The Achievement of Spanish Speaking Students in Secondary Schools in England

Demie, F.

Abstract

This research aims to examine Spanish-speaking students’ attainment to improve our knowledge about students at the end of secondary school in England. The sample consisted of students who completed the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in inner London Local Authority. The findings of the analysis of GCSE results by language spoken at home suggest that, overall, students who speak Spanish language do less well than other groups, and their low attainment is a key concern for policymakers and teachers. However, while this is true overall, there were wide differences in performance when broken down into European speakers and Latin American speakers. The empirical evidence suggest that European Spanish speakers do better that Latin American Spanish speakers. A number of factors were identified in the underachievement of Spanish students, including the language barrier, poverty, and pupil mobility rate. Policy implications for data collection and further research are discussed in the final section.

Citation

Demie, F. (2023). The Achievement of Spanish Speaking Students in Secondary Schools in England. Journal of Latinos and Education, 22(3), 1031-1045. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1899925

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 13, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 13, 2021
• Publication Date: 2023-06
• Deposit Date: Jun 3, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Latinos and Education
• Print ISSN: 1534-8431
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-771X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1031-1045
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1899925
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1274365