Rationale

During a nine-month period prior to the pandemic, it was found that 40% of learners allocated to ESOL classes at HMP Maidstone were either transferred or withdrawn. Although mostly transferred to a different level of ESOL or to FS English, this nevertheless represents an inefficiency in lost or misdirected classroom time.

As a result, HMP Maidstone joined the OTLA 7 project for the academic year 2020-2021 with the aim of developing an Initial Assessment (IA) specifically for ESOL learners. This ESOL IA would run during Education inductions, which are held in the Virtual Campus (a facility with a suite of computers for accessing assessments and short-course learning modules). Learners identified as FS English would take the BKSB English Initial Assessment as normal but those identified as ESOL would take the newly developed assessment.

The ESOL Initial Assessment (see Appendix 2) has three elements:

1. A verbal pre-screen: This comprises five questions graduated in difficulty, easiest first. The idea is to quickly and effectively ascertain whether a learner is pre-Entry ESOL, Entry-level ESOL or FS English. If a learner is pre-Entry ESOL, there is no need to go further as this learner will not be able to produce meaningful work at the next stage.
2. A writing activity: There are two options here – a lower level and a higher level. Based on the verbal pre-screen, Entry-level ESOL learners try either writing activity. This allows the learners’ level to be accurately determined for the purposes of allocation to class.
3. A reading activity: There are four reading activities, each at a different level – pre-Entry, Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. These can be used to further differentiate if the writing result for a particular learner is ambiguous. The reading can also be useful for potential maths learners because the mathematics classes require a certain level of literacy in English for understanding the examination questions.

The purpose of this approach was to investigate whether giving ESOL learners an initial assessment designed specifically for them would improve the accuracy of their assessed level and therefore provide more accurate information to the prison’s Activities department (the group responsible for allocating prisoners to work and education). The procedural aim here is to minimise inefficiencies in and disruption to prisoners’ education while in custody.

Approach

The ESOL Initial Assessment is designed to be run in a face-to-face induction context. The Oral Pre-Screen is a filter to categorise the language needs of learners to direct them to the correct Initial Assessment. (see Appendix 2). With the increased prevalence of Covid and

Pre-screen questions

the reintroduction of lockdown, the team at HMP Maidstone established a partnership, with a digital media provider. Using a large part of our project budget, this external partner was engaged to create ‘How to Complete ESOL Initial Assessment’ videos in February, when we were unable to see learners face-to-face. From the beginning of March 2021, this digital content was made available on a dedicated prison TV channel which is played on the sets in prisoners’ cells.

As a result, we were able to send Writing assessments to all new receptions and help to overcome the limitations prevailing at the time. Subsequently, a reasonable number of samples have been obtained. It is clear that there is a considerable number of both ESOL and Functional Skills English learners in the establishment, indicating that the ESOL IA may be useful. At this stage, and with the restrictive circumstances, one particular imperative was to establish the nature of the link between the result obtained on the ESOL IA Writing and the work produced in the activity packs that currently form the backbone of our provision.

Professional Learning: Evidence of changes in teaching, learning and assessment practices

ESOL teachers at HMP Maidstone attended a series of online training sessions with CC Consultancy via the ETF. These sessions developed the reflective process where a team came together to step back from practice, assess an issue, and determine what might work better for our learners, in reference to the ETF’s Professional Standards. The sessions informed the project’s design of the ESOL Initial

Minimum reading initial assessment marks

Assessment materials by helping to sharpen the focus on intended outcomes of the assessment.

Through the digital media content and the decision to send out the ESOL Initial Assessment Writing to all new receptions, the team was able to monitor the accuracy of the assessment results by cross-referencing learners’ performance with their subsequent work on their ESOL packs (where enrolled). As there has been found to be a tight match between assessment level and pack level, ESOL learners’ progress has been facilitated by the assessment.

The ESOL Initial Assessment (see Appendix 2) has proven effective for Functional Skills English learners. The Writing assessment allows these learners to produce language samples that can be accurately assessed. This offers an alternative assessment for learners not suited to the BKSB English Assessment. Further, there has been an historic issue with pre-Entry ESOL learners being conflated with illiterate learners. This does not reflect the reality: ESOL learners are literate in their first language but may not be in English; illiterate learners cannot read or write in any language. The ESOL Initial Assessment identified such learners at the earliest opportunity, opening the door for greater partnership working with the Shannon Trust, the organisation that oversees the ‘Turning Pages’ literacy programme for native speakers in prisons.

Evidence of improved collaboration and changes in organisation practices

In this section, there are three levels to consider: local, regional and national. At the local level, there has been collaboration between the project team, an external digital media provider, the prison governor and the LSM (Learning & Skills Manager). In addition, further collaboration with prison partners was required to ensure the digital context was available on the prison’s Media Channel.

At the regional level, other establishments have a high proportion of ESOL learners, such as HMP Elmley. In the near future, the ESOL Initial Assessment could be expanded to these establishments. The Ministry of Justice’s Regional Education Management Team have taken a keen interest in the project and recognise its potential wider significance. At Weston College, the Lot (Regional) Director is also the project Lead. The involvement of these teams in the project connects it to a regional network of practitioners and stakeholders.

Nationally, the CPD training sessions relating to OTLA 7 projects have involved collaboration and discussion with practitioners across the country, including FE Colleges and the voluntary sector. The Initial Assessment designed at HMP Maidstone has national significance: if rolled out across the country in all prisons, the assessment resulting from this project may transform the access of ESOL learners to the high-quality, meaningful education provision in secure settings.

Evidence of improvement in learners’ achievements, retention and progression

Of the 100 learners who have completed an ESOL Initial Assessment Writing task, 53 have been returned after the Media Channel video was introduced. This is in a period of two months, as compared to 47 returned in three-and-a-half months prior to that. This suggests that the video has helped to engage ESOL learners.

All three case studies detailed in the appendices 3/4/and 5 show that the ESOL Initial Assessment Writing elicits work from learners that accurately matches their true abilities. The case studies feature learners at different levels, and so we can conclude that not only is the Writing effective, but also that the Oral Pre-Screen is effective in determining whether a learner is pre-Entry. HK’s lack of productive vocabulary and challenges in reading basic sentences and pronouncing letter sounds are characteristic of a pre-Entry learner. However, during support sessions, HK has shown clear progress in retaining some basic vocabulary such as ‘chair’ and ‘table’. Also, his ability to form his own sentences based on examples from reading texts has improved. (see Appendix 3)

In the case of FP, this learner was correctly identified as being at the lower end of Entry 3 via the ESOL Writing Assessment (see Appendix 3). He then progressed through the entire suite of Entry 3 learning packs which were created by College teaching staff for the purposes of remote learning during pandemic restrictions. For example, in earlier packs, he struggled to use past simple verbs accurately. However, his accuracy in using past simple regular and irregular verbs improved markedly across the packs. By the end of the course, he was differentiating correctly between when to use past simple and past continuous.

Learner PP, at Entry 2, lies between HK and FP in current language ability. He was accurately assessed at Entry 2 and his work on the early Entry 2 packs confirm his level. As he has only completed two packs so far, it is difficult to say whether or not he has made progress. However, the other two case studies demonstrate that allocating a learner to the right level facilitates rapid progress, even in the absence of face-to-face teaching. (see Appendix 4)