A pilot scheme to improve the attainment of primary school pupils whose mother tongue is not English has seen their English results improve, but failed to make an impact on other subjects.
The pilot, carried out in 21 local authorities, aimed to increase "the confidence and expertise of mainstream primary teachers in meeting the needs of advanced bilingual learners". It was also designed to close the attainment gap between bilingual pupils and those with English as their first language.
Each authority appointed an English as an additional language consultant and primary schools were given materials on teaching bilingual children. The National Foundation for Educational Research assessed the pilot's impact. They found pupils made more progress in English than those in schools not taking part. But researchers found no significant differences in pupils' progress in maths and science.
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