English Teaching in The Early Years - Research in Peru

ENGLISH TEACHING
IN THE EARLY YEARS:

RESEARCH IN PERU
REPORT
April - September
2017
Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE)
Lead Researcher and Author Sandie Mourão
Co-Researcher Laura Renart
Project Manager Thom Kiddle
Coordinated by Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE)
https://www.nile-elt.com
British Council Peru
Country Director Samantha Lanaway
Education Services Manager Ralph Grayson
Project Manager Ana Maria Hurtado
Co-ordinator Giselle Higa

ENGLISH TEACHING
IN THE EARLY YEARS:
RESEARCH IN PERU
REPORT
April - September
2017
2 English Teaching in the Early Years: Research in Peru
Acknowledgments
NILE would like to thank British Council Peru,
especially Ana Maria Hurtado, Ralph Grayson and
Giselle Higa; the Initial Education staff at MINEDU, Lima;
the Initial Education staff at the regional education services
who accompanied us on visits; the school directors who
welcomed us into their schools; and all participants
who gave of their time to be interviewed.
3
Table of Contents
Foreword: Samantha Lanaway, Country Director, British Council Peru 8

Foreword: Dave Allan, President and Founder of Norwich Institute
for Language Education, NILE 10
Executive Summary 13
PART 1: Introduction 21
1.1. Background to study 21
1.2. Objectives 22
1.3. The research stages 23
PART 2: Discovering Peru 24

2.1. Peru: a multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic society 24
2.2. Access to education in Peru 25
2.3. Bilingual Intercultural Schools 26
2.4. English in Peru 27
2.5. Peruvian Initial Education 28
PART 3: The study 32

3.1. Research methodology and data collection tools 33
3.2. Data analysis 37
3.3. Results and discussion 37
3.4. The initial education institutions 45
PART 4: Discussion of emerging issues 62

4.1. Attitudes towards learning English in initial education in Peru 62
4.2. The staff responsible for English in initial education in Peru 68
4.3. Objectives for English in initial education in Peru 76
4.4. Approaches and practices in early English initiatives in Peru 78
4.5. Teacher education 93
4.6. The English Teachers Association 97
4.7. Implementing an early English policy in Peru 98
4.8. Concerns 102
PART 5: Conclusions and recommendations 108
PART 6: Possible routes towards including an early language

initiative in Peru 111
6.1. A language awareness model 111
6.2. A language exposure model 112
6.3. Sustainability 113
References 117
Appendices 123
5
List of figures
Figure 1: Study timeline 23
Figure 2: Map of Peru, showing the three geographically diverse areas 24
Figure 3: Early childhood education and care services in Peru 29
Figure 4: Number of interviews with central and regional

education authorities 38
Figure 5: Total number of education service visits and interviews 39
Figure 6: Map of public initial education institutions along

the Amazon river in the region of Loreto 40
Figure 7: The number of interviews and focus groups in

teacher education institutions 40
Figure 8: The number of surveys received and accepted 42
Figure 9: Survey responses: Regional representation 42
Figure 10: Survey responses: The school services 43
Figure 11: Survey responses: School services 43
Figure 12: Respondent profession or activity 44
Figure 13: Survey responses: Indications of early English

initiatives in public and private sectors of initial education 45
Figure 14: A bilingual sign, showing Shipibo and Spanish in a

public school in Metropolitan Lima 49
Figure 15: A child-made label for an activity centre 51
Figure 16: A poster showing how the children contributed to

planning during a project about their family 52
Figure 17: Ojotas at the classroom door 55
Figure 18: Survey responses - Preferred choice of other

language in initial education in Peru 63

Figure 19: Survey responses: Reasons for including English
in initial education in Peru 66
Figure 20: Survey responses: Categories of concern regarding

the introduction of English in initial education in Peru 67
Figure 21: Survey responses: Respondents opinion regarding

who should teach English in initial education in Peru 70
Figure 22: Survey responses: Who teaches English in Initial

education in Peru? 71
Figure 23: Survey responses: Percentage of respondents in agreement

to the eleven objectives of early English initiatives 77
Figure 24: A photograph of the board in an English lesson with

4-year-olds in a private initial education school 79
Figure 25: A page from Tiempo Divertido for 4-year-olds

learning English 81
Figure 26: Survey responses: Length of early English initiatives 84
Figure 27: Survey responses: Amount of time per week of

English activities 86
Figure 28: Survey responses: The use of text books in early

English initiatives 87
Figure 29: Survey responses: Activities included in early

English initiatives in public settings 88
Figure 30: Survey responses: Activities included in early

English initiatives in private settings 88
Figure 31: Survey responses: Resources included in early

English initiatives in public settings 90
Figure 32: Survey responses: Resources included in early

English initiatives in private settings 90
Figure 33: Survey respondents: Phonics, reading and writing

activities in early English initiatives in Peru 92
Figure 34: Survey respondents: Suggested length of

time for the successful implementation of an early
English initiative in Peru 101
7
Foreword
In 2016, approximately one year after the Peruvian government formal-

ised a multisectorial National English Policy, the Vice-Minister of Pedagogi-
cal Management of the Ministry of Education expressed the need for a
baseline study to shed light on the feasibility of introducing the teaching
of English at pre-primary level in Peru.
In response to that challenge and as part of our permanent work in English

for Education Systems in Peru, British Council carried out a selection pro-
cess that resulted in the commissioning of the Norwich Institute for Lan-
guage Education (NILE) to carry out the research that the Ministry needed
in order to help inform policy makers about the impact of introducing Eng-
lish in early years’ education. NILE, our partner in this venture, organised a
highly professional team led by Dr. Sandie Mourao to design and carry out
the research from April to September 2017.
This scientific enquiry emerges in a favourable context where quality Early

Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is widely accepted as essential for
integral child development and it has become a priority for most coun-
tries in the world. More specifically, in Peru, ECEC is part of the mandatory
general education system. The efforts made in the public system at pre-
school level in recent years have resulted in a national ECEC coverage of
80 per cent, with the aim to reach full coverage by 2021 (Peru’s bicenten-
nial anniversary). Parents, as indirect beneficiaries of the ECEC system,
commonly put pressure on public and private schools to introduce English
at earlier stages in children’s lives, with the hope that their children would
become bilingual and capable of full engagement within an international
and global world.
This research paper addresses the two trends mentioned above: the need
for ECEC coverage and the expectation to learn English from an early age.
The research is specific to the context of a multi-lingual country such as
Peru, which faces acute contrasts in the economic and social realities of
its peoples. In this context, the researchers displayed high degrees of sen-
sitivity and awareness for these realities throughout the development of
the study. The research included fieldwork in the three geographical ar-
eas of Peru (coast, highlands and jungle) as well as a survey that reached
teachers and head teachers from all 25 regions of the country.

Through this research, British Council hopes to contribute to the body of
knowledge and understanding of the reality of early year’s education in
Latin America through a focused analysis of English language teaching in
Peru. It is our hope that we also contribute to future national policy formu-
lation and implementation, not only in the country, but across the region
and the globe. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the chil-
dren, teachers, head teachers, regional specialists, Ministry of Education
staff, and NILE researchers, for making this work possible.
Samantha Lanaway
Country Director
British Council Peru
9
Foreword
When we learnt in late November 2016 that we at NILE, the Norwich Insti-
tute for Language Education, had been successful in our bid in collabora-
tion with the British Council to be the UK institution responsible for leading
the research project to explore the feasibility and advisability of introduc-
ing English at pre-primary level in Peru, we were delighted. Given how
rarely a project of this kind has been carried out, even in national contexts
with long-term experience of and expertise in delivery at primary level,
we knew what a challenge such a project would be, but we felt honoured
to have been chosen, as well as knowing we were well placed to meet the
requirements of such an important potential innovation in language edu-
cation at a national level.
NILE had already had extensive experience both of working in South

America and of leading major projects at primary level, including a 10-year
long project to introduce primary English in the German state of Bavaria,
and the training of some 1200 primary teachers for the Italian Ministry of
Education. We were familiar with consultancy and project management in
language education projects on curriculum renewal, materials develop-
ment, methodology and assessment in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia
and Uruguay over a period of more than 20 years, but our direct experi-
ence of Peru was more recent, the training of a large group of Peruvian
teachers of English on a course in Norwich in early 2015 and the testing
of some 300 secondary teachers of English later that year to benchmark
their levels of language. We knew in detail from these sources many of
the difficulties faced by teachers of English in Peru, especially those at
primary level doing their best to respond to the opportunities offered by
the introduction of primary English as a means of providing a good start to
the national long-term mission to improve standards of English across the
nation by 2021. But we had also become very aware of the huge and infec-
tious enthusiasm that the teachers we met were bringing to their work, so
we were ourselves enthused by the chance to lead a properly constituted
research project into the introduction of pre-primary English in Peru.
The NILE team chosen for the project, managed by NILE’s Director, Thom
Kiddle and led by Dr. Sandie Mourão, a world-renowned pre-primary ex-
pert, with specialist support from Laura Renart, were well aware that they
had a privileged opportunity, the chance to lead a baseline study in a criti-
cal developmental area which has largely been ignored by policy makers
worldwide. The NILE team brought with them a comprehensive awareness

of the existing body of research into the introduction of pre-primary Eng-
lish elsewhere in the world, but were very well supported both by the Brit-
ish Council and by the Ministry of Education of Peru in getting access not
only to a wide range of relevant documents but also to multiple stakehold-
ers in diverse regional contexts, both rural and urban, so that a realistic
picture based on a representative body of evidence could be gained. This
was of particular significance given that Peru is a multilingual country with
considerable economic, social, educational and even topographic diver-
sity certain to impact on any national innovation of the kind being envis-
aged. The NILE team were both impressed and motivated to overcome the
practical difficulties they inevitably sometimes faced by the enthusiasm,
openness and concerns for learners that they met across a varied and
sometimes contrasting set of institutional contexts.
While the report makes clear many of the difficult issues faced by any na-
tion wishing to embark on a period of national educational innovation and
development of the kind being considered, the fact of Peru’s willingness to
do proper research, to have a long-term plan with a clear overall objective
and the widespread positive support evidenced for the potential benefits
of an early start with English mean that there is a much greater chance of
success. It will be of critical importance to carry all the stakeholders along
with the project, getting and gaining their long-term commitment through
sustained investment, careful monitoring and consistent good communi-
cation.
We offer our sincere thanks to all who made the NILE team feel welcome
and well supported, and especially our British Council colleagues and our
collaborative partners in the Ministry. We hope that for us as well as for
Peru this will prove to be a really good beginning for a long-term relation-
ship and a successful national project —important first steps on a long
road towards a truly significant national goal.
Dave Allan, President, NILE
Norwich, UK - March 2018
11
Executive Summary
1. Introduction
This report provides baseline findings to impart information for the Initial
Education Department at the Peruvian Ministry of Education, regarding
the possibility of a nationwide early English initiative in initial education.
The objectives of the study were:
i. to understand the present situation in Peru regarding initial education

and early English language initiatives and to identify key relevant fac-
tors that impact on the pertinence of the teaching of English as a for-
eign language in pre-primary education,
ii. to collect examples of practices and approaches in different contexts

in diverse educational scenarios,
iii. to make recommendations for the introduction of English in initial edu-

cation in Peru, which includes an academic profile for initial education
staff.
The report describes the aims of the research, the methodology applied
and the findings, as well as providing conclusions and recommendations.
The study involved a mixed-methods approach collecting data from field

visits to seven initial education services in three areas of Peru: Metropoli-
tan Lima, Iquitos and Cusco, together with 32 interviews and 12 focus
groups with stakeholders. Furthermore, 982 online surveys were analysed
–733 completed by teachers and 249 by school directors. Quantitative
and qualitative approaches to analysis were used.
2. Initial education in Peru

The report begins with an introductory description of Peru, highlighting its
multilingual, multicultural, multi-ethnic society and its education system,
with a more detailed description of initial education and its specificities.
In brief, Peru is one of a small number of countries in the world to incor-
porate three years of statutory pre-primary education and there is an 80
per cent coverage of public initial education divided into school and non-
13
school services. The latter is a flexible non-standardised initial education
programme (PRONOEI) extending public services in marginalized areas of
extreme poverty, run by semi-professionals and funded by local communi-
ties, which does not always provide the level of education and care to the
required standard. Over 94 percent of 4- and 5-year-olds attend initial ed-
ucation, and just under 70 per cent of 3-year-olds. Independent services
are attended by just under 10 per cent of children in initial education. The
number of private initial education establishments is on the rise.
3. School visits
School visits suggest that the quality of education in the public school ser-
vices visited was superior to that in the private school services, with provi-
sion for play and outside activities, as well as well-resourced classrooms.
Public school services were purpose built, which also afforded a more
appropriate environment for children’s learning. The non-school service
(PRONOEI) was inferior in every way.
4. Attitudes towards an early language

learning initiative
Data from interviews and surveys suggests that although conditions in
Peru are diverse, attitudes towards an early language initiative in initial
education were positive. English was the most popular choice, but indig-
enous languages were also considered to be important. The vast majority
of respondents suggested a second language should be taught during
initial education. Justification for teaching English in particular, centred
on it being a global language, thus bringing long-term benefits to young
children. Additionally, implementing such an initiative relied heavily upon
the misguided belief that ‘earlier is better’. Concerns about implementing
an early English initiative were few, but made reference to the importance
of respecting cultural identities, teacher preparation and the use of ap-
propriate methodologies.
5. Early English initiatives

Data from surveys confirmed that around 85 per cent of private school
services included English in their initial education services. In all cases,
the cost was included in the school’s attendance fees. There was also evi-
dence of early English initiatives in 15 per cent of public school services,

and, according to the directors’ survey responses, just under half incurred
an additional cost to the parents, which researchers considered exacer-
bated issues of inequality. The majority of these initiatives, in public and
private services, have been running for fewer than five years.
The most popular model indicated in the surveys, in both public and pri-
vate services, was the low-exposure foreign language model with up to
two hours of English per week. This model may be more akin to a language
awareness model —providing contact with a variety of languages to pre-
pare children to live in a linguistically and culturally diverse society—
rather than a language exposure model, which focuses on learning one
language. Survey results suggest that the bilingual Spanish/English model
existed in private school services only. In public services, the majority of
initiatives were indicated as having under one hour of English per week.
In the private services, the majority of initiatives were signaled as having
two or more hours of English per week. Another difference involved the
starting age, with more initiatives in private services including all children
from 3 to 5 years old as well as children in nursery education.
6. Resources and activities in early English

initiatives
Results from the survey indicate that the private sector included a wider
variety of activities more frequently, however they were not all develop-
mentally appropriate and neither did they promote meaningful interac-
tion in English. There was evidence in fieldwork observations and in the
surveys which pointed to an excessive use of repetition and drilling and a
focus on teaching and learning single words. Results from the surveys also
point to an inappropriate emphasis on reading and writing in English. This
is particularly worrying, when children are not learning to read in Spanish
and most of the early English initiatives fall into the low-exposure category
of fewer than two hours of English per week.
In the survey, textbooks in English were specified as being used in both

public and private sectors. However, the private sector indicated a greater
use of textbooks: over 90 per cent as opposed to around 60 per cent
in public services. During fieldwork visits, there was also evidence that
English textbooks were developmentally inappropriate for initial educa-
tion due to the inclusion of reading and writing activities. In the surveys,
teachers in the private sector appeared to use a wider range of resources,
and more frequently. However, there was a heavier reliance on using the
board in both settings, which suggests a more teacher-fronted, formal ap-
15
proach to the teaching-learning context. DVDs were also a popular re-
source, which may be depriving children of opportunities for meaningful
interaction in English.
7. Teacher profiles
Survey results showed that current teacher profiles in public school ser-
vices were mainly initial education teachers with a basic knowledge of Eng-
lish. In private school services, there were more English teachers signalled
as being responsible for teaching English. A very clear trend emerged
from both the fieldwork and survey results, which implied that initial edu-
cation teachers considered their experience and training with young chil-
dren as sufficient to set up an early English initiative. Ideal teacher profiles
proffered by many interviewees and survey participants also followed this
tendency. The apparent irrelevance of sufficient proficiency in English,
(e.g. CEFR B2 or C1), was considered problematic by the researchers, es-
pecially after observing English classes, during the fieldwork, led by initial
education teachers with a low language proficiency.
8. Teacher education
The teacher educators interviewed confirmed there was little to no train-
ing for initial education teachers in understanding how second languages
were acquired or taught —for Spanish as a second language or English
as a foreign language. In addition, the majority of teacher educators and
initial education teacher-students had a low level of English competence.
Future initial education teachers gave a mixed picture of attitudes and
dispositions towards teaching English in initial education.
Future teachers of English in one institution received training to enable

them to teach from initial education through to tertiary education and
even though they showed preferences for teaching older learners, this
kind of preparation was considered beneficial by the researchers.

