learners 55.9%Lesson planning 51.5%ESOL literacy and numeracy 51.5%Observed teaching practice 50%Initial assessment/needs analysis 50%

Tutor:Teaching methods and techniques 82.2%How English works 71% Choosing and adapting materials 66.8%Observation of exp. teachers 66.4%Lesson planning 64%Initial assessment/needs analysis 52.3%Working with low level learners 52.3%ESOL literacy and numeracy 51.9%Phonology 50.9%Observed teaching practice 48.8%

Further Qualifications?

• 36% of tutors are interested in following course leading to PDA• High demand for CELTA equivalent (Scottish)• Post-CELTA qualification (between CELTA/DELTA)• Desire for qualification to help school teachers• Some respondents believe CELTA/DELTA best pathway-no need to invent

wheel• Advanced Diploma• TQFE/Qualified Teacher status• Assessor/Teacher Trainer Training• Clear progression for careers in TESOL in Scotland

– To include Scottish Context– Additional units/PDA at Cert and Dip level– Qualification to replace Cert/Dip/TQFE

Observations from survey

• Celta/Cert TESOL considered benchmark for ESOL tutoring

• Celta = TEFL initiated / not qualified

• Lack of knowledge over CELTA/Cert TESOL

• Some orgs willing to use volunteers-in all sectors/mainly as support

• School sector - emphasis on delivering SQA ESOL units as training focus

• Need for qualifications for all sectors including mainstream schools

• Lack of permanent posts

• Confusion over qualifications

• A number of respondents in community sector (esp managers did not

choose language awareness as a necessary component of course)

• Problems with training re: cost, time, remission

Final Comments• The sooner, the better• It would have to be of a very high standard to be as internationally recognised as

other qualifications • No international validity, half trained tutors/lecturers competing for jobs• Long overdue!• A good idea to develop tutors qualifications and enable them to gain new skills.• I think this is a much needed and welcomed initiative• Needs to be offered distance learning• This could be useful for CPD-could this count toward Chartered Teacher Status?• Very positive development but a no. of issues that require consideration if it is

going to be on offer to school staff• Keep the SQA out of this. Please seek some other way for such a training course

to be endorsed• The proposed qualification should be merely a prerequisite to start teaching

ESOL. Continued employment dependant on obtaining CELTA+DELTA

And…

• I think the work you are doing is wonderful. I hope very much it is a complete success. At last someone is taking the responsibility in putting some sort of qualification together