Liz Granirer writing in the latest EL Gazette looks at how important teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages will become increasingly important in Britain:
The double whammy of Brexit and the Covid pandemic has conspired to leave the United Kingdom with a shortage of workers in a number of areas. Everything from hospitality to healthcare is being affected by the lack of those able to take up the jobs.English key to tackling UK’s skills shortage | E L Gazette
The research is published by politics.co.uk:
Upgrade English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provisions to supercharge skills, says new report
A new report by the Lifelong Education Commission argues that enhancing English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the UK could be key to tackling national skills gaps and shortages. The research comes at a time when the country is facing acute skills crises in many sectors, which is constraining growth and productivity.
Fortunately, there is a ready source of skilled workers available: migrants already in the UK. In 2021, it is estimated that nearly 10 million people (16% of the UK population) were born overseas.
However, many migrants and asylum seekers are held back by their lack of English Language proficiency, especially in speaking and writing abilities that are essential for high-skilled jobs.
Andy Forbes, Head of Development at the Lifelong Education Commission who authored the report, outlines his solution to this problem: “In the face of an acute skills crisis in Britain, better provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages – ESOL – should be a key strategy for tackling skills gaps and shortages. In the UK, we have a growing pool of migrants, many of them skilled and experienced professionals, who are unable to access the labour market due to poor English proficiency. Greatly improving the delivery of ESOL is therefore the best way to tap this hidden reservoir of talent, and greatly improve economic productivity and growth in the process”
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