9. Main concerns
The main concerns noted by the researchers in relation to introducing an
early English initiative in Peruvian initial education were:
• A misunderstanding of ‘the earlier, the better’ belief – research sug-

gests that what really matters is the context for learning, not the chil-
dren’s age.
• The relevance of quality interaction in English for language acquisition

– research suggests that input-rich contexts are required for optimal
language acquisition.
• Approaches to language education that respect the child and the way
they learn – approaches to language learning should emulate pre-pri-
mary practices and integrate the early language learning initiative.
• The time required for successful implementation of an early language

learning policy – little research has been published related to the suc-
cessful implementation of an early language learning initiative. How-
ever, there is some evidence to show it can take decades.
10. Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Create nation-wide school services of quality, be-
fore embarking on an initial English language initiative.
Recommendation 2: Consider publishing fact sheets about different

models of early language learning, e.g. language awareness, language ex-
posure, bilingual and immersion models.
Recommendation 3: Consider further investigating language awareness

programmes and their use in initial education to contribute to supporting
interest in indigenous languages as well as other languages like English
throughout Peru.
Recommendation 4: Consider tightening up regulations around private

school services, and creating a system which enables all services to easily
inform the Ministry of Education about activities which are not, thus far,
part of the Peruvian initial education curriculum.
17
Recommendation 5: Consider creating a set of guidelines for early Eng-
lish initiatives, possibly in collaboration with English Teacher Associations
in Peru.
Recommendation 6: Consider a long-term plan for the introduction of

an early English initiative, which may require a wider national curriculum
reform.
Recommendation 7: Consider encouraging teacher education pro-

grammes to share interdepartmental expertise and restructuring teacher
education models to involve preparing teachers to combine initial educa-
tion and language education.
Recommendation 8: Consider extensive piloting of an early language

learning initiative to include early language initiatives that are already in
place in the public sector as well as in the most difficult geographical ar-
eas, in order for curriculum innovation to succeed.
Final remarks: Starting an early English initiative in Peruvian initial edu-

cation would entail trained teachers, with good levels of English together
with knowledge of early childhood development and English teaching
methodologies as well as a long-term plan that is carefully monitored and
well resourced. It would probably take many years to achieve, but if it is ap-
proached with care and a clear, well prepared plan, success is more likely.

19
PART 1: Introduction
1.1. Background to the study

In 2014, President Ollanta Humala announced a national plan for Peru to
achieve bilingualism by 2021, with English as the priority foreign language
(British Council, 2015). The Peruvian Ministry of Education has since de-
ployed increased resources, teacher training and additional contact hours
within secondary education to meet President Humala’s objective. In addi-
tion, English has been introduced into primary education in grades 5 and 6.
Programmes such as Inglés Puertas al Mundo have also been implemented
to increase, improve and ensure quality language education across the
country. President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who replaced Ollanta Humala in
July 2016, pledged to ensure education remains a key priority.
In 2016, Flavio Figallo, Vice-Minister of Educational Management at the

Peruvian Ministry of Education, expressed an interest in English becoming
part of the Initial Education programme. There is a growing recogni-
tion of the significance of pre-primary education around the world,
and it is seen as the first step in a life-long journey of learning, con-
tributing to school readiness, transition to school and performance
at school (Neuman & Hatipoğlu, 2015). Peru is one of a small num-
ber of countries in the world to incorporate statutory pre-primary
education in its national education system. There is clear evidence
that English is also being introduced into the pre-primary sector
—‘cascading into Early Years teaching’ (Rixon 2013: 13). So, Peru is
following a recognizable trend. Documentation is increasingly avail-
able that provides insights into the extent to which this is happening
(Černá 2015; Langé et al, 2014; Mourão & Ferreirinha, 2016; Ng and
Rao, 2013; Portiková 2015). However, as yet there is little research
that looks into policy making at this level of education (for an exception
see Andúgar, Cortina-Pérez & Tornel 2017 for English in pre-primary edu-
cation in Spain) or the results of an early start in English. Instead it has
become evident that early years has become ‘the final frontier in the rush
to teach and learn English at ever younger ages’ (Knagg, 2016: 3), a trend
that gives the impression of valuing speed over care and quality.
21
Murphy & Evangelou (2016) highlight a number of issues as being of con-
cern in relation to introducing an early English initiative in early childhood
education:
1) There is relatively little longitudinal research that provides concrete

evidence of the benefits of starting a foreign language in pre-primary
education.
2) There is very little robust teacher education for teachers and or pre-
primary professionals at pre-service and in-service levels with regard
to an early English initiative at this level of education.
3) There is little to no consensus regarding what is satisfactory

and acceptable in terms of approaches and methodologies,
due to the variety of approaches to pre-primary education
around the world.
Taking these concerns into consideration, in collaboration with

the British Council Lima, this baseline study was planned and ac-
tioned to enable the Vice-Ministry of Educational Management to
reach an informed decision regarding the viability of introducing
an early English initiative in Peruvian initial education.
1.2. Objectives
The objectives of the study were
• To understand the present situation in Peru regarding initial education

and early English language initiatives and to identify key relevant fac-
tors that impact on the pertinence of the teaching of English as a for-
eign language in pre-primary education.
• To collect examples of practices and approaches in different contexts

in diverse educational scenarios
• To make recommendations for the introduction of English in initial edu-

cation in Peru, which includes an academic profile for initial education
staff.

1.3. The research stages
Figure 1 shows a timeline for the study, which ran from April to August
2017.
Dates (2017) Stage Activity
January to March Stage 0: Contract and agreement activity
April Stage 1: Pre-fieldwork Analysis of documentation and crea-

activity tion of data collection tools
May 1 - 10 Stage 2: The field work Data collection 1
June to July Transcription of interviews, qualita-

tive analysis of data, creation of
survey questions.
July 24 to August 4 Stage 3: The online sur- Data collection 2

veys
August to September Stage 4: Analysis and Quantitative and qualitative analysis

interpretation of data of data
Report writing
Figure 1: Study timeline
The objective of the pre-field work activity was to begin discovering Peru,
its education system, English education in general and initiatives to intro-
duce English in initial education. During this stage, documentation from
the Ministry of Education and the British Council was analysed, together
with a variety of online publications. Pre-fieldwork activity also included
preparation for the field trip, with the creation of data collection tools.
Data collection was divided into two stages: the first during the fieldwork,
where more qualitative data was collected. Information from this stage
was fed into the second stage, which involved an online survey, the objec-
tive being that more responses would be obtained from a wider range of
participants.
This report begins with a description of Peru, with a view to familiarising

the reader with the Peruvian context and its particular characteristics. It
continues with a more detailed description of the study, the data collec-
tion methodology, tools and analysis together with discussion around the
findings. It concludes with a description of the implications and a list of
recommendations regarding early English language initiatives in Peru.
23
PART 2: Discovering Peru
2.1. Peru: a multilingual, multicultural and

multi-ethnic society
Peru is geographically diverse, with three distinct areas: the coast, the jun-
gle made up of Amazonian rainforest, covering 60 per cent of the country,
and the mountains. It has suffered much internal migration and at present
just over 30 per cent of the population of Peru lives in the Lima Metropoli-
tan region of the coast, which represents 0,2 per cent of the area of Peru.
Figure 2: Map of Peru, showing the three geographically diverse areas

https://www.aboutespanol.com/las-regiones-del-peru-1190819 - © Promperu

Peru is a country of enormous richness in language and culture, as the
different geographical areas are home to ethnically-distinct indigenous
groups. However, with the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century and
immigration in later centuries (e.g. Europeans, Africans and Asians) Peru
is also a multi-ethnic society. The urban rural divide however has perpetu-
ated associations with rural ‘Indianness’ and urban ‘modernity’ (Paulston,
1994). The existence of ‘cultural plurality and provincial multilingualism’
has preserved what might be considered a ‘superordinate Hispanic culture
and a subordinate Indian culture’ (Paulston, 1994:64), mostly as a result
of the early Spanish invasions, the aim of which was Christianisation and
Castellanisation —this latter referring to a language policy which demands
the use of Spanish in all formal domains. Castellanisation is still consid-
ered a tool to maintain inequality and the status quo (Valdiviezo, 2013).
Nevertheless, since 1993 the Peruvian Constitution has stated that any
Peruvian citizen has the right to their own language and a cultural and
ethnic identity (articles 2 and 19). Article 17 endorses ‘the preserva-
tion of cultural and linguistic diversity together with the promotion of
a national integration’ (Valdiviezo, 2013: 31, italics in original). Spanish
is spoken by more than 84 per cent of Peruvians, and Quechua, con-
sidered its second language, by 18 per cent (Peru Population, 2016).
Recently Aymara was made the third official language and is spoken
by just under 2 per cent of the population. According to the 2006 cen-
sus, there are forty-seven languages to be accounted for in Peru, with
so many morphological, syntactic and phonological differences that
they are unintelligible between one another. Amazonian languages
are spoken by approximately 1 per cent of the population and in areas
that are very difficult to record. Most Peruvian speakers of an indigenous
language (like Quechua and Aymara) are bilingual in Spanish.
In the last census of 2006, Peruvians self-identified as mestizo —of white

and Amerindian ancestry— (59.5%), Quechua (22.7%), Aymara (2.7%),
Amazonian (1.8%), Black/Mulatto (1.6%), white (4.9%) and other (6.7%)
(INEI, 2006).
2.2. Access to education in Peru

Peru’s basic education comprises three stages: initial (3 to 5 years old),
primary (6 to 11 years old) and secondary education (12 to 16 years old).
Tertiary education is divided into three categories: Universities that of-
fer five-year programs up to doctorate degrees; non-university institutes
offering pedagogic programs, and technical or artistic institutes whose
programs last up to a maximum of three years; and higher education tech-
nical institutes offering technical or vocational training.
25
Education is a national concern in Peru, especially since the 2012 PISA
rankings placed it last on the list of 65 countries based on the perfor-
mance of secondary students in maths, reading and science. Although the
government is taking measures to change these results, an OECD report
(2016a) states that there are still many unresolved issues in relation to ac-
cess to education, especially as the expected level of education increases.
In initial and primary education, gaps in relation to access according to
income, gender, geographical location or mother-tongue have diminished
considerably in recent years. However, the number of students who have
access to education in urban areas (88.6 per cent) is still greater
than for those in rural areas (76.9 per cent). There is a similar vari-
ance between students who speak Spanish as their mother-tongue
(85.9 per cent) and those who speak Quechua (78.9 per cent). En-
rolment in higher education shows a greater imbalance —72.1 per
cent are Spanish speakers and just 44.1 per cent are speakers of
an indigenous language. Peru has a learning gap in mathematics
equivalent to more than two years of study between students who
speak Spanish and those who speak Quechua. The same difference
applies to schools in urban and rural areas, which is directly related
to the students’ socio-economic status (OECD, 2016b; PISA, 2012).
Regarding the public and private sectors, around three quarters of

Peru’s educational institutions (from initial to secondary) are pub-
lic, with a spread of 40 per cent in urban areas and 60 per cent
in rural areas. In contrast, 97 per cent of private institutions are found in
urban areas (ESCALE, 2016). Private education has flourished since the
1990s (Campodónico, Cassinelli & Mesones, 2014), due to governmental
laws promoting private investment in the education sector resulting in ‘de-
regulating private educational activities’ (Balarin, 2015: 7). Over the last
decade the rapid economic growth in Peru has enabled an ‘emerging’ mid-
dle class to afford private education with attendance doubling between
1998 and 2014 from 13 to 26 per cent. Balarin has argued that what is
happening should be considered a ‘default privatization’ for she maintains
it is a direct result of parents believing that state-provided, managed and
funded schools are inadequate (p. 9).
2.3. Bilingual intercultural schools

Bilingual Education in Spanish and an indigenous language was instituted
in the 1970s, however it has grown significantly due to the implementation
of a national plan to ensure an education for all, which included the assur-
ance of a bilingual education for speakers of indigenous languages, from
initial education onwards (MINEDU, 2015). In 2012 the escuela intercultural

bilingüe was introduced (World Education Blog, 2016), the objectives be-
ing three-fold:
1. Cultural and Linguistic Reinforcement, aimed at students from native

populations whose mother tongue is an indigenous language and who
need to learn Spanish as a second language.
2. Cultural and Linguistic Revitalisation, aimed at students from native

populations who have lost or are losing their language and want to
revitalise it.
3. Cultural and Linguistic Reinforcement in Urban Settings, aimed at stu-

dents from migrant indigenous populations who are currently studying
in semi-urban and urban educational institutions.
As such, the intention is to enable students to complete primary education

as young bilinguals in their mother tongue and Spanish, but also to train
the necessary number of teachers to meet these needs. News reports
(Davila, 2016) state that 90 per cent of the children speaking an indigenous
language in initial education receive quality education in that language,
and 70 per cent of Bilingual Intercultural Education institutions (around
21 000 in total) have at least one teacher who teaches in the native lan-
guage. The objective by 2021 is that all these schools have no less than
one native language teacher. At present, there are 35 000 indigenous lan-
guage teachers in initial and primary education with a further 4,300 teach-
ers (a third through special scholarship programs) being trained to bridge
the existing gap in staff. The first cohort will graduate in 2017. The Ministry
of Education has also developed materials for children to learn maths,
communication, science and the environment in the indigenous language,
as well as textbooks to teach Spanish as a second language.
2.4. English in Peru

Part of the conclusion of the British Council report on English in Peru
(2015) reads:
English is widely accepted as a language of business in Peru, and the

government aims to improve proficiency so that domestic businesses
can flourish and economic growth can continue. Improving the skills
of the workforce is particularly important as the population ages.
Historically, the approach towards education and English language
reform has been highly fragmented, reflecting frequent and dramatic
political changes. However, in recent years momentum has increased
27
and Peru has now set a goal of bilingualism in Spanish and English by
2021. (British Council, 2015: 64)
The number of hours for the teaching and learning of English has thus
been increased in secondary education and since January 2017, has been
part of primary education in grades 5 and 6 (ages 10 and 11 years old). It
is anticipated that these changes will require an additional 2000 English
teachers annually. Teacher development goals include an increase in sal-
ary and different study scholarships to attract more qualified candidates.
At present 70 per cent of English lessons in primary and secondary edu-
cation are taught by professionals who are not qualified to teach English
(British Council, 2015: 23). There is no official early language learning pol-
icy for initial education.
English is taught in the private sector of Peruvian education from

initial through to secondary education and some private schools
offer up to ten hours of English a week (British Council, 2015: 28).
However, due to the lack of documentation regarding private edu-
cation in Peru (Balarin, 2015), data is not available regarding the
actual number of schools and their approaches to teaching English.
Private language institutes also offer English courses for pre-prima-
ry children.
2.5. Peruvian initial education

The role played by the private sector has been significant in initial
education following a growth in private institutions in the 1990s.
Nevertheless, public initial education has a national coverage of 80
per cent (ESCALE, 2016).
2.5.1. Structure
Initial education is divided into two cycles: cycle 1 (from 0 to 2 years old)
and cycle 2 (from 3 to 5 years old). Starting in 2003, Peru is one of a small
number of countries in the world to incorporate three years of statutory
pre-primary education (cycle 2) in its national education system (UNESCO,
2015). Figures indicate a national coverage at 89.9 per cent, with attend-
ance rates of 3-year-olds at 80.7 per cent, 4-year-olds at 94.1 per cent
and 5-year-olds at 93.6 per cent (ENAHO, 2016).

