Jones, Ian Harrison (2011) The impact of European Union enlargement in 2004 on primary education. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The European Union increased from 15 to 25 Member States in 2004. The UK
government permitted unrestricted access to these new EU citizens, resulting in largescale
immigration from Eastern and Central Europe. The unplanned arrival of large
numbers of pupils from these new Member States challenged schools. Neither the
magnitude nor the impact on schools of these migration flows was understood. It was
against this background of a dearth of knowledge and increasing professional
uncertainty in a complex and sensitive area of education that the research programme
was developed. Its purpose was to provide a better understanding of migration flows
and their impact on primary education.
This migration inflow confusion dictated that a broad, exploratory approach, employing
a multi-method process, be adopted. Methods ranged from the analysis of 27 million
pupil registrations to gathering information from individual teachers and parents
through interviews and questionnaires. A principal theme provided cohesion and
coherence to the five distinct stages of study. Questions relevant to each stage
encompassed international, national, LA, school, parent and pupil-level perspectives.
The research findings show that the UK government intended to encourage large-scale
EU immigration, resulting in Britain’s largest and fastest peacetime inward migration.
The migration measuring systems employed were shown to be unfit for purpose.
Confusion over ethnic categorisation undermining the accuracy of school census
enumerations was discovered. The studies indicated that the WEEU pupil population
increased at a faster rate than any other major category and that schools were illequipped
to cope with the scale and professional demands of these arrivals.
Furthermore, WEEU pupils reduced the average performance of case study schools. The
thesis suggests the need for improvements to the national and school census systems.
A review of educational procedures for managing unplanned EU migrant flows is also
indicated, as is better training for teachers in EAL.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Education, Primary -- Great Britain, Children of migrant laborers -- Education -- Great Britain, Great Britain -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects
Official Date:	September 2011
Dates:	Date Event September 2011 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Lindsay, Geoff
Extent:	xii, 443 leaves : charts
Language:	eng

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