Children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) are defined as those who speak another language at home other than English. This includes children who are British citizens who speak another language at home, as well as refugees and migrants. Consequently, there is significant variation in attainment outcomes within the EAL group, reflecting factors like English language proficiency, earlier life experiences and arrival time to the English school system.[1]
Of particular concern are children who arrive late to the English state school system who our previous research has shown have much lower attainment than their peers. We therefore focus on late-arriving pupils with EAL for assessing attainment gaps at the end of primary and secondary school, though we cannot identify this subgroup of EAL students in reception year or in the 16-19 phase.
Consistent with recent EPI annual reports, for key stages 2 and 4 we also produce an adjusted version of the gap that takes into account the significant changes in the ethnic make-up of the late-arriving EAL group since 2019 (see boxout below). This provides additional insights on trends in underlying attainment gaps for this vulnerable group.
Compositional changes in the late-arriving EAL group
Prior to 2019 the ethnicity composition of the late-arriving EAL group at both primary and secondary varied little from year to year. However, there have been two significant changes since 2019.
Firstly, the proportion of this group identified as Chinese increased from 1 per cent in 2021, to 7 per cent by 2024 for pupils at the end of secondary school, and from 1 per cent in 2019, to 10 per cent by 2024 for pupils at the end of primary school. This increase is likely to be associated with the resettlement of families from Hong Kong as part of the Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) Welcome Programme, as well as through higher levels of immigration from China.
Secondly, the proportion of late arriving EAL students identified as Any other White background fell from 37 per cent in 2019, to 25 per cent by 2024 for pupils at the end of secondary school, and from 35 per cent in 2019, to 19 per cent in 2023 for pupils at the end of primary school. This is likely to be associated with the end of the EU transition period and the introduction of the new immigration system in 2019, leading to a fall in immigration from EU countries.
In 2024, Chinese late-arriving EAL pupils were almost over three years ahead of Any other White background late-arriving EAL pupils at the end of secondary school, meaning that the composition of the late-arriving EAL group has shifted towards a much higher attaining group.
To get a sense of how important these shifts have been in the trend of the EAL gap between 2019-2024, we present an adjusted gap that assumes the ethnic composition remains as in 2019. This means that any remaining gap-narrowing that is visible reflects only within-group gap-narrowing (i.e. improved attainment for a given ethnic group), as opposed to any compositional shifts.
Early years foundation stage
Just over one-fifth (21.3 per cent) of pupils in reception were recorded as having English as an additional language (EAL) in 2024. These pupils were 1.6 months behind their peers with English as a first language – a smaller gap than in 2023 (at 1.8 months) and the lowest gap since the start of our series in 2013 when it was almost twice as large (3.1 months).
Figure EA1: Pupils with EAL at age five were 1.6 months behind their peers in 2024, down from over 3 months in 2013