Services Cycle I Cycle II
0-2 years olds 3-5 years old
Cuna Jardin
(crèche and nursery) (pre-primary education)
Escolarizado
(School services) Cuna-jardin
(crèche, nursery and pre-primary education)
Integral 0-5 years old
PRONOEI PRONOEI
The family The family
No Escolarizado
The community: The community
(Non-school services)
• The child and family
• The child
Figure 3: Early childhood education and care services in Peru (MINEDU, 2016: 9)
Initial education is organised through two services (Díaz, 2006), as shown

in Figure 3 - school services and non-school services, the latter referred
to as independent services by Díaz (p. 6).
School services provide a standardised initial education programme, sepa-

rating the cycles or combining them. The public schools are managed and
funded by the Ministry of Education and follow a curriculum programme
delineated by the Ministry —they also require a minimum number of chil-
dren to open. Private schools are generally privately-owned and managed,
funded by tuition fees paid by parents or charitable societies and may
or may not follow the national curriculum. In both these institutions, the
staff in cycle 2 should be professionals with degrees in pre-primary educa-
tion.
The non-school services provide a flexible non-standardised initial educa-

tion programme called Programas no Escolarizados de Educación Inicial
(PRONOEI) and rely upon community support with the objectives of pro-
viding care services which foster cognitive and socio-emotional develop-
ment. PRONOEIs were set up in the 1970s to extend public services and
to make initial education more equitable in marginalized areas of extreme
poverty, ‘usually rural areas or shanty towns’ (Díaz, 2006: 6). They exist
where there are not enough children to open a school service.
A PRONOEI is run by a volunteer caregiver called a facilitator, who receives

a small remuneration or stipend. The facilitator is appointed and coordi-
nated by the Ministry of Education and is given a small amount of train-
ing in childcare and early childhood development. PRONOEI installations
are supported and funded by local initiatives and may even be part of a
29
facilitator’s home. According to UNESCO (2015), relying upon unskilled,
poorly paid workers has not brought the best results, as children attending
PRONOEIs demonstrate low levels of performance which may be due to
infrequent cognitive stimulation activities (p. 56). Data from the Ministry of
Education (2016) in relation to the development of literacy and numeracy
skills support this.
2.5.2. Attendance rates
Attendance in initial education in Peru has increased by 25 per cent over

the last ten years (MINEDU, 2016). Recent figures for cycles I and II pre-
sented by the Ministry of Education show that school services represent
65.9 per cent of the provision and are attended by 91.3 per cent of the tar-
get population. Non-school services provide 34.1 per cent of the provision
and are attended by just 8.7 per cent of the children in cycles I and II. The
rural population in Peru is recorded at 21 per cent (The World Bank Group,
2017) and the urban rural divide represents this division in school
services with just 18.6 per cent being located in rural areas. The non-
school services, however, are almost equally divided between urban
and rural settings (ESCALE, 2016).
2.5.3. Staff profiles and training
Pre-primary professionals in Peru attend a specialized degree course

over ten academic semesters. According to news reports, the training
of staff has not accompanied the increase in initial education attend-
ance rates, resulting in a deficit of trained pre-primary professionals
of around 20 per cent. Media reports also indicate that teachers with qual-
ifications in primary education were being employed, some with additional
training in pre-primary education (Sausa, 2015).
2.5.4. The curricular programme for initial education
Education in the early years follows seven basic principles, which are sum-
marised below (Ministry of Education, 2016: 10):
The principle of respect: It is considered of great importance to create

conditions which respect the processes and vital needs of children to al-
low them to develop fully. Respecting the child as a subject implies know-
ing their rights, rhythm, stages of maturity as well as their particular and
cultural characteristics which make them unique.
The principle of safety: These are the basis for a stable and harmonious
personality developed through affection, the quality of the care children

receive and the opportunity to interact freely in safety. Once children feel
safe they can start to build their own identity and autonomy to explore the
world.
The principle of good health: According to the World Health Organisa-

tion, health refers to ‘… a state of total physical, psychological and social
welfare, and not merely the absence of disease/illness’ (2006: 1). Being
healthy for a child is therefore related to personal habits, lifestyles and a
healthy social environment.
The principle of autonomy: Children are able to develop, learn and con-
struct their personalities as long as physical and affective conditions are
guaranteed. They will, in turn, be able to perform actions through their
own initiative and become autonomous human beings.
The principle of movement: Free movement is an essential factor in the

development of the child and allows for self-expression, communication
and the development of thinking skills. Through movement, children get to
know themselves and explore the world around them.
The principle of communication: This is an essential need from the first

days of life. It is fundamental to consider the baby or child as a valid inter-
locutor, with great communicative and expressive capacities.
The principle of free play: Play is central to children’s growth and devel-
opment. It is the primary means by which children develop cognitive skills
and begin to make sense of the world. Through play, children are able to
make decisions, change roles, establish rules and negotiate meaning ac-
cording to different situations.
Initial education follows a cross curricular approach established through

the National Curriculum, based on the principles defined in Article nº 8 of
Ley General de Educación: quality, equality, ethics, democracy, environ-
mental conscience, interculturality, inclusion, creativity and innovation.
This approach puts forward important concepts about people, their re-
lationships with others, with the environment and the shared space, and
are translated into specific ways of behaving (MINEDU 2016: 22). These
principles are also evident in the observable realization of values and at-
titudes expected from teachers, students, directors, and all school staff in
the dynamics of the educational institution. Likewise, they are extremely
important as a theoretical and methodological framework to guide the
educational process.
31
PART 3: The study
The results of country case studies that look at English in pre-primary edu-
cation, confirm that English is often brought into pre-primary education
due to pressure from parents (Jin, et al 2016; Rokita-Jaśkow 2013; Song
2012; Zhou and Ng, 2016) and a misguided belief that ‘earlier is better’ (de
Houwer, 2014). There is also evidence that it is taught by professionals
who rarely possess the appropriate qualifications to teach English to small
children (Černá 2015; Langé et al, 2014; Mourão & Ferreirinha, 2016; Ng,
2013; Portiková 2015), these being a knowledge of early-childhood educa-
tion and child development, coupled with a level of English which allows
for quality interaction to support language development. The relevance of
finding out to what extent these might be issues in Peru led the rationale
behind the objectives for this base-line study.
The objectives for this stage of the study were therefore three-fold:
a) To collect examples of practices and approaches in initial education as

well as in early English language initiatives in different contexts;
b) To discover the profiles of teachers involved in early English lan-

guage initiatives;
c) To collect stakeholder attitudes towards introducing English in

initial education in Peru.
This stage of the study aimed at finding initial answers to the follow-
ing questions:
1) What is initial education like in Peru?

2) How are minority languages contemplated?
3) What are stakeholder opinions and attitudes towards early English lan-
guage initiatives?
4) Where do early English language initiatives exist?
5) When early English language initiatives exist:
i. What are the objectives?
ii. Who is responsible for implementing the initiative?
iii. What is their professional profile?
iv. What approaches and practices are used?
v. Is the initiative integrated and if so, how?
vi. Are there any achievement indicators?

vii. How is continuation and transition considered?
viii. Are there any tangible results (anecdotal or empirical)?
ix. What are stakeholder opinions and attitudes towards the initiative?
3.1. Research methodology and data

collection tools
3.1.1. Qualitative data collection approaches:
Observations and interviews
During our field trip to Peru, our methodology was based primarily on
overt observation and noticing, supported by follow-up focus groups and
semi-structured interviews. Observational data allowed us to gather ‘live’
data from ‘live’ situations and to see what was happening in situ. The ob-
servations gave us an opportunity to understand the context and its set-
ting, to be open-ended and inductive, as well as to discover that which
participants may not freely talk about in interviews. Our observations were
semi-structured and guided by our research agenda, which meant we con-
sidered four aspects of each setting (Morrison, 1993):
1. The physical aspects – the physical environment and its organization;
2. The human aspects – the organisation of people, characteristics and

make up of groups, individuals e.g. gender, age, class…;
3. The interactional aspects – the interactions taking place (e.g. formal,

informal, planned, unplanned, verbal, non-verbal etc.);
4. The programme aspects: the resources and their organisation, peda-

gogical styles, the curriculum and its organisation.
An observation guide was developed and used during our visits. This was
divided into two parts: a more practical set of indicators related to the
physical aspects of the school and a second set, which supported our ob-
servations for the remaining three aspects of the setting, and was divided
into four sections:
• Classroom aspects, looking for visual evidence of integration of the

early English initiative;
• Teacher-led activities, which focused on good practices found in early

childhood education and care settings and early language learning set-
33
tings. It assumed a fairly high level of language proficiency and a knowl-
edge of language teaching methodologies for young children;
• Teacher-directed activities with a specific objective set by the teacher,

but where children are encouraged to complete them independently
or with adult support;
• Child- / Self-initiated activities, associated with free play, where children

decide what they want to do, with who and with which resources. This
section was highly appropriate as it supported the principles of initial
education developed by the Ministry of Education.
Copies of these observation tools can be found in Appendices 1 and 2.
Speaking to and interviewing stakeholders recognizes the socially-situat-

ed nature of the research data and allowed us to collect information with
an emphasis on understanding the views and perspectives of a wide vari-
ety of stakeholders. Our initial list of possible stakeholders included:
• Initial education professionals (teachers and facilitators)
• English teachers in initial education
• Children in initial education
• Parents and carers of children in initial education
• Initial education school directors
• Local authorities
• Ministry of Education representatives
• Ministry materials developers
• Trade union representatives
• Peru English Teachers Association representatives
• Child and language development specialists
• Student teachers
From this list, a wide range of stakeholders were interviewed. However,

it was not possible to meet with trade union representatives or ministry
materials developers.
The interviews or focus group sessions were informal, conducted in a con-

versational style where possible, and prepared in order to be carried out

in Spanish (see Appendix 3). Key questions were guided by the research
issues but followed the interviewees’ responses. To interview the children,
we sat with the whole group at the end of our visit and used a puppet as
an interested outsider to ask questions and prompt responses. The initial
teacher or PRONOEI facilitator was always with us during our visits.
We did not consider that there was any danger or risk involved in our re-
search activities. However, it is important that participants who agree to
be observed and to participate in focus groups and interviews should be
given information about the research project. This was provided in Span-
ish in written form (see Appendix 4), and if necessary was read out to the
interviewee, who was required to give either oral or written consent and
to sign the form. Participants were also given a copy of the form, with
contact details of the British Council, in case there were any follow up
questions. The children were given an age-appropriate explanation, and
their verbal consent to be observed and to be part of the group interview
was requested.
The tools used during this stage were observation and noticing grids, field
notes, semi-structured interview questions and consent forms. These were
all approved by the Ministry of Education prior to our visit.
3.1.2. Quantitative data collection approaches: The

online surveys
Surveys and questionnaires are considered useful to provide structured

numerical data and can be administered without the presence of the re-
searcher, and thus reach a larger number of participants. Despite requir-
ing piloting, and the possibility of being limited in scope and depth of
response, the survey was felt to be a suitable tool for use in this study,
to collect data to expand and build on information collected during our
fieldwork.
For the survey, a licensed online survey generator, SurveyMonkey, was

used, which meant that collecting responses took less time and suited
a lower budget. It also meant that question-skip patterns could be de-
veloped to follow different target respondents and surveys could be
combined, e.g. one survey for initial education teachers may allow for re-
spondents involved in early English initiatives and those who are not. The
disadvantages of online surveys in the case of target respondents in Peru
were related to limited access to a good quality Internet service, espe-
cially in the more rural areas of Peru. It also meant that there was a higher
possibility of receiving incomplete responses due to internet failure or
respondents’ disinterest in continuing. Finally, despite the piloting stage,
35
misunderstandings may persevere that cannot be clarified as there is no
interviewer at hand.
Originally we had hoped to create surveys for the following stakeholders:
• Initial education professionals (teachers and facilitators)
• Primary teachers
• English teachers
• School directors and PRONOEI promoters and coordinators
• Parents and carers
• Local authorities
• Teacher Educators
However, once we had transcribed the fieldwork interviews and partially

analysed the relevant data from stage 2, we decided that information al-
ready collected from local authorities sufficed, and that access to the In-
ternet to complete the surveys may be an issue for parents. During our
field work, we did not encounter primary or English teachers working in
initial education. It was decided that our survey for initial education teach-
ers would include questions that also allowed primary and English teach-
ers to respond.
The questions in the survey covered the following areas:
• Personal information e.g. region of Peru and school services
• If the respondent had an early English initiative, reasons and objectives

for learning English and information about the English activities
• If the respondent did not have an early English initiative:
} Opinions about learning other languages, learning English in initial

education, reasons and objectives.
} Opinions about what should be taught and who should teach it.
} Opinions about the challenges of implementing an early English ini-

tiative.
The surveys were written in Spanish and piloted with the target respond-
ents. No changes were made to the final survey which was made available
with the help of the Peruvian Ministry of Education. The surveys went live
on 24 July through Ministry of Education communication lines, which in-

cluded their website, PERUEDUCA, and their Facebook page. The response
to the survey request on Facebook was larger than expected, thus it was
decided that these responses would also be collected and analysed.
3.2. Data analysis

Analysis of the interviews and focus group discussions began once these
had been transcribed. Interviews are more exploratory in nature and seek
to develop hypotheses rather than collect facts or figures (Cohen, Man-
ion & Morrison, 2000), thus the transcriptions were subject to content
analysis and analytic induction (Merriam, 2009), so that trends were iden-
tified, classified and then described. The hypotheses that emerged from
this analysis were subsequently compared with or triangulated with other
data sources.
The online surveys were mainly analysed qualitatively. However, opportu-

nities for comments were included in some questions and these, together
with the Facebook comments, were also analysed using interpretative
coding.
3.3. Results and discussion

During the ten days of fieldwork, observational data was collected from
seven initial education services, and recordings were obtained from 32
interviews and 12 focus groups. Online surveys were also used as data-
collection tools. This section begins with a summary of the amount of data
collected and then continues with an analysis of the results and discus-
sion.
3.3.1. Interviews and observations - Participants
3.3.1.1. Education services
Visits to the Ministry of Education and regional education services to inter-

view staff involved in coordinating initial education, as well as to regional
directors, were organised by the British Council in collaboration with the
Ministry of Education. Figure 4 summarises these visits.
37
Initial
Nº of
Education Services education Other
interviews
representative
Ministry of Education Lima 4 3 1
Regional Education Authority Loreto 2 2 -
Regional Education Authority Lima 2 2 -
Regional Education Authority Cusco 4 3 1
TOTAL 12 10 2
Figure 4: Number of interviews with central and regional education authorities
As shown in the above table, initial education representatives within the

Ministry of Education or the regional authorities were involved in ten of
the interviews. The Director of the Regional Education Authority gave one
interview and a representative of the Ministry of Education, who had been
involved in an early English language initiative between 2012 and 2013,
gave another.
3.3.1.2. School services and related stakeholders
Visits to the education services were also planned by the British Coun-
cil in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of Education, who selected
regions in the three distinct geographical areas of Peru: the coast and
Metropolitan Lima, the most populated area of Peru; the jungle area in
the Loreto region and its capital, Iquitos; and finally, the mountainous ar-
eas in the Cusco region and the city of Cusco. Figure 5 summarises the
initial education service visits, showing the number of parents, initial edu-
cation teachers, school directors and groups of children who were inter-
viewed.

