Who requires EAL/D information on their report

All English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) learners in Years K-10 need information about their English language proficiency development included in their school report, as outlined in the Curriculum Policy Standards.

Students from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE) are:

• identified at enrolment based on whether the child and/or a parent or carer speaks a language other than English
• are listed in Maintain EAL/D in ERN.

Not all LBOTE students will require support to learn English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D).

The flowchart below will help determine whether the student is an EAL/D learner who requires EAL/D information on their report.

Reporting requirements for EAL/D learners

Section 3.1.5 of the Curriculum policy standards outlines the reporting requirements for all EAL/D learners in Years K–10.

Newly arrived students who have spent less than 4 terms in an Australian school and are at the early phases of learning English as an additional language or dialect, have different reporting requirements.

Reporting requirements for their achievement against statewide standards is reported to parents and are outlined in section 3.2.5 and 3.3.2 of the Curriculum policy standards.

Where to include EAL/D information on a report

The EAL/D reporting requirements can either be integrated into a student’s general comments or can be included as a separate section on the report.

Sample reports for EAL/D learners have been included to demonstrate a way to address the requirements.

Responsibility for EAL/D reporting

All teachers are required to support the English language learning of their EAL/D learners.

Schools are required to put in place processes to ensure that information about EAL/D learners’ English language proficiency is effectively communicated to parents.

School processes should clearly identify the roles and responsibilities of classroom/subject teachers and EAL/D teachers in the reporting process.

Communicating with parents

Teachers should discuss student’s learning with parents and carers. This could include:

• organising a parent/teacher meeting with an interpreter to discuss their child’s report. While translation of individual school reports into parents preferred language is not available through the Department’s translation services, telephone or onsite interpreters can verbally interpret aspects of the report during parent/ teacher meetings
• providing translated documents for parents to support their general understanding of NSW Department of Education school reports including how to contact the telephone interpreter service.