In this post, I will provide an example of the information we share with applicants for our EAL roles. I’ll start with the example, then I’ll outline:

• Why I decided to share this information as a department
• How and when this is shared
• The impact I believe that sharing this information has on the recruitment process.

So, here it goes…

This is a copy-paste of the information we shared with candidates for role LAST year. You can find most of this info dotted around my blog anyway. Skip to the end of this post for my rationale:

EAL Support Teacher: Information for candidates

Thank you for your interest in joining our department. Further to the information in our job description, we would like to provide you with some further context about High School EAL at St. Joseph’s. 

Our department

The High School EAL Department was formally established at the start of the 2023/24 academic year. Quality support for EAL learners has always been provided at our school, typically by the English department. However, increased enrolment of learners with emerging and developing English proficiency in recent years has resulted in the need to expand our EAL provision. 

Our department has four full-time members of staff: a Head of EAL, EAL Teacher, and two EAL Support Teachers. There are approximately XXX learners on our High school EAL register across Years 7-11, with a majority of those learners in Key Stage 3.

The structure of our provision

We use a hybrid model of EAL support, providing in-class support during mainstream classes along with some pull-out provision. 

Our KS3 EAL learners attend English support sessions in place of mainstream English. They attend six lessons per week and follow a bespoke curriculum. Our EAL curriculum aligns with themes across the mainstream curriculum, including from KS3 English, at the appropriate grade level. 

During English support lessons, our learners also review subject-specific content and vocabulary. We prioritize reviewing content from core subjects such as Science and Humanities, although we include reviews for other subject content where possible. English support sessions are delivered by EAL Teachers (including the Head of EAL).

In addition to English support sessions, we provide in-class EAL support for learners during mainstream curriculum lessons. In-class support is mostly provided by our EAL Support Teachers. Support Teachers help to build their own timetable for in-class support based on learner needs analysis. This timetable is flexible, responding to the emergent needs of our EAL cohort. 

Occasionally, learners will have additional study skills sessions once a week. These sessions are overseen by the EAL Support Teachers.   

Assessment for EAL

The EAL Department uses the Bell Assessment Framework for ongoing assessment. You can find out more about this framework for Secondary EAL provision here.

Assessment based on CEFR levels is used during the admissions process and occasionally for periodic assessment. The EAL department creates their own assessments in order for these to better suit our context.

Teaching and learning foci for our department

There are 9 key teaching and learning foci for the EAL Department. These areas of focus guide our practice. They are:

Members of the EAL Department share the goal of enacting these areas of focus in our day-to-day provision.

Planning for progression

Our EAL Department is currently in the middle of a two-year development cycle. Our current department targets are the following:

Our targets:

Clear progression along the EAL journey

1. Become more involved in the initial assessment of EAL arrivals at admissions stage
2. Clearer induction processes for new joiners
3. Clear data keeping for EAL learners
4. Clear exit EAL procedures
5. Support with transition to mainstream English 

Embedding clear assessment processes for EAL within the High School. 

1. Embedding use of the Bell Assessment Framework by EAL specialists
2. An approach to common assessments that is sustainable and reusable
3. Creating clear end-of-term reporting procedures 

Embedding EAL support within the mainstream curriculum.

1. Getting EAL support staff into classes based on assessed needs
2. Regularly review learner needs and priorities, making changes to timetables as needed

Connecting subject depts with EAL teachers

1. Building effective channels of communication between EAL teacher and subject teachers which inform the EAL curriculum
2. Finding ways to share EAL support strategies with subject departments

Creating a sustainable model of provision for EAL at Years 7-9

1. Creating an in-house curriculum that is mostly reusable, while reacting and adapting to immediate needs
2. Connecting the curriculum to three core subject areas: (Mainstream) English, Science, Humanities. Unit planning taking a CLIL approach
3. Provision for an after-school programme for learners to meet baseline level B1

These targets align with the whole school goal of embedding quality EAL provision, as outlined in our School Development Plan. Members of the EAL department work together to help attain these targets. As part of the professional development cycle, department members identify actions to undertake which will contribute to one or more of these targets. 

We are making solid progress towards these targets during our first year. We hope to add further targets for the 2024/25 academic year. 

Why join SJII as an EAL Support Teacher?

It is a really exciting time to join our EAL Department. We are a department firmly committed to reflective practice, professional development, and putting learner needs first. You will have plenty of opportunities to contribute to the advancement of our new department and help us reach our targets. We are sure you will find this hugely rewarding.

END

Some background info…

Why did I decide to share this information?

So, a few years ago I was applying for tons of EAL jobs. St Joseph’s stood out to me for how transparent the leaders were about their current EAL provision. My interview was with the Head of School and Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning. They were super honest about where things were at with EAL support, and where they wanted it to be. They seemed engaged in my take on things, and asked focused questions regarding the exact type of provision and how I might develop this.

I felt that they modelled honesty and integrity well, and I think it set them apart. So, when I joined the school, I wanted to replicate that. Sure, I wanted us to recruit good candidates, but I didn’t want to pomp things up with all the smoke and mirrors that international school recruitment can do so well at times! I wanted to:

• share the facts
• make it clear that we had targets for our development, and we wanted collaborators!
• Make it clear that we were engaged in our teaching practice, and we wanted our candidates to be too!

So, the goal was honesty (and I feel the above info was honest), and engagement.

Hold up – so its not a standard thing for schools to share information like this with candidates?

Well, based on my experiences of job hunting a few years back, and again this year, no. Far from it, actually. And it really should be. I used to get lots of generic information, but I’d say what we share is much more focused than things I’ve received in the past.

How and when was our info shared?

We shared this after shortlisting, in preparation for the interview stage. In the invitation to interview, I shared this information and informed candidates that I would ask them what they thought of our T+L foci, and how they might contribute to our department targets. No excuse not to read the thing, really! Ha.

Were senior leaders happy with me sharing this information?

Yes. I ran this by the Head of School, explaining why I felt it was important to be clear on our provision and goals prior to interview. The Head of School welcomed it.

Why share information like this prior to interview? What was the impact?

This is obviously subjective, but…

• I felt the document was first and foremost a great ‘teller’ at interviews. It became quite easy to work out levels of engagement among candidates in both the practice of teaching EAL, and in contributing to the dept.
• It laid our cards on the table. From there, we could work out who is likely to be on board with building provision, rather than feeling like they’ll just consolidate what’s in place (both type of practitioners are valid at different stages of the dept development, for sure)
• The info was a springboard to more focused discussion with some candidates about methodology, approaches, brief debates even! Lovely.
• It made for better candidate questions. I mean, they’ve got a lot to ask about from that doc.

Can I say that this doc DEFINITELY contributed in some way to our solid recruitment last year? No! But I can tell you that the candidates we hired were *excellent*. I’ll ask them how they felt about receiving this info – update to follow!

So, TL;DR, providing focused info on your EAL provision to job candidates is useful (obvs), so that’s what we do!

Categories: General, reflections

Tags: eal, education, hiring, international school, learning, reading, recruitment, teachers, teaching