Initial
School English
Setting Parents education Children
Directors Teacher
teachers
1 Iquitos PRONOEI Urban 1 1 1 Ages -

L1 3 to 5
2 Iquitos Public initial educa- Urban (5) 2 1 Age 5 -

tion institution L1
3 Iquitos Private initial edu- Urban 2 1 1 Age 4 -

cation institution L1+L2
4 Lima Public initial educa- Urban/ - 1 - Age 5 -

tion institution L1+L0
5 Lima Public initial educa- Urban 4 1 1 Age 4 -

tion institution L1
6 Cusco Public initial educa- Rural 2 1 1 Ages -

tion institution L1+L0 3 to 4
7 Cusco Private initial edu- Urban 2 1 1 Age 5 -

cation institution L1+L2
TOTAL 16 8 6 7 groups 0
Key: L1= Spanish only; L1+L0= bilingual education with Spanish and indigenous languages;
L1+L2= bilingual education with Spanish and English
Figure 5: Total number of education service visits and interviews
We had requested that elite bilingual Spanish-English schools be omitted

from our itinerary and, where possible, that we visit institutions which are
representative of a particular area and context. Due to the larger propor-
tion of services being public, the visits reflected this division. As can be
seen in column three, four public school service institutions, one non-
school service institution, and two private institutions were visited. Two
of these public institutions were Bilingual Intercultural schools, speak-
ing Shipibo and Quechua respectively. It is also evident from Figure 5
that we were unable to interview an English teacher, as the two private
institutions offered English taught by the initial education teacher.
Issues related to distance, difficulty in access and a restrictive time

frame made visiting more than one rural institution in Loreto and
Cusco impossible. For example, in the region of Loreto some schools
are a day’s boat journey away from the city of Iquitos. Figure 6 is a
photograph of one of several maps hanging in the Loreto Regional Educa-
tion offices, which shows the schools along the Amazon river in this region,
providing information about distance, time of journey and route (either
fluvial or by air).
39
Figure 6: Map of public initial education institutions along the
Amazon river in the region of Loreto
3.3.1.3. Teacher education institutions
The British Council was responsible for organising visits to teacher educa-
tion institutions, including one public and one private institution. Here we
interviewed specialists in initial education and languages, and conducted
focus groups with students studying to be teachers of initial education or
English. Figure 7 summarises the interviews.
Institution Specialisation Specialists Students
Initial education 3 2 focus groups (nº 10)

Public
Languages - 1 focus group (nº 4)
Initial education 2 1 focus group (nº 6)

Private
Languages 1 -
TOTAL 6 4 focus groups (nº 20)
Figure 7: The number of interviews and focus groups in teacher education institutions

3.3.1.4. Other interviews
The original list of possible stakeholders included intended interviews with

Ministry of Education materials developers, trade union representatives
and Peru English Teachers Association representatives. Subsequently, it
was only possible to interview an English Teachers Association represent-
ative.
3.3.2. Online surveys - participants
Three surveys were created for purposes of the study:
1) A ‘Teachers’ Survey’ for initial education teachers with or without an

early English initiative.
2) A ‘Directors’ Survey’ – for School directors, and PRONOEI promoters

and coordinators with or without an early English initiative.
3) A ‘Teacher Educators’ survey’ – for initial education and English teacher

educators in Peru.
These surveys can be accessed through these links:
Appendix 5: https://pe.live.solas.britishcouncil.digital/sites/default/files/
appendix_5_-_teacher_survey.pdf
appendix_6_-_director_survey.pdf
appendix_7_-_teacher_trainer_survey.pdf
Surveys 1 and 2 went live on 24 July through Ministry of Education com-

munication lines. Both were closed on 14 August. The Teacher Educator
Survey, which was intended for all teacher education institutions in Peru
encountered dissemination difficulties and was abandoned due to time
limitations for the report.
Incomplete surveys were accepted if at least 60 per cent of the survey

questions had been answered. Other surveys were disregarded if it was
clear from the responses that the respondent was not referring to an initial
education service of any sort. Figure 8 provides a summary of the num-
ber of responses received and analysed —a total of 733 initial education
teachers’ surveys and 249 school director surveys.
41
Ucayali
Tumbes
Tacna
San Martín
Puno
Piura
Pasco
Moquegua Responses Responses Complete Incomplete*
Survey
Madre de Dios received accepted responses responses
Loreto
Teachers
Lima (Región) 1044 726 544 (74,2%) 182 (24,8%)
Lima Metropolitana
Regiones
School directors
Lambayeque
332 249 218 (87,6%) 31 (12,4%)
La Libertad
Key * = completed 60 per cent of questions and above
Junín
Ica Figure 8: The number of surveys received and accepted
Huánuco
Huancavelica Directores
3.3.2.1. Survey respondents – regional locations represented
Cusco
Maestros
Callao
Cajamarca
In relation to the regions covered by the survey respondents, it is possible
Ayacucho
to see from Figure 9 that all regions are represented, however the larg-
Arequipa
est numberApurímac
of responses were received from the Metropolitan Lima area,
(Teachers’ 33,2 per cent and Directors’ 16,87 per cent) and the smallest
Áncash
Amazonas
number was from Madre de Dios. This reflects, to a certain extent, the
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
spread of the population in Peru, where 31 per cent is found in the Lima
Porcentaje de respuestas
Metropolitan Region and 0,44 per cent is in Madre de Dios.
Amazonas
Áncash
Apurímac
Arequipa
Ayacucho
Cajamarca
Callao
Cusco
Huancavelica
Huánuco
Ica
Junín
Regions
La Libertad
Lambayeque
Lima Metropolitana
Lima (Región)
Loreto
Madre de Dios
Moquegua
Pasco Teachers
Directors
Piura
Puno
San Martín
Tacna
Tumbes
Ucayali
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Percentage of responses
Figure 9: Survey responses: Regional representation

3.3.2.2. Survey respondents – school services represented
Centro Educativo privado
Servicio
Figure 10 shows where the respondents were based: in the teachers’
PRONOEI
sur-
Directores
Maestros
vey, those who indicated they were initial education or primary teachers
were mostly
Centro based
Educativo públicoin public school services (79,8 per cent), as were the
directors (83,1 per cent).

0 A10small
20 proportion
30 40 50were
60 based
70 80in PRONOEIs
90 – 2,4
per cent (teachers) and 8,8 per cent (directors).
Porcentaje A larger percentage of
de respuestas
teachers were based in private school services (17,8 per cent) compared
with directors (8 per cent).
Private school service

Services
PRONOEI Directors
Teachers
Public school service
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Figure 10: Survey responses: School services
3.3.2.3. Survey respondents – respondent profiles
The teachers’ survey was completed by a range of teachers and others,

although it had been created for initial education teachers only. Figure 11
Profesión o actividad
Otra
represents theseOtra
results, which show that just over half of the respondents
profesión
were initialMaestro
education teachers (61,3 per cent). The remaining respondents
de secundaria
were primary teachers
Maestro (17,4 per cent) and secondary teachers (11,2 per
de primaria
cent) —this last group could have included secondary English teachers. A
Maestro de Ingles / idiomas
further 5,5 perMaestro
cent deindicated
inicial
they were English teachers and the remain-
ing (just under 6 per cent) were
0
from
10
other
20
professions
30 40
e.g. psychologists,
50 60 70
secretaries, teacher educators, engineers, administrators,
Porcentaje de respuestasICT specialists,
an anthropologist, an economist, a sociologist, auxiliary staff, university
students and mothers.
Profession or activity
Other
Other profession
Secondary teacher
Primary teacher
English teacher
Initial education teacher
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Figure 11: Survey responses: Respondent profession or activity
43
Those who were not initial education teachers may have completed the
survey because they worked in schools that included multiple levels (ini-
S
tial, primary and secondary). Additionally, as we will see further on, they
P
may have been responsible for teaching English in initial education. They
Niveles de educación
P-S
may also have completed the survey because they wanted to voice their
I
opinion.
I-P
Directores
I-P-S Maestros
A decision
C was made to keep all surveys which met the criterion for ac-
ceptance
C-I (completing 60 per cent or more questions). However, when
considering
C-I-P questions related specifically to initial education teachers
(e.g.C-I-P-S
How well do you speak English? Do you feel confident teaching Eng-
lish?), and 0anything
10 related
20 to descriptions
30 40 of50English
60initiatives,
70 we used
Porcentaje
responses from initial education de respuestas
teachers only. Services with initial educa-
tion accounted for a total of 81 per cent (teachers’ survey) and 97,1 per
cent (directors’ survey) of the responses, and Figure 12 shows the break-
down of survey participants and their cited institutions.
S
P
Levels of education
P-S
I
I-P
Directors
I-P-S Teachers
I
N-I
N-I-P
N-I-P-S
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Key: N= nursery; I= initial education; P= primary education; S= secondary education
Figure 12: Survey responses: Levels of education included in school services
3.3.2.4. Survey respondents – languages taught in represented

services
For the purposes of the survey, the educational institutions were cate-
gorized into those that spoke Spanish or Spanish and an indigenous lan-
guage and those that learned English, either low-exposure (EFL) or bilin-
gual/immersion. As seen in Figure 10, the majority of responses to both
surveys came from the public sector. However, it is clear in Figure 13,
taking into consideration both the teachers’ and the directors’ survey, that
respondents in the private sector confirmed a far greater total number
of early English initiatives, (Teachers 92 per cent and Directors 85 per
cent). In the public sector only around 14 per cent of the respondents

100
90
indicated an early English initiative (Teachers’ 14.3 per cent and Directors
80
13.6 per cent). Care should be taken regarding the teachers’ responses:
70
a director’s
60
response would represent one institution; an initial education
Maestros - público
teacher’s response may be one of several teachers responding from one
“
50 Directores - público
institution. Maestros - privado
However,
40
Directores - privado
30
the more Of the

20 different early English initiatives, the EFL model (two lessons per
surprising
10
week) was the most popular in both public and private contexts. As may
0
be expected,
Esp the bilingual Spanish
Bi Esp English models are only evident in the
outcome is
Esp + Bi Esp / Ind Bi Esp Total Ing
IngLE / Ind + IngLE / Ing
private sector. These results confirm that English is very clearly part of pri-
Lenguas enseñadas
the mention of vate initial education services. However, the more surprising outcome is
the mention of early English initiatives in 14 per cent of the public sector.
early English
initiatives in 14 100
per cent of the 90
public sector”
80
70
60
Teachers - public
50 Directors - public
Teachers - private
40
Directors - private
30
20
10
0
Sp Sp + EFL Bi Sp Bi Sp / Ind Bi Sp Total Eng
/ Ind + EFL / Eng
Languages taught
Key: Sp = Spanish; EFL= low-exposure English; Bi Sp = Bilingual Spanish;
Eng = English; Ind = Indigenous language
Figure 13: Survey responses: Indications of early English initiatives in public
and private sectors of initial education
3.4. Initial education institutions

The initial education institutions will be described according to the four
aspects of the setting which structured our observations. First the public
schools are described and discussed and then the private schools are
described and discussed.
3.4.1. Public initial education institution 1 PRONOEI

(Iquitos)
3.4.1.1. Physical aspects
This non-school service was situated in a residential area of Iquitos, on a

dirt road, and as it had been raining, much of the street was puddled and
45
muddy. The building was made of brick, with wooden extensions and a tin
roof. There was no glass in the one window, although it could be closed
with shutters.
The classroom was the front room of the PRONOEI’s facilitator and was
approximately 4 by 6 metres. Some of the wooden walls had been painted
using bright colours —pink, green and blue— others were left unpainted,
with large pictures of flowers hanging on them. These had been painted by
the facilitator’s adult son. The other walls were made of brick and the floor
was bare concrete. There was a large table with chairs for all the children,
a sofa and some shelves. Resources included a large music centre, a box
of books, paper, crayons and construction toys.
The children ate their lunch during the morning, so the facilitator’s kitchen
was used for this service, with supplies provided by the authorities.
The space was organised so that all the children could sit around the large
table. On one wall, there were routine posters showing that children began
their day talking about such things as the days of the week, the weather,
taking a register and reciting a poem.
3.4.1.2. Human aspects
On the morning of our visit, there were nine children present; three boys
and six girls between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. We were informed
there were a total of 14 children enrolled. The facilitator told us that on
rainy days, fewer children came to the PRONOEI. No special educational
needs were reported. The children spoke Spanish and were from the local
neighbourhood.
The facilitator was a middle-aged woman with grown-up children of her

own. She spoke Spanish and had never learned English but told us her
own children were studying English at university. During our interview, she
indicated she would not be able to teach English.
3.4.1.3. Interactional and programme aspects
When we arrived, the children sang a song for us in Spanish and then sat
quietly looking at books. Each child had a book and the facilitator walked
around the table asking questions in Spanish like, ¿Qué están haciendo en
las fotos? (What are they doing in the pictures?) and ¿Qué están mirando?
(What are you looking at?). She also pointed at pictures and asked children
to label colours and objects. Later they were asked to draw a group picture
of what they liked doing at school. They were given two A2 sheets of paper

and crayons. As children finished, they were allowed to play with building
blocks. They became more animated and quite noisy as they played. We
were not able to discuss planning or objectives with the facilitator.
When we interviewed the children with the puppet, they were reticent to
answer our questions. They did not appear to know what language they
spoke, but eventually a child told us that they all spoke Spanish.
3.4.2. Public initial education institution 2 (Iquitos)
3.4.2.1. The physical aspects
This school service was in a semi-residential area in Iquitos. The road was
tarmacked, and busy with cars and the mototaxis that are used as public
transport in Iquitos. The building was large and typical of many of the
schools we saw and visited during our trip. High walls surrounded the
school, with a large iron gate at the entrance. There was a small garden
with flowers, bushes and trees in front of the school gate, decorated with
painted tyres and plastic bottles.
Inside the gates, the schoolyard was spacious, with eight classrooms lo-
cated in blocks around a large playground, a set of children’s toilets and an
office for the director. The classrooms were of a substantial size (approxi-
mately 6 x10 metres) and well lit, with large windows and white walls. The
floor was covered with tiles. There were sets of tables and chairs and also
fairly well-equipped learning centres (e.g. a home area, a stereo system,
a construction centre, a classroom library). Time lines were clearly vis-
ible on the walls, with responsibility charts and examples of children’s art
work.
The school operated in morning and afternoon shifts, with eight initial
education teachers in the morning and seven in the afternoon. The class-
rooms were thus used by two groups of children. There was a school di-
rector who coordinated the teachers and their activities. The director de-
scribed the afternoon teachers as being older and a little more traditional
in approach. The teachers we interviewed were from the morning shift,
they were both in their late 20s and were very positive about teaching and
learning English in initial education. They both felt their English was suf-
ficient to teach English to the children in their care.
The school catered for 405 children, all in cycle II and five had special
educational needs. The children came from the nearby neighbourhoods
47
and belonged to middle to lower-middle classes. They all spoke Spanish.
Class groups were organised into homogenous age groups. There was no
early English language initiative.
We were able to observe an initial education teacher and a group of six-

teen 5-year-olds made up of eleven boys and five girls.
The session we observed was about identification cards and had a very
clear focus and structure. The initial education teacher sat with the chil-
dren in a circle on the floor and explained the learning aims, making links
with their prior learning. It was clearly staged, consisting of explanation
and discussion, modelling of the worksheet, completion of the worksheet
and then reflection and sharing of completed work. The teacher was also
observed using effective prompts and encouraging discussion about the
chosen topic.
The worksheet was a photocopy from a book, and was quite small and
inappropriate for the children, who had to write their names and ages in
very small spaces. They also had to draw their faces in a very small square
(imitating a photograph). The children did not work at tables, but instead
on the floor, which did not look very comfortable and did not provide a
suitable support for writing.
When we interviewed the children with the puppet, they were quiet and
unwilling to answer our questions. However, they were able to tell us that
they spoke Spanish and who they speak Spanish with, ‘Hablamos español
con mamá, papá y la señorita’ (We speak Spanish with mummy, daddy and
the teacher). The children did not seem to be aware of the existence of
languages.
3.4.3. Public initial education institution 3 (Metropolitan

