The British education minister, Nick Gibb, is insisting that immigration is raising academic standards in the UK because pupils who speak English as a second language (ESL) tend to be academically more able thanks to having learned another language.
Gibb’s statement contradicts the majority of his Conservative Party’s supporters and many school principals who are complaining that the influx of migrants are harming school standards, he tells them they should be doing better.
The comments also contrast with those of Britain’s Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, who last week said that new arrivals in many communities “literally change the schooling because so many people arrive not speaking English.”
