Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
The EAL (English as an Additional Language) in the Mainstream Classroom Programme has been designed specifically to help teachers of mainstream subjects in secondary schools. It aims to equip them with the expertise they need to help EAL pupils with their academic language skills in specific subject areas. The effectiveness of the programme is being tested in this study in the subject areas of Science and History. The study will also look at whether there are any positive effects on pupils in general, and whether there are any additional effects for those who have received the programme in both subjects rather than one.
Who can participate?
Study participants are Science and History pupils who are in Year 10 at the beginning of the study. They will take part in the study if the school and their subject teachers have agreed to take part, and their parents have consented to the use of their data.
What does the study involve?
Schools are randomly allocated to one of two groups: either the intervention group or the control group. The programme is delivered over the course of one school year, and one year after that, the pupils take their GCSE exams. The study will compare the GCSE results of the EAL pupils who received the programme with those who did not, to see if the programme has helped those that did receive the programme to achieve better results. Teachers are also being asked to complete surveys at the beginning, middle and end of the study to provide additional data about the effectiveness of programme delivery and the experience of the teachers.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
There are no anticipated risks associated with the intervention given that the programme has been trialed previously and shows evidence of promise. If the programme is effective, the primary outcome should be an improvement in GCSE results.
Where is the study run from?
The programme is recruiting schools in England. Eleven schools, geographically spread across the country, are acting as Programme Delivery Centres.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
January 2017 to March 2020
Who is funding the study?
Education Endowment Foundation (UK), Unbound Philanthropy and the Bell Foundation
Who is the main contact?
Dr Louise Tracey
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Dr Louise Tracey
ORCID ID
Contact details
Department of Education
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
+44 (0)1904 323000
louise.tracey@york.ac.uk
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Protocol/serial number
N/A
Study information
Scientific title
EAL in the Mainstream Classroom Evaluation
Acronym
Study hypothesis
The primary research question is:
1. How effective is the ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ programme in improving subject-specific academic attainment when delivered to Key Stage 4 EAL pupils taking GCSE Science?
The secondary research questions are:
1. How effective is the ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ programme in improving subject-specific academic attainment in a second GCSE subject (History)?
2. How effective is the ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ programme in improving Academic attainment in English (as measured by GCSE English Language) when delivered to Key Stage 4 EAL pupils?
3. What is the impact of ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ when pupils receive the approach from more than one teacher in more than one subject area (i.e. when pupils are taught by trained ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ teachers in both Science and History GCSE subjects)?
4. What is the impact of ‘EAL in the Mainstream Classroom’ on non-EAL pupils within the same classrooms?
Ethics approval
Approved 31/01/2017 by Department of Education Ethics Committee, c/o Research Administrator, Department of Education, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, Tel: +44 (0)1904 324476, Email: education-research-administrator@york.ac.uk, ref: 17/01
Study design
Two-armed school-level randomised efficacy trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Cluster randomised trial
Trial setting
Schools
Trial type
Other
Patient information sheet
Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request an information sheet
Condition
English as an Additional Language
Intervention
Year 10 Science and History classes allocated to intervention or control on a school basis. Randomisation was conducted at the school-level using minimisation. This was to ensure balance at baseline and permit ongoing allocation so schools could be informed which condition they were assigned to soon after recruitment. The covariate at baseline was region to ensure Delivery Hub capacity to deliver training and ensure comparability within each Delivery Hub region. Randomisation was conducted by the Evaluation team using MinimPy software (MinimPy, 2013).
Intervention teachers receive training in the EAL in the Mainstream Classroom programme with support to implement in their Year 10 Science and History classes. The training is delivered through Delivery Centres located in schools especially selected and trained by Challenge Partners for this purpose. These Delivery Centres provide approximately 3 days’ training and support in a group setting to mainstream classroom teachers within their local region in a cascade model to allow teachers’ to embed new practice with support. The training has a particular focus on academic language.
Control schools receive a financial incentive of £1,500 on completion of all data requirements (ie. after summer 2019) and pupils receive 'teaching as usual'.