Lima)
This school was a Bilingual Intercultural school, and the children were
taught in Shipibo and Spanish.
The school sat prominently on a small hill in the middle of a large shanty-
town in the Metropolitan area of Lima. The neighbouring area had recently
been burned down in a fire and the newer accommodation had been pro-
vided by the local authorities. We saw families in nearby homes embroi-

dering traditional fabric and jewellery, and sewing objects to take to the
markets to sell to tourists.
The school building was surrounded by a large fence and gate. The style
was similar to the previous school, with classrooms and buildings creating
a courtyard play area. However, this time, a tarpaulin covered the play area
to protect the children from the sun. There was no grass, only earth and
cement. The school had seven classrooms, toilets, a small communal room
with Shipibo artefacts, a director’s office and a small kitchen.
Three of the classrooms were for initial education; all were fairly small
(around 10 by 6 metres), with a window onto the play area. The rooms had
whiteboards, tables and chairs and play equipment. Learning centres were
visible and included a painting area, a music area, a library area, a home
dramatic play area, a construction area and a puzzle and block area. The
children sat around the tables, organised in long rows, so there was no
available space to interact in a circle. The rooms varied in their decoration;
one was particularly colourful, with signs and decorations indicating the
names of the learning areas in both Shipibo and Spanish. Shipibo was very
visible both in the signs and in the decorations, which imitated traditional
designs. Figure 14 shows a bilingual sign, using the traditional Shipibo
pattern.
Figure 14: A bilingual sign, showing Shipibo and Spanish in the public school
in Metropolitan Lima
The rest of the school also had many bilingual signs, or signs in Shipibo
only. In one room, there was a large poster of the Peruvian national an-
them in both Shipibo and Spanish.
49
The school was attended by a total of 254 primary (nº 124) and initial
education students (nº 130). There were six initial education teachers, in-
cluding the director, who worked in shifts, three in the morning and three
in the afternoon. Children were grouped according to age, with a class of
3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the morning and another in the afternoon with the
same characteristics. They all came from the surrounding neighbourhood
and were from families with a very low socio-economic status.
The teachers were not all bilingual Shipibo and Spanish speak-
ers, but we were informed they had learned enough Shipibo to
be able to plan for a bilingual education. The children were very
interested in their visitors and keen to show us that they spoke
Shipibo. They sang traditional songs and danced enthusiastically
and were very communicative when the puppet appeared to in-
terview them. When asked who they spoke Shipibo to, they listed
their teacher, their classmates and family members. Some chil-
dren also told us that they spoke Spanish with their families. When
asked if they would like to learn another language, a child replied ‘Inglés’,
(English) —his reason being ‘Para estudiar’ (To study). Another child want-
ed to teach her grandmother; another wanted to learn ‘¡Porque sí!’ (Just
because!).
During our interview with the director, she stated that she believed it was
the children’s right to learn English, as it gives them access to study and
work opportunities, however she added that it was important that ‘The
teaching of English should not take precedence over their original iden-
tity’ and that the materials used were age appropriate (Interview, D4).
In this school we were unable to interview parents, or an initial education

teacher as the school was short staffed.
We did not observe a session in this school, but visited the classrooms and
met some of the children. We were informed that they began their day in
Shipibo and only speak Spanish after break. It was obvious that they began
their day with routines, as visual prompts were on the walls. Large piles of
text books in Shipibo and Spanish were also visible. It was not clear how
play was organized, and we were not able to find out.
We saw evidence of both the use of traditional Shipibo rhymes, as well as

the translation of traditional stories into Shipibo, e.g. The Three Little Pigs.

The text books supported the Bilingual Intercultural approach and there
were illustrations of Shipibo Indians and their traditional way of life.
3.4.4. Public initial education institution 4 (Metropolitan

Lima)
Set in a busy lower-middle class neighbourhood, the high walls surround-

ing this school were brightly coloured and well maintained. The large gates
opened onto a well-sized, covered patio, on the other side of which was
a grassy play area with climbing equipment. There were five classrooms,
toilets, a gym, a library, a chapel, a kitchen and an office for the director.
Each classroom was large and airy (around 12 by 10 metres), with windows
along two walls.
The rooms were well-stocked with materials and learning areas were very
evident, e.g. music, science, reading, blocks and construction etc. There
was also ample space outside for different activities including an area for
outside mural painting. It was particularly good to see the child-made ac-
tivity centre labels, in the 5-year-olds classroom, in the form of children’s
handwriting accompanied by illustrations (see Figure 15).
Figure 15: A child-made label for an activity centre
51
During our conversation with the director it became clear that she was
resourceful. Part of the outside school walls was used for advertising and
this regular income ensured that the school was well maintained and that
frequent acquisitions or maintenance work were made possible. A recent
acquisition had been the climbing frame on the grass. The classrooms had
also recently been painted.
The school operated on a shift system with 240 children attending in ei-
ther the morning or the afternoon. The school provided a crèche, two
classes of 3-year-olds, one class of 4-year-olds and two classes of 5-year-
olds. There were ten initial education teachers in all, together with the
director. Teachers and children all spoke Spanish. Of the four parents we
interviewed, just one mentioned having a family who spoke an indigenous
language (Quechua).
The school served a low-middle class neighbourhood. There was one child
on the autistic spectrum, who was given special educational support.
This particular school had been awarded many prizes for its approach to
initial education, which focused on developing the arts through workshops.
The initial education teachers planned for one hour of the children’s time
to include these workshops, where each room became a space dedicated
Figure 16: A poster showing how the children contributed to planning

during a project about their family

to an activity, e.g. dance and movement, music, painting, modelling, dress-
ing up etc. The 120 children attending would decide where they wanted to
go and move around the different spaces for the hour.
Though we did not formally observe children with their early education
teacher, we were able to speak to a teacher about her work as she was
clearing up after the morning shift, which was clearly based on the project
approach. We saw evidence of joint planning with the children (Figure 16),
and a variety of different final products.
The director had been at the school for some time and was responsible
for the introduction of the arts workshop approach. There was no English
here but the director would have been very happy for an initiative to take
place. She believed that it should be the responsibility of the initial edu-
cation teacher but that they should be trained in advance. Otherwise it
should be an English teacher. She was also explicit that this would require
that the two teachers worked together. We interviewed one morning initial
education teacher and she was also of the opinion that English should
be the responsibility of both an initial education teacher and an English
teacher.
The four parents we interviewed stated that English was an important lan-
guage, but one parent also suggested that Italian might be useful, as might
Portuguese, ‘…because there are lots of connections with Brazil’ (Inter-
view, P5.2) and two felt that Quechua should also be taught.
We were able to speak to a group of 5-year-old children who told us they

all spoke Spanish at home to their parents, their brothers and sisters and
to their teachers. When asked by the puppet what other languages they
would like to learn, a child called out ‘Chinese’. He justified his choice by
telling us, ‘Porque allá comen arroz’ (Because they eat rice there) (Inter-
view, C5). Another child wanted to speak English so he could travel.
3.4.5. Public initial education institution 6 (Cusco)
This school was another of the Bilingual Intercultural schools, and the chil-
dren were taught in Quechua and Spanish.
The public school selected for us to visit was about 30 minutes from the
city of Cusco and over 4000m above sea level, in the Andean mountain
range, in an area of subsistence potato farming. It was a very poor area
and the school served a small village of brick houses that lined dirt roads.
53
A high wall surrounded the school and the gate opened into a small ce-
ment courtyard covered in recently created chalk outlines of the children.
There was also a set of swings in a patch of luscious green grass. The
school was small, with just two classrooms, a toilet, a small storeroom and
a kitchen. The two classrooms were medium sized (12 by 7 metres) with
just one window and furnished with tables and chairs and a board –there
was no visible space for activities in a circle.
The rooms were well resourced, with shelves full of building blocks, beads,
wooden toys, puzzles and drawing materials. The book corners were also
well stocked with picture books and big books, some of which had been
made by the initial education teachers. There were also collections of Que-
chua songs and rhymes for use in the classroom, as well as textbooks in
Quechua. Learning areas were not evident, but resources appeared to be
in the boxes on the shelves, for use during free play activities.
As this was a bilingual Quechua-Spanish school, there was some evidence

of Quechua on the walls, in routine posters and number posters. There
was a mix of Quechua and Spanish rhyme posters, picture storybooks
and Quechua textbooks. During the interview with the initial education
teacher, we asked about the children’s Quechua textbooks and she ex-
plained that they were a useful tool. However, as Quechua was spoken in
a variety of contexts in Peru, some of the illustrations were inadequate,
showing palm trees and the sea, which the children in the mountains had
never seen. She felt that they were not culturally appropriate for these
children.
The school had a total of 42 children on register in cycle II of Peruvian

initial education. The 5-year-olds were in one room and the 3- and 4-year-
olds in another. The director was one of the two initial education teachers
and there was also an auxiliary staff member who had trained as a primary
school teacher. Both initial education teachers spoke Quechua. The direc-
tor spoke Spanish, Quechua, Portuguese, Italian and a little English. She
had a postgraduate degree in early childhood education and had required
these languages for her studies. The initial education teacher we inter-
viewed had studied in Quechua at university and also spoke Aymara.
The mothers were involved quite extensively in the school, and a different
mother was on a rota each day to help prepare lunches in the kitchen. The
provisions came from the Ministry of Education together with donations
of their own produce. The director explained that there was a small fine
for mother’s who were unable to come, which in the previous year had re-

sulted in enough money to buy a television for the school. In general, par-
ents were subsistence potato farmers or taxi drivers in Cusco if they had
a car.
There was a mother sitting next to her child in the class that we observed.
This, we were told, was because the child was still getting used to school.
The mother was knitting and dressed in a traditional multi-layered skirt,
warm jumper and brightly-coloured shawl, with socks and open-toed san-
dals, or ojotas (see Figure 17). The children also wore thick woollen, of-
ten hand-knitted, jumpers. The temperatures were cooler than anywhere
else we had been, and the children and their teachers wore several layers
of thick jumpers, cardigans or coats. The children’s outdoor shoes, often
open-toed sandals, were left outside the classroom, and they wore wool-
len slippers, or nothing at all, in the classroom. Many of the children also
had little woollen hats, which sat on the shelf and were worn when they
went outside.
Figure 17: Ojotas at the classroom door
The class we observed briefly was a mix of 3- and 4-year-olds. Of the 22

registered children, only 14 were present. During our interview with their
initial education teacher, she explained that it was the potato harvest time,
and parents often took their children with them because they were wor-
ried about leaving them at home —this appeared to be because some
homes had no doors.
55
The initial education teacher explained that children spend the first hour
of their morning speaking Quechua and the rest speaking Spanish. We
arrived a little before their break. The children had been talking about
mothers, as it was soon to be Mother’s Day (14 May) and they were getting
ready to draw their families using lead pencils. Once completed, the chil-
dren were questioned about who they had drawn and the initial education
teacher labelled each picture in Spanish. They then hung their picture up
on a hook, put on their hat, changed their shoes and went out to play.
When we interviewed this group of children, they needed translations into

Quechua by their teacher. They told us they spoke Quechua and Spanish
with their family and their teacher. However, the teacher assured us they
spoke mostly Quechua at home. When asked if they would like to speak
other languages, they were prompted with a variety of possible languages
by their teacher, which we understood to include Aymara and English. Chil-
dren called out both options in Quechua, but when asked why they might
want to learn English, a child justified his choice with: ‘Para viajar’
(To travel) (Interview, C6).
During the interview with the initial education teacher, she ex-
pressed her belief that children should learn English and that it
should be taught by the initial education teacher. She only had
a basic level of English but she felt she had successfully taught
English in a previous school, where the children ‘learned songs
in English, the colours in English, animals and their homes in
English’ (Interview, M6). It was her opinion that all initial educa-
tion teachers should be flexible and should learn the languages
required by their children, which could be Quechua, Aymara, English or
another indigenous language. It was also her opinion that children who
spoke Quechua and Spanish were quick at picking up English, or any other
language. When asked what the focus should be in teacher education, she
felt strongly that it should be methodologies, for a basic level of English
was enough to teach children in initial education, ‘which is the basics …
colours, animals, songs and greetings’.
During our interview with the director, she informed us that though the
Ministry guidelines indicated that the children should have 30 minutes of
Spanish every day, she had extended this as children were able to speak
Spanish already and she wanted them to leave school as confident speak-
ers of Spanish. Some children went to primary school in Cusco, where the
children speaking indigenous languages were separated from their peers.
She believed this was against the rights of the child, so she did her best to
ensure children spoke Spanish when they left her school.

3.4.6. Public schools – final comments
Visits to public schools were emotional, as some of them were in

regions of poverty and populated with children who required sup-
port from the state to enable them to grow into healthy children and
to develop to their full potential. Nevertheless, the schools were all
well-resourced, with evidence of practices that followed the initial
education curriculum, ensuring above all that children’s rights were
respected. As all schools had been purpose built, they all afforded
opportunities for play and child-initiated activities indoors and out,
with indoor and outdoor play areas, and also in the way the class-
rooms were set up with learning centres and multiple resources,
even in the schools in more impoverished areas.
Bilingual Intercultural schools were especially interesting, mainly for

their thought-provoking examples of how to support and maintain
a bicultural environment. The activities and approaches in these
schools were of particular interest due to their proximity to practices
associated with any early language learning initiative.
3.4.7. Private initial education institution 1 (Iquitos)
The private initial education centre we visited in Iquitos was very close
to the city centre and had been open since 2009. It appeared to have
originally been a warehouse, with large doors opening onto the pavement.
The school had a covered indoor space with a climbing frame, four small
classrooms, an office, a small kitchen and two toilets. Each classroom was
about 5 by 5 metres and had no windows.
The classrooms contained small tables and chairs, which could be moved
to make space for activities in a circle, a whiteboard, shelves for children’s
textbooks and wall space with teacher-made decorations. The classroom
in which we observed an English lesson had four learning centres, a music
centre, a building block and construction centre, a house area and a small
library with Spanish books. There was no evidence of the children learning
English, except for a pile of textbooks on a shelf.
The school was run by a retired army officer and his wife. It had four initial
education teachers and 49 children from ages 2 to 5 years old, grouped
by age. The children came from middle to lower-middle class backgrounds
57
and spoke Spanish. All teachers were qualified initial education teachers.
The teacher we interviewed worked with two-year-olds and also taught
them English. She indicated her level of English was basic. We observed an
English lesson with a group of 4-year olds. There were 16 children in the
class; six boys and ten girls. Their teacher was an initial education teacher,
who was not able to answer any questions we asked her in English.
The school was advertised as being bilingual (Spanish and English) and the
children received 30 minutes of English instruction per week, according to
the director. All children from the age of 2 years old learned English, the
cost of which was incorporated into the monthly fees. The children were
taught English by their initial education teachers.
The objectives of the English programme were that children ‘learned the
basics’ and ‘the level of expectations increased considering the entry re-
quirements for primary education’ (Interview, D3). When asked what kinds
of activities were planned for English, we were told these were ‘games’
and the resources used were ‘books’. The children were evaluated on a
monthly basis, using a quantitative grade system from A to D. According
to the school director, the teachers followed a programme created by the
school direction. We were not given a copy of this document.
The director was of the opinion that the children enjoyed English and
that parents appreciated the fact that English was part of their children’s
education. He also felt that the initial education teachers supported the
school’s concern for including English and were motivated in their work.
He was unaware of any problems they might have and also felt that the
initial education teacher should be responsible for English teaching, as
she had been trained to work with small children.
During our interview with the initial education teacher (Interview, M3), who
was responsible for the 2-year-olds, she showed enthusiasm for teaching
English and stated the objectives were to ‘learn and value the language’
and that the children seemed happy to learn English. She described the
programme as being determined by ‘the materials that were used’ and
that these were ‘Visual material, the children’s surroundings, books, and
other materials made by teachers’; she also stated that 2-year-olds are
not really evaluated, except for in their use of greetings’ and she empha-
sized that 5-year-olds are given homework. She described her 2-year-old
children as using English during games and to name animals, but that they
were not forthcoming their use of English with her.

