In this post Emma Le Blanc argues that employment services should be inclusive and accessible to people who speak a countries host language as their second (or third or fourth) language. She draws on a case study of recent practice in Camden, England to explore this.

I recently attended a team meeting and a colleague who works with refugees highlighted the importance of our team having headline information on the website in community languages.  She requested that this be implemented, and a senior member of staff said that she did not think that this was right for our service.  She said this would be unacceptable, and it would deincentivise people to learn English if we had information about our service in different community languages.  In, fact she said that our service would be doing them a disservice! 

I challenged this staff member too because she was being discriminatory. Her statement highlights that people in power can exclude certain individuals and groups from education, employment and other public services when everyone should have equal access to opportunity.

Working in the London Borough of Camden

I work in the London Borough of Camden and 41% of residents come from Black, Asian and other minorities.  Around a quarter (24%) of residents are non-British White residents this includes people from the European Union, other parts of Europe and the rest of the globe. The Camden Profile states that:

Overall, in Camden, 21% of people aged 3+ did not speak English as their main language. Of these, the most commonly spoken languages were French (10%); Bengali (9%); Spanish (8%); Italian (7%); Arabic and Portuguese (5%); Somali and Greek (4%); and Albanian (3%) (Camden Council, 2023).

Therefore, it is my contention that our services and other council services should be inclusive, accessible and responsive to residents’ needs.

Knowledge is power

Knowledge is power and employment service provision should not only be for people who speak English well.

Imagine if nurseries and schools were just for students who spoke English well? Or imagine if the NHS was just for people who spoke English well?  If people do not know about a service and how it can help them, or they have no idea how to access ESOL courses how are they going to develop and enhance their careers and lives?  

I believe that ESOL courses can be a stepping stone, and career and employment practitioners can encourage clients to learn English and help them to explore their career aspirations, options and goals so they can study at higher levels, get good jobs, better pay and in turn improve the life chances for themselves and their children in the future.  ESOL courses not only help people to integrate into the country, culture and their community but it ideally should equip them with the skills they need to succeed: literacy, numeracy, digital literacy, financial education, employability etc.

Most good careers and employment practitioners will already provide non-native speakers with additional help i.e. by referring people who speak English as a second language to: English conversational clubs, cultural community centres, parents’ groups (if they are a parent), groups that promote social participation and enjoyment (sports, social activities, befriending etc.) and volunteering.  So, even if clients’ may not yet be job ready, they can take the appropriate steps to prepare to be, gain transferable and employability skills and have some fun at the same time.

Practical tips

Some practical things that Employment Managers and Employment Advisers can do to help people who speak English as a Second language accessing employment support services:

• Co-design services and service interventions with diverse populations in mind including ESOL clients.

• Make employment services inclusive, accessible and responsive to the needs of non-native English speakers.

• Employ staff who are reflective of the community they work in and who speak community languages.

• Book interpreters for appointments for clients who speak ESOL if there are no staff who speak specific community languages. 

• Staff learning some community language essentials to make clients feel welcome and their culture valued.

• Ensure that employment services marketing materials and communications are accessible to all community members by getting information translated into community languages.

• Ensure that the employment services personnel engage with local community organisations that serve diverse community members and raise the awareness of local people of how employment support can help to improve their life chances.

• Understand that ESOL speakers are a diverse population i.e. male, female, parents, young adults, older citizens, refugees, asylum seekers, highly skilled or lowly skilled migrants, EU citizens, non-EU citizens etc. They are not a homogenous group.

• Become familiar with community organisations (local colleges, adult education, community groups etc.) which help ESOL speakers and that employment services can not only refer clients to but partner with. 

• Understand and raise awareness about linguistic racism and put measures in place to reduce its effects on client confidence and their career success.

Linguistic racism

I have come across some clients that speak very good English, but they have experienced ‘linguistic racism’ which adversely impacts their confidence.  Some clients I have worked with have expressed that they want to change their accent so they can speak differently because they say that they are not understood by employers.  Some have expressed feeling embarrassed, ashamed and disliking their accents.  Others have spoken about how they believe that their accent is a barrier to them gaining employment.   

Linguistic racism is defined by as constituting: “the intersection of language, race/ism, and in/equality.” A BBC article entitled ‘The pervasive problem of ‘linguistic racism’ highlights that:

When English is spoken by some Europeans, including for example French-, German-, Italian-accented English, they can be considered really cute, sophisticated, stylish and so forth, but, English spoken by Asians, Africans or Middle Easterners may be viewed as challenging and unpleasant.”

Language should not be erected as a barrier to impede people from accessing career and employment support services.  Neither should staff working in a career and employment service, especially a manager, effectively state that employment services should only cater for people who speak perfect English.