English: The Key to Integration in London
Client: Greater London Authority
In 2014, SQW, in collaboration with Professor Eve Gregory of Goldsmiths, University of London, were commissioned by the Greater London Authority to undertake an evaluation of the project 'English: The Key to Integration in London'. One of the intentions of the project, for the Greater London Authority, was improving language levels and school involvement of migrant mothers in order to enable them to be more involved and support their children's learning activities.
The evaluation had two main aims. The first of these was an assessment of the current evidence examining the impact of a mother's language proficiency on their children's performance in school and their sense of wellbeing. The second was assessing the impact of improving project recipient's English proficiency and/or involvement in school life in terms of support to their children and their children's educational performance and wellbeing.
A mixed methods approach, using both secondary analysis of data and primary research, was used in this project. The secondary analysis of existing data included an exploration of evidence through current literature and research and analysis of MI data on mothers and children collected by the projects. The primary research, through case-study visits, included interviews with stakeholders, project facilitators, mothers, children and observations at activities.
An Executive Summary of the research can be viewed here.