3.4.8. Private initial education institution 2 (Cusco)
The private school that had originally been programmed for our visit in
Cusco did not materialize and so the school we eventually visited received
us with no warning, but with open arms. It was advertised as a bilingual
Spanish-English school.
The school was in a lower-middle class area of Cusco, on a main road and
surrounded by residential buildings. The installations were originally built
for living purposes, and had been remodelled to serve as a school. The
inside of the school was bright and cheerful with teacher-made notices,
pictures and posters on all the corridor walls.
The school was small, with four classrooms, a kitchen, toilets, a small area
for gymnastics and an outside playing area. The director’s office was situ-
ated in the upstairs hall area. We were not given a tour, but the classroom
we saw (5-to 6-year-olds) was small (5 by 6 metres), with a large window
at one end. One wall was dominated by a white board, and another by
shelves. There were two circular tables with chairs around them for the 11
children in the group. There was also a desk for the teacher. This left little
space for anything else. There was no evidence of child-made art work or
learning areas, neither was it visibly evident that the children were learn-
ing English, except for some textbooks and CDs on a shelf.
The school catered for children in cycle II of initial education and also
grade 1 of primary education and there were plans to expand into the
other years of primary. The school was owned and run by an initial educa-
tion teacher and her husband. There were three initial education teachers
and a primary teacher as well as an auxiliary staff member. The director
was responsible for teaching English to the 5-year-olds. However, dur-
ing our interview she confirmed she spoke basic English and was able to
use simple vocabulary like greetings, colours, the days of the week and
months of the year and talk about animals, but she couldn’t really speak in
English. She was very concerned about her pronunciation, and explained
how she prepared by looking at a dictionary, practising the sounds, or
speaking to her older son who spoke good English. The director admitted
that the initial education teachers all had a basic level of English, but that
they knew how to work with young children, which she considered to be
more important.
59
There were a total of 36 children in the school, divided into small homo-
geneous age groups: nine 3-year-olds, thirteen 4-year-olds, eleven 5-year-
olds and three grade 1 children. We observed the 5-year-old class, made
up of six boys and three girls. They all spoke Spanish and were from lower-
middle class families. We were informed that there were no children with
special educational needs in the school at that time.
We were able to interview the 5-year-old children, who told us they spoke
Spanish. One child told us she spoke English and Spanish. Several chil-
dren talked about wanting to visit China. Others told us they spoke English
when they had been to Disneyland. When the puppet asked what they
did in English, several children called out the word ‘scissors’ and ‘eraser’,
another child told us they had learned how to name animals in English,
using words like ‘lizard’. When asked why they thought they needed to
learn English, one child said she wanted to be a ballerina and would need
English to study.
The school had been open for nine years and had always included English
in its curriculum. During our interview, the director described the objec-
tives as being that children should ‘understand that Spanish is not the only
language, that there are many others and that we can learn things from
other languages’ (Interview, D7). She has chosen to teach English because
it is a language that is spoken all over the world.
We were also able to discern that the English programme followed the chil-
dren’s learning in Spanish, ‘For example if we are studying geometric fig-
ures … they are asked to also work in English.’ (Interview D7). The director
called this ‘working in parallel’, and explained that parents’ feedback had
been very positive; ‘There have been many mums who say that their chil-
dren here knew more English than children who were in more advanced
schools’ (Interview, D7). She also hinted at their being an advantage in
having small groups, which enabled a more personalised approach.
The children had English for two to three hours a week ‘depending’, al-
though it was not clear what this was dependent upon. The routine mo-
ments during morning circle time were described as taking place in Span-
ish, English and Quechua (Interview, M7), with the children saying the days
of the week and the months of the year in the three languages. Children
were also encouraged to label objects they knew in English; as such, when
they asked for scissors or pencils, they should ask in English (Interview,
D7). The initial education teacher we interviewed described the children
calling her ‘Teacher’, when they came into the classroom. She used pic-

tures to help her teach, as well as song on CDs and the Internet to pro-
vide the children with access to the correct pronunciation. She was very
conscious that she was just a beginner and so her pronunciation needed
improvement. However, she felt that the goal was for the children to learn
the basics, words associated with the themes she was working on in Span-
ish. She did not feel that children could be expected to speak fluently, but
that they would learn gradually (Interview, M7).
3.4.9. Private schools - final comments
The private schools we visited were quite different to the public schools
and this difference was evidenced not only in the inclusion of English ac-
tivities. Both schools were in buildings which had originally been
built for other purposes —this meant that they did not have the
purpose-built amenities invaluable in a school for small children. An
outside play area was the most surprising element that was miss-
ing. In addition to this, after visiting public schools that were rich in
resources and set up to value the child’s role in discovery through
action and play, it was disconcerting to see small, cramped class-
rooms with very few resources and more formal looking settings.
The default privatization view expressed at the beginning of this
report is difficult to comprehend, when private schools appeared to be
significantly more impoverished in terms of space and resources.
Balarin (2015) has argued that parents believe that the quality of teaching
is better in the private sector. She writes:
This idea that more subjects or more ‘advanced’ topics stand for bet-
ter quality teaching/learning processes has little support from edu-
cational theory and is at odds with what is proposed in the National
School Curriculum, which has a more comprehensive approach to
learning in the early years (2015: 21).
It is not possible to pass judgement on the quality of the teaching/learning

context in Spanish. However, it is possible to consider what we saw with
regard to English, which will be discussed later on in this report.
61
PART 4: Discussion of
emerging issues
4.1. Attitudes towards learning English in

initial education in Peru
4.1.1. Learning other languages in Peruvian education
From our visits to the seven initial education institutions, the Ministry of
Education, the local authorities and the teacher education centres, we
discerned a positive attitude towards the inclusion of other languages in
cycle II of initial education in Peru. This was also the case in the data gath-
ered from the surveys, with responses indicating that it was either impor-
tant or very important that other languages be taught in Peruvian schools
averaging 91 per cent. However, there were responses that attributed little
or no importance to this issue (Teachers’ survey 1,8 per cent and Direc-
tors’ Survey 7,1 per cent).
When asked which other language should be taught, English was the lan-
guage of choice in all interviews; however indigenous languages were
also mentioned as being relevant (mostly Quechua) by just over a third of
the interviewees. There was also mention of European languages such as
French, Italian and Portuguese, because of Peru’s proximity to Brazil.
In the teachers’ and directors’ surveys for institutions with no English lan-
guage program, respondents were asked to select three other languages
that they thought should be taught in Peru. The choice was restricted to
nine languages registered as being spoken in Peru, this including a sin-
gle reference to ‘indigenous languages’. As demonstrated in Figure 18,
English was the most popular choice by respondents in both the surveys
(around 97 per cent) followed by indigenous languages (around 73 per
cent). Chinese and French (around 30 per cent) were popular in the teach-
ers’ survey, but Chinese and Portuguese (between 21 and 29 per cent)
were more popular in the directors’ survey. German and Arabic were the
least popular in both surveys.
These results are unsurprising and confirm the interest in learning English
which has already been noted in the British Council report (2015).

Chino
Árabe
Alemán
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Portuguese
Japanese
Italian
Languages
Indigenous Languages
German Directors
Teachers
French
English
Chinese
Arab
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Figure 18: Survey responses - Preferred choice of other language in initial education in Peru
4.1.2. The age at which English should be taught
Understanding what participants and survey respondents thought about

the ideal starting age for learning English was one of the main objectives
of the study. Most interviewees specified initial education or cycle II as an
appropriate time; however some participants highlighted the relevance
of children mastering their mother tongue first, or if they spoke an indig-
enous language at home, that they should be confident in Spanish before
learning a third language (Interviews, 8.1; 8.2; PubSt14). As such, context
was seen as being relevant to decision making.
One interviewee felt that no particular language should be selected, but

that the relevance of a particular language to individuals was more at
stake:
“In Peru an indigenous language could be learned, or English, or Chi-

nese ... whichever allows you to achieve more goals. It is a more utili-
tarian question; if it is an indigenous language, it has a relationship
with your affections and with your culture, your identity. A foreign
language is part of another identity, of being, of dressing, of speaking
...” (Interview, 8.3)
Another interviewee felt that the rural-urban divide in Peru meant that the
teaching of another language could be an issue:
“It is important but it depends on the context. In urban areas it is posi-

tive because [children] have access to television, magazines, even
toys that have instructions in English. They are continually learning,
researching. It is ideal (…) in rural contexts there is little contact with
63
English. I have difficulty teaching the mother tongue and Castilian
Spanish in rural areas.” (Interview, 8.2)
In the teachers’ and directors’ surveys for institutions with no

English, the vast majority of respondents, around 80 per cent,
selected initial education as the ideal age to start learning Eng-
lish. An average of 13 per cent indicated nursery age, 7 per cent
primary education and under 1 per cent specified secondary
education. This result was also to be expected, the survey clearly
focused on the possibility of introducing English in initial educa-
tion, and the trend, world-wide, is to include this level of educa-
tion in early language learning initiatives.
4.1.3. Reasons, benefits and issues in an early English

initiative in Peru
This section first analyses the data related to the reasons and benefits for
an early English initiative, going on to address the issues expressed by the
interviewees and survey respondents.
4.1.3.1. Reasons and benefits for an early English initiative
The reasons interviewees provided for including English in education in

Peru were classified into the following areas (in order of number of re-
sponses in each coding):
1. English as a facilitator – to access information, to facilitate learning in

later stages of education, to have access to better jobs
2. English as a tool to communicate with others – everyone speaks Eng-

lish
3. English as an obligation – it is a global, international language
4. English as a door to the world – travel is made easier
5. English as a window into other cultures – either to encounter other

cultures or to become cultured
6. English as an affirmation of equality – to balance out the difference

between private and public schools
7. English as a learning disposition – children are better at learning lan-

guages

In this list of classifications, the first five categories reflect the predomi-
nance of English as a global language, the increase in speakers of English
(Graddol, 2006) and the implications this has for the future of our children
today.
Category 6 - ‘English as an affirmation of equality’, manifested itself mostly

in parent responses. One parent in a very low SES context explained that
she wanted her child to learn English because ‘We would feel prouder’
(Interview, M6.2). This mother spoke Quechua and periodically needed a
translator during our interview. Our interpretation is that she was already
proud that her child was learning Spanish and Quechua, so a third lan-
guage would be an added benefit and represented a step towards narrow-
ing the gap between those who have and those who don’t.
The final classification, ‘English as a learning disposition’, was related to

children’s ability to learn languages from a young age, an opinion which
was also strongly evident when participants were asked to justify the
benefits of learning English in initial education. The vast majority of
interviewees adhered to ‘the earlier, the better’ belief.
In the surveys, respondents were asked to consider the benefits of

introducing English in initial education, arranging a set of reasons in
order of importance, from 1 to 8. Figure 19 shows the responses of
four different groups: Teachers and Directors in public services and
Teachers and Directors in private services. In each of these groups,
around 50 per cent selected the reasons pertaining to English as a learn-
ing disposition as being the most important: Reason 4, ‘Because children
find it easier to learn languages when they are small’ and Reason 6, ‘Be-
cause children can learn languages in a natural way in initial education’.
Additionally, the third-most-selected statement referred to English being
an obligation, reflected in Reason 8, ‘English is a universal language’.
Reason 1, ‘Because it prepares children for primary education’ belongs to

the ‘English as a facilitator’ category. In the surveys, this was the fourth-
most-popular reason, with a greater number of selections made by private
service directors, who may take this into consideration as English is likely
to be part of the primary curriculum if children continue into private edu-
cation. In interviews with parents, this was a common reason for including
English in initial education, e.g. ‘They would have a base for primary and
secondary’ (Interview, P2) and ‘She would already have the notion of Eng-
lish and it would not be as difficult as it was for me!’ (Interview P5.1).
65
1. Because it prepares children for
primary education
2. Because it teaches tolerance
and acceptance of others
3. Because children will pick up a
better pronunciation
4. Because children find it easier to learn
Reasons
languages when they are small

público 5. Because it is important to offer Teachers - public
- público additional activities in my school Directors - public
privado Teachers - private
- privado 6. Because children can learn languages Directors - private
in a natural way in initial education
7. Because it increases awareness
of other languages
8. Because English is a univseral language
0 50 100 150 200 250
Figure 19: Survey responses: Reasons for including English in initial education in Peru
Reason 3, ‘Because children will pick up better pronunciation’, was se-

lected as the most important objective between 12 and 20 per cent of
the respondents. Pronunciation and its importance when learning English
was a common thread throughout the interviews and survey responses
via the comment function. Here, the relative importance given to devel-
oping accurate pronunciation by learning English earlier is also evident.
However, to acquire good pronunciation, it is necessary to be exposed to
good models of the target language.
Finally, the statement selected as most important by the fewest respond-

ents was Reason 5, ‘Because it is important to offer additional activities in
my school’. It is pleasing that this particular reason is of the least impor-
tance. However, when analyzed to understand the spread between public
and private services, there is a surprising difference. No private directors
selected this reason. As we have seen, most private services include Eng-
lish, which is considered an additional activity that is unavailable in public
schools. The survey results do not suggest that this is their main reason
for including English. However around 15 per cent of private teachers and
public directors selected this reason as the most important. Regarding
public service directors, they may see the inclusion of English as a move
towards equality of services.
To summarise this section, it is clear that a considerable number of partici-

pants in the study believe that, as English is a global language, beginning
to learn it in initial education will bring long term benefits for young chil-
dren. In addition to this, children’s disposition towards learning languages

at a younger age is another popular reason given for the desire to have an
early English initiative in initial education. This will be discussed further as
the report progresses.
4.1.3.2. Issues associated with an early English initiative
In both the interviews and the surveys, participants were asked to indicate
whether there were any negative aspects regarding an early English initia-
tive in Peru, and in the survey, the option to add a comment was provided.
The survey results will be discussed first.
In both surveys, just over 16 per cent of the respondents indicated that
there were negative aspects related to an early English initiative, and
around a fifth of the survey respondents added a comment. Besides the
fact that in both surveys a third of these comments confirmed the positive
aspects of an early English initiative, the remaining two-thirds were subject
to content analysis and five categories of concern emerged. Figure 20
displays the percentages of response for each of these categories.
Categories of concern
Mother tongue(s) first
Teacher preparation and resources
Maestros Teachers
Quality of teaching English at present
Directores Directors
Children with language problems
Other
20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
aje de respuestas Percentage of responses

Figure 20: Survey responses: Categories of concern regarding the introduction
of English in initial education in Peru
The issues raised centre around the following:
• Concerns associated with the children’s mother tongue, e.g. speaking

Spanish properly and respecting indigenous languages.
• Concerns around teacher preparation, e.g. who should be trained and

the importance of appropriate methodologies and pronunciation is-
sues.
• Concerns around present practices in early English initiatives, e.g. inap-

propriate methodologies for small children.
• Concerns around children with language and speech difficulties
67
• Other concerns, e.g. the cost of such an initiative; curriculum issues
regarding less time to play.
In the interviews, no objections were voiced regarding English in initial ed-

ucation, though some follow-up comments pertained to issues which re-
flect those in the surveys. Concerns about the children’s mother tongues
related to identity were mentioned (see also citations in section 4.2.2),
‘… but the children’s linguistic identities and their context must be

respected in particular regarding urban centres and rural areas. It is
important to learn the mother tongues and Spanish’ (Interview, Pub-
TEd12.2).
In addition, in the interviews, there were references to the importance

of following appropriate methodologies: ‘As long as English is taught in a
playful way’ (Interview, D5). Concerns about teacher preparation were also
evident, with a significant number of mentions related to deficiencies in
initial education teachers’ pronunciation of English. This concern will also
be picked up later in the report.
4.2. Staff responsible for English in initial

education in Peru
This section looks at the data collected regarding the professional profile
of the staff responsible for English in initial education.
4.2.1. Opinions about who should teach English
The interviewees were asked who they thought should teach English in
initial education. Around half of the participants alluded to the relevance
of an English teacher, ‘Because she has more knowledge of the language’
(Interview, D7). Parents, directors and initial education university staff and
students were included in this opinion group; however, no initial education
teacher indicated that she thought it should be an English teacher.
During interviews with initial education university staff, the suggestion

that another teacher taught English was supported by the argument that
it would ‘make learning more dynamic’ (Interview, PubTEd12.1), or that
it would ‘make a difference between the two languages’ (Interview, Pub-
TEd12.2). This was also the view discussed in the student focus group,
supporting the idea of ‘a change of environment in the classroom when it
comes to learning English’ (Focus group, PubSt14).