Intervention type
Other
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
GCSE Science results for students in Year 10 in September 2017. These GCSEs will be taken at the end of Year 11 (ie. In Summer 2019). Pupils will take either Combined Science or three separate science subject GCSE (Triple Award) Science awards in Summer 2019. These are scored across the range from 1-9 (9 being the highest score). Two scores will be provided for Double Science and three for Triple Science assessments. For the analysis of all questions regarding the primary outcome, "Science GCSE", we will use the average of the scores provided, i.e. over two scores for those pupils taking Double Science and over three scores for those pupils taking Triple Science.
Secondary outcome measures
The secondary outcome measures are the GCSE results for students in Year 10 in September 2017. These GCSEs will be taken at the end of Year 11 (ie. In Summer 2019):
1. GCSE History Score for those pupils who took History GCSE. The test is scored from 9-1-9 (9 being the highest score)
2. The KS4 GCSE English Language Score for all pupils (this being a compulsory subject at the end of KS4). The test is scored from 9-1-9 (as above)
These two outcomes were chosen to assess the potential impact on a second intervention subject (i.e. GCSE History) and in another subject where the intervention was not delivered, but because of the focus on academic language would be expected to have an impact (GCSE English Language)
Overall trial start date
01/01/2017
Overall trial end date
31/03/2020
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
Recruited schools were required to:
1. Release at least 1 teacher in each of the two subject specialisms who would be teaching Year 10 GCSE classes containing at least 12 EAL pupils expected to enrol on a GCSE Science programme and, ideally 12 EAL pupils taking a GCSE History programme; and
2. Be located close to Delivery Centres.
3. Not be implementing the programme or intend to acquire the programme until after summer 2019 if allocated to the control condition.
4. Sign a Memorandum of Understanding, an Addendum (after the introduction GDPR regulations) and a Data Sharing Agreement with the University of York.
Year 10 pupils within Science and History GCSE classes taught be consenting teachers were eligible to participate.
Participant type
Other
Age group
Child
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
71 schools and 1,581 pupils for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL)
Total final enrolment
1581
Participant exclusion criteria
The trial excluded schools who could not provide the requisite number of Year 10 EAL pupils (14 Science and 8 History) taught by teachers who could attend the EAL in the Mainstream Classroom training programme if randomised to the Intervention Group.
Pupils who were not in the English education system at the end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) were considered ineligible. This is because KS2 SaTs results form the baseline data.
Recruitment start date
01/06/2017
Recruitment end date
01/11/2017
Locations
Countries of recruitment
United Kingdom
Trial participating centre
Department of Education
University of York
York
YO10 5DD
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Organisation
Education Endowment Foundation (UK)
Sponsor details
9th Floor
Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
United Kingdom
+44 (0)207 802 1676
info@eefoundation.org.uk
Sponsor type
Charity
Website
Funders
Funder type
Charity
Funder name
Education Endowment Foundation
Alternative name(s)
EEF
Funding Body Type
private sector organisation
Funding Body Subtype
Trusts, charities, foundations (both publically funded and privately funded)
Location
United Kingdom
Funder name
Unbound Philanthropy
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Funder name
The Bell Foundation
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
1. The study protocol (versions 1 & 2) can be found at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/eal-in-the-mainstream-classroom/. This is currently being updated so v3.0 will be available soon
2. The Statistical Analysis Plan will also appear here as soon as it has been approved by EEF
3. Education Endowment Foundation. EAL in the Mainstream Classroom Evaluation Report and Executive Summary
IPD sharing statement
At the end of the study the data will be uploaded to the Education Endowment Foundation data archive (maintained by FFT), with the aim to eventually make it publicly available in an anonymised form for further research for the benefit of the wider education and research communities. The data deposited will be obtained from the National Pupil Database (NPD) and linked with data we have collected from schools. Participants were made aware of this data linkage, obtaining of pupil-level data from the NPD and it being deposited in the data archive for future access by other researchers at the point of consent.
Intention to publish date
31/03/2020
Participant level data
Stored in repository
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list