Teaching students with EAL: Collaboration and preparation in post-primary schools

O'Donoghue, Eoin

Publication

Teaching students with EAL: Collaboration and preparation in post-primary schools

O'Donoghue, Eoin

Abstract

The following study explores the area of English as an additional language (EAL) and how much training teachers in a post-primary school in Ireland receive and to what extent they collaborate with each other when teaching students of EAL. Using thematic analysis from three long interviews from the same school, the findings suggest that teachers are not given the sufficient training in how to teach EAL and are given little encouragement to collaborate with one another on the topic by the Irish educational system. The findings also suggest the need for proper EAL training has become more relevant since the arrival of Ukrainian students in 2022.