Only a few of these assertions included the relevance of this teacher
knowing how to teach English to small children. However, there was also
a small group of participants, around a quarter, who felt that it should be
both professionals. One notion here is that the skills of both professionals
be brought together for the benefit of the learning environment. One of
the Initial education university staff suggested, ‘…the initial teacher
would handle the group of children and the English teacher should
teach the language nothing more’ (Interview, PubTEd12.3). This sug-
gests that the initial education teacher uses her knowledge of the
children she works with, which has been noted as especially impor-
tant when English teachers visit for short periods of time (Mourão
& Robinson, 2016). However, English is the sole responsibility of the
English teacher.
The initial education student focus group also felt that ‘It should be
a job for both [teachers], especially one that specializes in teaching
English but the initial teacher should have an intermediate or ad-
vanced level of English to reinforce children’s English learning’ (Fo-
cus group, PriSt16). Here the focus is on the initial education teacher
also being involved in the English learning experience and extending the
language beyond the visits of the specialist English teacher. It requires
training in English as well. A third approach to both teachers being in-
volved in an early English initiative was suggested by several interviewees
–the initial education teacher was responsible for English but supported
by an English teacher in some way. Though not specified, this might in-
volve language support or access to resources and planning ideas.
The remaining interviewees felt it should be the initial education teacher

who should be responsible for an early English initiative. Comparison be-
tween the approach in bilingual schools with the indigenous languages
and Spanish were also made, where an initial educator is responsible for
both languages. The difference between the objectives for learning an in-
digenous language and a foreign language, however, were not alluded to.
Arguments in support of the initial education teacher also made reference
to the fact that she was trained to work with small children, but several
interviewees highlighted the necessity for these teachers to speak English
well, or that such an initiative would require retraining.
One of the Ministry of Education representatives focused on the different

realities in Peru, ‘Ideally, it should be the same teacher, but we will see
some very variable realities. Teachers over the age of 50, young teachers,
it is difficult to ask the older teachers to learn the language’ (Interview,
8.2). This interviewee also understood the restrictions of putting such a
policy into practice, ‘Hiring a teacher who teaches [the initial education
69
teachers] English would be ideal but it is not feasible because we have
budget problems’ (Interview, 8.2).
The survey respondents were divided about who should teach English
in initial education. Figure 21 summarises the responses. The Directors
60
in schools with no early English initiative responded equally, around 45
50
per cent selecting either an initial education teacher with training in Eng-
lish, or
40 an English teacher with training in initial education. The Teachers’
survey was slightly more in favour of the initial education teacher
Mestros
with
30
training in English (54,4 per cent). The ‘Other’ category included a space
Directores
for explanatory
20 comments. In the Director’s survey, 75 per cent of these
comments stipulated it should be an English teacher —supposedly with-
10
out training in initial education. In the Teachers’ survey, around half of the
‘Other’0comments reinforced it should be an initial
La maestra inicial La maestra de inglés
education teacher with
Otros
training in con
English, but there
conocimiento conwere also comments suggesting it should be
conocimiento
de inglés de educación inicial
an English teacher (we suppose with no training in initial education) or
both professionals.
60
50
40
30 Teachers
Directors
20
10
0
Initial education English teacher Other
teacher trained to trained to work
teach English in initial education
Figure 21: Survey responses: Respondents opinion regarding who should

teach English in initial education in Peru
One of the university staff pronounced, ‘It is difficult, as it depends on

each case. A teacher not only has to have a good level of English but also
have knowledge of methodologies of her language teaching (Interview,
PriTEd15.1). One of the most difficult issues to resolve regarding a policy
for early English initiatives is which teacher profile model to follow. How-
ever, what is very clear is the relevance of qualified staff to create quality
settings and learning experiences for children in initial education (Euro-
pean Commission 2011). Teachers working with initial education children
require an understanding of the principles of early childhood education
and care pedagogy and child development, age-appropriate foreign lan-
guage methodologies as well as being sufficiently confident to speak flu-

ently and spontaneously to children in English, using language considered
suitable for this age group. Proficiency in English or a qualification in initial
education is not sufficient on its own, but a combination of the two, either
in two different people who collaborate, or in one very special teacher.
4.2.2. Who actually teaches English in initial education in

Peru?
Two of the schools we visited taught English; both were private services
and English was the responsibility of the initial education teacher, or the
director, who was also an initial education teacher.
The surveys also gave an opportunity to find out who taught English in
those services with an early English initiative. As demonstrated in Fig-
ure 22, there is a difference between public and private services.
Public
100 services in both the Teachers’ and Director’s surveys indicat-
ed
90 a greater number of initial education teachers with knowledge of
English,
80 being responsible for English (Teachers’ 43,9 per cent and
70
Directors’ 57 per cent). In the private sector, this was inverted, and
Otro
60
58 per cent of the responses, in both the Teachers’ anddeDirector’s
La maestra inglés
50
surveys, testify that English teachers, with knowledge of initialde
con conocimiento edu-
40 educación inicial
cation, are responsible for English. In the ‘Other’ category in both
30 La maestra inicial con
surveys, the vast majority responsible for English were designated
conocimiento de inglés
20
as ‘English teachers’. Some of these English teachers included a
10
comment, explaining that they had been trained to teach at all lev-
0
els of education.
MestrosAdditionally, there were
Directores Maestros university students, secondary
Directores
público
teachers from other público
subjects,privado privado
and professionals with unknown qualifica-
tions hired by parents.Encuestados
100
90
80
70
Other
60
50 English teacher with
initial education
40
Initial education
30 teacher with English
20
10
0
Teachers- Directors- Teachers- Directors-
public public private private
Respondents
Figure 22: Survey responses: Who teaches English in Initial education in Peru?
71
The results shared in this section demonstrate that there is a divide in
opinion about who should be teaching English and this division is repre-
sented in the staff found to actually be teaching. In addition, there is evi-
dence that some staff have neither training in initial education or English.
This mirrors reports of practices in many countries where initial educa-
tion policy does not take into account foreign language education (Černá
2015; Mourão & Ferreirinha, 2016; Portiková 2015).
4.2.3. Level of English competence and willingness to

teach English
One of the issues under debate for English teachers in primary educa-
tion is the appropriate language competency level. In Europe, the recom-
mended level seems to be B2 (Enever, 2011). However, in some countries
English teachers require a C1 level (e.g. Portugal). C1 level is considered
more desirable ‘as it enables teachers to be fully functional in the informal
and incidental language regularly required in primary classrooms’ (Enever,
2011: 26). There is little research into these requirements in pre-primary
contexts, however examples do exist: In Cyprus, where English is generally
spoken to a fairly high proficiency, due to its history as a British colony,
pre-primary teachers were retrained as English teachers, making the most
of their language competence. They are said to be of C1 level (Ioannou-
Georgio, 2015). In addition, very recent laws have been passed in certain
Autonomous Regions in Spain (Comunidad de Madrid, 2017), where Eng-
lish is now recommended from the age of 3, and teachers are required to
have C1-level proficiency in English. The opportunities for informal and
incidental language use would appear to warrant this higher proficiency,
so C1 may well be the level of competence required for initial education
teachers teaching English in pre-primary education.
4.2.4. Initial education teachers from institutions with no

early English initiatives
During the interviews, a question related to the self-assessment of lan-

guage competence was asked of all the interviewees, except the children.
Directors, initial education teachers, and Ministry of Education staff all
specified they were either a beginner in English, or at a basic level. One
parent indicated her knowledge was at intermediate level, and she had
used English in her studies. One regional education staff member was also
an intermediate level, as were some, though not all, university staff. How-
ever, with this latter group, their dominant skill was reading. The initial
education students were mostly beginners in English as well, though one
or two were happy to participate in English in the focus group. Thus, a
very small number of the 32 interviewees and participants of the five adult

focus groups could be regarded to hold anything above A1 competence
level in spoken English.
During the interviews, the initial education teachers who did not have an
early English initiative were also asked how they would feel about teach-
ing English. Only one interviewee admitted she had never learned English
and so would be unable to teach it —she was a PRONOEI facilitator. The
remaining five initial education teachers declared they would be comfort-
able with the idea, or would ensure they received training in English so
that they could teach it.
The surveys included questions regarding the level of English of the initial
education teacher responding to the survey. Of those respondents who
did not have an early English initiative, 72,4 per cent signalled they had a
basic to lower-intermediate level of English (A2 at the most). Of this same
group, 66,9 per cent indicated they were in agreement or in absolute
agreement with the statement, ‘I would feel confident teaching English in
initial education’. The main reason being, ‘I am an initial education teacher
“ They
so I know how to work with initial education children’ (75,6 per cent) and, ‘I
were have experience teaching English in initial education’ (21,8 per cent). Just
14,7 per cent were in absolute disagreement or disagreement with this
highly previous statement.
motivated
The additional comments provided by some of these respondents show
towards
that they were highly motivated towards teaching English and together
teaching with their knowledge of the children in their care considered that they
English” would be successful in teaching the basic notions of English, ‘In initial edu-
cation, children are taught words and basic phrases, which a teacher can
learn through training’ (Teachers’ survey respondent). Several respond-
ents indicated they would look for strategies to help them teach in English,
or that they would attend English classes to improve their English.
4.2.5. Initial education teachers with early English

initiatives
By analysing the results of initial education teachers working in a service

with an early English initiative, it was possible to gain a little more informa-
tion about these teachers, their level of English and how they felt about
teaching English.
Just 5 per cent (nº 43) of the Teachers’ survey respondents were initial
education teachers with an early English initiative in their service. Of these
respondents, 86 per cent indicated that they taught English (nº 37) and
88 per cent of these respondents were in agreement or in absolute agree-
73
ment with the statement ‘I feel confident teaching English in initial edu-
cation’. Just 7 per cent affirmed they were in absolute disagreement or
disagreement. The self-professed levels of English indicated that just over
half were basic to pre-intermediate, a quarter were intermediate and the
remaining were upper-intermediate to advanced.
Of the respondents who selected basic to pre-intermediate (22 in all) as

their level of English, all specified feeling confident about teaching Eng-
lish, justifying this with the following reasons: ‘I have a qualification in Eng-
lish’ (just two respondents); ‘I am an initial education teacher so I know
how to work with initial education children’ (half the respondents) and ‘I
have experience teaching English in initial education’. Further additional
comments included, ‘I also look for information about the pronunciation
and writing of English, we also learn colours, numbers, some fruits, parts
of the body and vocabulary items which are not complicated for this age
group’ (Teachers’ survey respondent).
Additional analysis of the Teachers’ survey showed that even a propor-

tion of the respondents who selected ‘I am an English teacher with train-
ing in initial education’ possessed dubious levels of English proficiency.
Just under a third specified basic to pre-intermediate competence, 10 per
cent selected intermediate, and just under two-thirds upper-intermediate
to advanced.
During the school visits, the initial education teachers and the director
responsible for English who we interviewed, also showed confidence in
their abilities to teach English, despite self-assessment as being basic us-
ers. However, they all manifested personal concern about their English
pronunciation (Interviews, D7, M3, M7), and provided examples of strat-
egies they used to overcome this concern, e.g. using recordings in the
classroom, checking pronunciation during planning, using visual prompts
to help them teach.
One further example of initial education teachers being involved in an

early English initiative came from one of the Regional Education repre-
sentatives interviewed during the field trip (see Callao Project in Appendix
8). This teacher was very positive and enthusiastic about English, however
was unable to communicate with us in English during our time together.
She had been tested as pre-intermediate at the beginning of the early
English initiative in 2012, which involved a year of professional develop-
ment to support the implementation of the project. She described a very
positive experience teaching English to her 3-year-olds, using gestures
and visual aids to help her and lots of routine activities and said, ‘at the
end of the year it was a very positive experience and the children really

did learn English’ (Interview, LA2.1). She also valued the support she has
been given by the training team, who came to visit her classroom and
gave her encouraging feedback.
Looking at the interview and survey data which focus on initial education
teachers and their levels of language competence, together with their at-
titudes towards teaching English, it is possible to conclude that there is an
assumption that it is sufficient to be an initial education teacher, to have
the knowledge and understanding of child pedagogy and the children in
their care. In addition, there is a further premise that children only need
to know simple vocabulary and expressions. As mentioned at the begin-
ning of this section, what little evidence there is points to the importance
of a fairly high language competence to allow for impromptu, incidental
language use appropriate with small children.
4.2.6. Other teachers involved in early English initiatives
Just under 40 per cent of the Teachers’ survey respondents were not ini-
tial education teachers, as shown in Figure 11. Disregarding the bilingual
models, those involved in foreign language models represented 17 per
cent of the respondents (nº 27). Just under two thirds categorised them-
selves as English teachers or secondary English teachers, the remaining
were primary teachers (22 per cent), ICT technicians and an anthropolo-
gist. The vast majority (93 per cent) were in agreement with the state-
ment ‘I feel confident teaching English in initial education’, with just two
respondents indicating they were in disagreement. They justified
this by specifying that they either spoke English well enough or had
experience teaching English in initial education. As to be expected,
the vast majority (90 per cent) identified their English language pro-
ficiency at intermediate or above.
Looking at the interview and survey data which focuses on initial

education teachers and their levels of language competence, to-
gether with their attitudes towards teaching English, it is possible
to conclude that there is a belief that initial education teachers can
teach English because they have the knowledge and understanding
of child pedagogy and the children in their care. In addition, there
is a further assumption that children in initial education only need
to know simple vocabulary and expressions. The final set of data in this
section, focusing on the ‘Other’ category in the Teachers’ survey respond-
ents, suggest that there are also professionals responsible for English who
do not have the knowledge and understanding of child pedagogy, but in-
stead speak English well enough. It would also seem that there is a ten-
dency for teachers in other stages of education to come down into initial
75
education e.g. the primary teachers and the secondary teacher. Most of
these respondents belonged to schools with all three levels of education.
4.3. Objectives for English in initial

education in Peru
During interviews with directors and initial education teachers with early
English initiatives, they were asked what the objectives were for English
in their service. These were given as being ‘To learn the basics’ (interview
D3, M7) and ‘To learn vocabulary’ (Interview, D7), ‘Pronunciation, recogniz-
ing and labelling things’ (Interview M3).
Surveys also included a question on the possible or actual objectives for

an early English initiative. There were eleven objectives and respondents
that were asked to show agreement on a Likert scale of 1 (strongly disa-
gree) to 5 (strongly agree).
The list of objectives is as follows:
1. To enjoy the sounds of English
2. To realize the existence of other languages
3. To learn some greetings and words in English
4. To learn simple phrases and sentences in English
5. To be able to communicate confidently in English
6. To learn about English-speaking cultures
7. To reinforce learning in Spanish
8. To develop good English pronunciation
9. To read in English
10. To write in English
11. To prepare for primary education
Figure 23 shows the results for the four groups of respondents —the
Teachers and Directors with no English and the Teachers and Directors
with English. The objectives garnering most agreement (agree and strong-
ly agree) are those which have been selected by over 80 per cent of the
respondents in each group: Objectives 2, 3, and 4 —to realize the exist-

