The growing need for professional translation in UK schools
The UK’s education system is increasingly diverse, with a significant number of students coming from families where English is not the primary language. According to the UK Government’s 2023/24 figures, over one million children in UK schools speak English as an Additional Language (EAL). With over 300 languages spoken in UK schools, this linguistic diversity presents both opportunities and challenges. While bilingualism has cognitive benefits, language barriers can hinder academic progress, social integration, and parental engagement in a child’s education.
In 2023/24, 20.8% of pupils were recorded as having a first language known or believed to be other than English, an increase from 2022/23, and continuing a recent trend of increases.
This varies by school type from 7.8% in AP schools to 30.7% in nursery. In primary schools, the percentage recorded as other than English has increased from 22.0% to 22.8% while in secondary there has been an increase from 18.1% to 18.6%, following further small increases in recent years.
What is EAL?
It’s important to know that EAL as a measure doesn’t assess a student’s level of English proficiency. A student is recorded as having English as an additional language if the main language that they are exposed to at home is known or believed to be other than English.
The role of professional translation in schools
With so many EAL students in UK schools, the need for effective communication between teachers, students, and parents is growing. Professional translation services in UK schools play a crucial role in ensuring that all children, regardless of their language background, have equal access to education.
At Language Link UK, we are supporting a growing number of schools and education authorities, providing translation services to enhance a range of aspects crucial to a quality education:
- Improved learning outcomes – When students understand their lessons, they perform better academically. Professional translation ensures that children grasp key concepts, reducing frustration and improving engagement.
- Enhanced social inclusion – removing language barriers helps to reduce isolation. Translation services help children interact with their peers, fostering friendships and a sense of belonging while they develop their own English language proficiency.
- Stronger teacher-student relationships – Clear communication between teachers and students is essential for effective learning. Translators bridge the gap, ensuring instructions and feedback are understood.
- Parental involvement and parent-teacher communication – Parents play a vital role in a child’s education, and schools need to be able to communicate effectively with them about their child’s progress, school events and policies. Professional translation allows non-English-speaking parents to participate in school meetings, understand reports, and support their child’s learning journey.
- Administrative support – ensuring that important documents, such as enrolment forms and school policies, are accessible to all families.
- Special Educational Needs (SEN) support – Children with additional learning needs require clear communication to receive appropriate support.
Helping schools to address translation needs
Although the benefits to students, parents and schools are clear, many schools struggle to provide translation services in-house. Many rely on bilingual staff, and some even have to resort to asking other students to act as interpreters, which can lead to inaccuracies, and give rise to ethical concerns.
At Language Link UK, we support schools to identify their translation needs, and work with them to deliver the services they require, including:
- Professional translation for documents and materials
- Professional linguist reviews of AI-translated documents
- Interpreting support for students and parents
In this example, we provided in-school interpreting support for parents and a child with special educational needs, carefully selecting an interpreter with not only the linguistic skills but also the sensitivity to work with the child’s particular communication needs.
In an academy setting, we provided interpreting and translating support to help staff communicate with the parents of a child with troubling behaviour.
About our professional translation and interpreting services:
- With over 35 years’ experience in the translation industry, we have over 5,000 expert translators with mother-tongue, specialist expertise in over 200 languages and dialects.
- We are known for the quality of our customer support and relationships as much as for the quality and accuracy of our translations. Our dedicated staff take the time to get to know your needs so that we can provide flexible and competitively priced solutions.
- Whether you need one-off or ongoing professional translation services in your education setting, we’ll work closely with you to develop a pricing plan that aligns with your needs.
- We hold European Quality Standard BSEN15038:2006, and serve many overseas embassies that only accept language translations certified by Language Link UK.
- We hold ISO 9001:2015 (QMS) Quality Management System certification, demonstrating our commitment to excellence in customer service and to continuous improvement
Ready to talk about how professional translation and interpreting could help you to deliver a quality education to every student? Get in touch.