Report suggests scrapping EAL ability data collection was a mistake

English ability can directly influence the academic achievement of students' with English as an Additional Language (EAL), according to new Oxford University research. Published this morning, the report: 'English as an Additional Language, proficiency in English and pupils' educational achievement: An analysis of Local Authority data' was conducted by the University of Oxford in partnership with the Bell Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy, and focused on better understanding the experiences of students in the UK with English as an Additional Language (EAL), and to what degree ability (proficiency) shaped them. The findings support the growing argument that the decision taken by the Department for Education (DfE) in June of this year, to scrap compulsory EAL proficiency data collection in schools, was a mistake. In recent months EAL professionals have put increasing pressure on government Ministers to reinstate the short-lived rule and today's report has only strengthened their case. The report assessed January 2017 School Census data from more than 140,000 pupils from 1,569 schools in six Local Authorities. Although this was the first year that the School Census included the requirement for schools to assess the proficiency in English of their EAL learners, the information was not made available in the National Pupil Database (NPD). Professor Steve Strand, one of the report authors and Professor of Education at the Oxford University Department of Education, said: 'The Department for Education has since announced that it no longer requires schools to assess a child's proficiency in English for the purpose of transmitting it to the department via the School Census.