Prime Minister's argument against immigrants, especially women's lack of speaking English, has been weakened by a report that suggests that London school children whose first language is not English are getting slightly better overall grades than pupils who were brought up speaking it.
According to the Government definition, first language means “the language to which a child was initially exposed during early development and continues to be exposed to in the home or in the community.
“It however does not mean that pupils are necessarily fluent in a language other than English or cannot speak English.”
The statistics, complied by the Department for Education, came out on the same day when Government released details of a crackdown on immigrant mothers with weak English skills.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week that spouses who came to the UK on a visa to live with their partner would have their English tested after living in the UK for several years. If they failed the test there was “no guarantee” they would not be deported, even if they had children who were British citizens.
To Mr Cameron's surprise, the capital's GCSE figures have suggested that being brought up with another language is not necessarily a major disadvantage to academic success– in fact could be an advantage in some areas.
The 2014-15 figures show that 61.3% of pupils whose first language is not English meet the benchmark – compared to just 60.7% who were raised speaking the language. The difference is even more pronounced in some communities with high proportions of ethnic minority pupils. In Tower Hamlets, where over two-thirds of the population belong to ethnic minority groups, mainly Bangladeshi, 67.1% of pupils whose first language is not English reached the benchmark. This is compared to just 57.8% who grew up speaking English only.