ence of other languages, to say greetings and words, and to say simple
phrases and sentences. Objectives 1, 5 and 8 —to enjoy the sounds of
English, to communicate in English and to develop good pronunciation—
also show a high percentage of agreement (over 75 per cent) amongst at
least three of the responding groups. Except for Objective 2, which relates
to realizing the existence of other languages, these objectives relate to
learning and using English, together with a good pronunciation.
100 Not visible in this figure is the number of respondents who indicated they
90 disagreed with an objective. The only objectives to gather practically no
80 disagreement (just two indications each) were Objectives 3 and 4, to say
70 greetings and words, and to say simple phrases and sentences. These
60
results appeared in the survey for Teachers with early English initiatives,
and could suggest that this is what they are most concerned about in their
50
English lessons.
40
30
In all responding groups, over 50 per cent manifested an agreement with
20
Objective 11, to prepare for primary education. In most private services,
10
English begins in initial education and continues through into primary.
0
1. 2. However,
3. 4.in public5.services,
6. continuation
7. is8.not contemplated
9. 10. as English
11. is
onlyObjetivos
taughtpara enseñarininglés
officially Peruenfrom
educación
Grade inicial
5 ofenprimary
Perú education.
Maestros sin inglés
Directores sin inglés
Maestros con inglés
What is evident from figure 23, is the smaller numbers of respondents
Directores con inglés
showing agreement with objectives related to reading and writing in Eng-
lish. However, these still represent around 45 per cent of the respondents.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Objectives
Key: 6. To learn about English-speaking cultures; Teachers - no English
1. To enjoy the sounds of English; 7. To reinforce learning in Spanish; Directors - no English
2. To realize the existence of other languages; 8. To develop good English pronunciation; Teachers - English
3. To learn some greetings and words in English; 9. To read in English; Directors - English
4. To learn simple phrases and sentences in English; 10. To write in English;
5. To be able to communicate confidently in English; 11. To prepare for primary education
Figure 23: Survey responses: Percentage of respondents in agreement to the eleven objectives of early English initiatives
77
The smallest number of respondents (between 41 and 50 per cent) agreed
that Objective 6, related to learning about English-speaking cultures was
an important objective. Even though this was seen as a relevant reason
for learning English in earlier sections, it was not a popular choice as an
objective for English in initial education.
When the foreign language and bilingual services were compared in the
Teachers’ survey, there was a visible difference between the results re-
garding Objective 9: To read in English and Objective 10: To write in Eng-
lish. A higher number of respondents in bilingual settings showed agree-
ment that these were objectives for an early English initiative (Reading,
82 per cent and Writing, 72 per cent) compared to those in a foreign
language setting (Reading, 57 per cent and Writing, 52 per cent). In ad-
dition, three times as many respondents in the foreign language settings
specified they were in disagreement with these two objectives. This could
be due to children in bilingual settings being exposed to activities which
support emergent literacy development in English. Such activities are less
likely in the foreign language settings, whereas we have seen in
the previous section, English focuses on saying simple words and
greetings only. It is not possible to confirm this from the survey
results. However, our observations in the schools would indicate
that this may be relevant.
The objectives for learning English focus on children getting a

feel for a different language, with a focus on using single words,
greetings and simple phrases. Obtaining a good pronunciation is
also an objective. Of less importance, but still significant in the responses,
is that initial education is seen as an important starting point for contin-
ued language education. Finally, there is evidence that, in some settings,
reading and writing in English are also considered important objectives,
especially in schools with bilingual Spanish services.
4.4. Approaches and practices in early

English initiatives in Peru
An important question in the study is related to English lessons them-
selves –what approaches and practices are used? During fieldwork, we
were able to visit two schools, both private, with an early English initiative.
In addition, we spoke to a regional education representative who had been
involved in an early English initiative and the survey also included an array
of questions about English activities. This section begins with a discussion
on the fieldtrip observations and then considers the survey results.

4.4.1. Fieldwork observations
Both private schools on the visit schedule included English in their cur-
riculum. An observation guide had been prepared before the visit (see
Appendices 1 and 2). The four topics in the guide will be used to lead the
discussion around our observations.
4.4.1.1. Private service 1
Classroom aspects: Our observations focused on looking for visual evi-

dence of integration of an early English initiative. A large pile of English
text books was amongst the children’s Spanish text books on a shelf in the
classroom. No other evidence was noted.
Teacher-led activities: The lesson we observed lasted for around 50 min-

utes. The first ten minutes were teacher-led. The focus of the session itself
was not clear. The lesson began with the children sitting on chairs in a cir-
cle in front of the white board. They were asked to sing their ‘Hello’ song in
English, which they did happily. Then, speaking in Spanish, the initial edu-
cation teacher asked the children to label some colours and shapes and
recite their numbers up to ten. The interaction was formal and teacher-led.
Following this, a page from the text book, showing a family, was used to
help children say the names of the family, e.g. ‘¿Cómo se pronuncia papá
en inglés?’. Some children were able to remember the words. Figure 24
shows the white board after this activity, with the family words written in
Figure 24: A photograph of the board in an English lesson with 4-year-olds

in a private initial education school
79
English and Spanish around the picture. It was quite obvious that the chil-
dren could not read, for when the initial education teacher pointed to the
words as prompts, the children were unable to say anything.
Teacher-directed activities: The next stage of the lesson was table-based.

The initial education teacher announced that they would be colouring a
page in their textbooks, ‘Vamos a colorear! A pintar ya’. The relevant text-
book page had been removed and was given to the children. The children
quietly moved their chairs from the circle to the tables and prepared their
crayons for the activity. They were extremely autonomous in this move
and it was obvious that this was something they were used to doing. The
remaining 40 minutes of the session were spent with the children colour-
ing the rooms of a house in their textbook. All the children seemed fairly
happy to do this. The illustration was very small and quite detailed. They
chatted in Spanish to each other as they coloured. The initial education
teacher moved around the room talking to the children and asking them
about the pictures they were colouring —this involved pointing to the
rooms and asking individual children what they were. She alternated her
praise between ‘Very good!’ and ‘Muy bien’. On one occasion, she pointed
to the kitchen and said ‘Chicken’. The lesson ended with the teacher col-
lecting the worksheets and writing the children’s names on them.
Unfortunately, we were not given the opportunity to speak to the initial

education teacher we had observed, and as such were not able to ask her
about the objectives of her session and the decisions she made when plan-
ning. However, what we saw during our observation of the 4-year-
olds led us to assume that English sessions were not planned
as an integral part of initial education, neither did they take the
Peruvian initial education curriculum principles into considera-
tion —children were not encouraged to use their communicative
and expressive characteristics or to develop their thinking skills
in English; opportunities for play in English were not in evidence
either.
The textbook used in this class came as part of a pack of ten books for
initial education, Tiempo Divertido published by Ediciones Corefo. The
English book (Zañartu, 2016) included pages with song lyrics, instructions
for activities and speech bubbles for children to read (Figure 25). When
briefly compared with the books related to other parts of the curriculum in
the pack, the amount of written text was noted as being far greater in the
English book. The 4-year-olds were not reading and writing in Spanish yet.

Figure 25: A page from Tiempo Divertido for 4-year-olds learning English
(Zañartu, 2016, Ediciones Corefo)
4.4.1.2. Private school 2
The English lesson for 5-year-olds that we observed was quickly prepared
by the director for our benefit; we were able to watch approximately twen-
ty minutes of the lesson. The children sat around two circular tables in
the room. There was a clear focus to the session, which revolved around
remembering and encountering language related to the face.
Classroom aspects: Once again, our observations focused on looking for

visual evidence of integration of an early English initiative. A small collec-
tion of CDs was visible on a shelf in the classroom, one or two of which
were English CDs. No other evidence was noted.
Teacher-led activities: The lesson began with the children greeting the
teacher and singing a song in English. They appeared to be used to this
routine and were very comfortable. The director then asked the children
about words related to the face that they remembered in English, e.g.
‘¿Cómo se dice cabeza?’. Children visibly struggled to remember, but en-
joyed repeating the words after the director, and touching the different
parts of their faces when asked to. The director used memory prompts to
help her say the words —these were the written English words, the phonet-
ic spelling of the word, and the written Spanish word. Once she had gone
through language related to the face, she proposed that they all sang a
song, which was adapted from a Spanish song. They all stood up and sang
81
the Spanish version first, enthusiastically moving and touching parts of
their body. Then they sang the same song replacing the face words with
English words related to the face, e.g. ‘My eyes, estamos viendo’. This was
done line by line after the director. Often the word ‘My’ became Mi, result-
ing in ‘Mi ears, estamos oyendo’. The children were not as enthusiastic
about singing in English and the director noticed this, so she paused for a
little chat in Spanish about the importance of learning English to speak to
other children and other people, as well as to travel when they grew up.
Next the Director introduced a new word, ‘chin’, and focused on the pro-
nunciation of the /tʃ/ sound, helping the children by making the connec-
tion between the sound in ‘chin’ and the Spanish word for ‘chocolate’; she
used instructions like, ‘Repeat after me’, then ‘Muy bien’; other instructions
were given first in Spanish then in English, e.g. ‘Todos nos sentamos. Sit
down please!’
The next stage of the lesson involved labelling a picture of a child’s face
using the memory prompts the director had created herself. A child was
asked to come to the front, the director pointed to a part the face, e.g.
nose, and the child had to say what it was in English. When children did not
remember, the director prompted and encouraged all children to ‘Repeat
after me!’. The children were heard repeating the word ‘after’ on several
occasions. The child then stuck the director’s written prompts around the
face, using sticky tape, and connected the prompt to the part of the face
with wool.
On this occasion, we had to leave before the lesson ended, as our taxi had
arrived.
4.4.1.3. Discussion around observations
Both professionals use their knowledge and understanding of English to

accomplish an aim —to provide a basic understanding of English. They
realise that it is important to use English in routine moments, and both
were able to set up routines to begin the English session using a greeting
or a song. They were also aware of the necessity to give praise in English,
and the second example also saw the use of certain routine instructions
in English.
These teachers believed in what they were doing and used the resources
they had to help them. These were textbooks, provided by a well-known
local publisher, with a sequence of activities to follow and resources such
as CDs. Or, as in the second example, homemade resources like images
and prompt cards.

The initial education teachers’ knowledge of the children in their care was
also clearly a benefit. In both observations, the teacher encouraged chil-
dren to remember what they already knew, as a bridge to further learning.
In the first example, the way children moved from a circle time format to
their tables was something they were familiar with, probably from doing it
in their Spanish activities, set up by this same teacher. The second exam-
ple also showed how the teacher was able to pick up on the children’s lack
of motivation and use it to her benefit (and theirs) and remind them of why
they were being exposed to English and its importance for their future,
thus building on previous conversations.
The second example includes a number of techniques which obviously

came naturally to the teacher, because she was trained in initial education,
e.g. the relevance of singing and moving to develop memory and of mak-
ing connections between sounds, when she compared ‘chin’ and ‘choco-
late’ in English and in Spanish —a classic pre-literacy activity.
Optimal conditions are required to learn another language, as well as high

exposure to a variety of quality, meaningful interactions in that language.
‘Quality’, implies natural, spontaneous language, relevant to a child’s im-
mediate needs and containing features associated with parentese (speech
which is slightly adapted for younger learners). The examples observed do
not meet these requirements; instead they are associated with ‘drip
feed’ (Baker, 2008) language learning programmes, where children
are exposed to small amounts of a language in a classroom context,
with little opportunity for meaningful, quality interaction.
At this point, it might be worth mentioning the visits to the Bilingual

Intercultural Schools, where activities were evidently meaningful for
children —using language to do real things, like talking about the
weather, learning a traditional dance or song, saying a rhyme, lis-
tening to a story. Using meaningful contexts for authentic language
use, as well as creating a visual environment which valued the two
languages and cultures being learned is extremely important. The Bilin-
gual Intercultural Schools provided optimal conditions for learning two
languages. It appeared that the initial education teachers also knew a suf-
ficient amount of the language to support the children’s learning success-
fully. The two settings could not be more different, but the former could
certainly learn from the latter.
4.4.2. Survey responses
According to the surveys, and as seen in Figure 13 above, 15 per cent of

public services included an early English initiative compared with around
83
85 per cent of private services. This section looks at the different ques-
tions asked of the survey respondents, including ‘How long the initiative
has been running?’; ‘Does it incur additional costs for the parents?’; ‘How
many hours per week do the children have English activities?’ and finally
questions about activities and resources used.
4.4.2.1. Length of initiatives

Menos de 2 años
Eje de categorías
It is useful to2start
Entre this selection by determining how long the early English
y 5 años
Maestros
initiatives have been running. Figure 26 shows that in the Teachers’ survey
Directores
there isEntre 6 y 10equal
a fairly años spread across the responses, indicating that each
length of initiative received between 22 and 28 per cent of the responses,

Más de 10 años
with projects between two to five years selected by 28,5 per cent of the
respondents. The Directors’
0 20 survey
40 was
60 quite different,
80 100 120 with the majority
of respondents (90 per Porcentaje de respuestas
cent) indicating an early English project for two
to five years. The vast majority of these schools testified to being foreign
language models, with English being taught for two hours a week.
Less than 2 years

Length of initiative
2-5 years
Teachers
Directors
6-10 years
More than 10 years
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Figure 26: Survey responses: Length of early English initiatives
These results could be interpreted as an indication that, over the last five
years, early English initiatives have increased in Peru.
4.4.2.2. Additional cost to parents
The question about additional cost was only asked of the directors. In the
private sector, parents are already paying a fee for their child to attend
the service, and the survey confirmed there was no additional cost for
English. However, in the public sector, 43 per cent of the respondents (nº
27) specified that there was an additional cost for English lessons. All but
one of these respondents confirmed the early English initiative had been
running for between two and five years.

These results indicate that when an early English initiative exists in public
schools, it is quite possible that it involves an additional cost to parents.
This may contribute to further inequalities within a particular school popu-
lation.
4.4.2.3. Number of hours of English
At the beginning of the survey the respondents were required to select

which kind of school they worked in according to the amount of English
that was taught. It had been noted that the term ‘bilingual’ was sometimes
used in general discourse when a school had a few lessons of English a
week. Thus, the following descriptors were employed for clarity:
• This is a Spanish school with English lessons twice a week
• This is a bilingual Spanish and English school (with immersion English)
Despite this, it became clear when analysing the data that 35 re-
spondents in the private sector had selected the second descrip-
tor, ‘bilingual’ but later just under a half of these respondents indi-
cated that English was taught for three or fewer hours a week. This
was only a small number of overall respondents, but it confirmed a
tendency for using the term ‘bilingual’ incorrectly. In both services
visited with an early English initiative during the field work, their ap-
proach was also referred to as ‘bilingual’, although it was anything but
bilingual.
Figure 27 presents the results, with responses organised by public

and private services. It is quite clear that the majority of public ser-
vices, around 55 per cent, include very small amounts of English per
week. However, the majority of private services, around 60 per cent, run
for two hours or more per week. Not shown in the figure is data relating
to which age groups are included. In the private sector, two thirds of the
respondents indicated all three age groups received the same amount of
English, with just under half specifying three or more hours of English a
week, and a quarter of them stating an hour or less a week. In the public
sector, only around half of the respondents worked in services where early
English initiatives included all three age groups. The remaining responses,
in both public and private services, included a mixture of age groups, with
the amount of time per week gradually increasing with age, e.g. 3-years
received 30 – 45 minutes, 4-year-olds received one hour, and 5 year olds
received 2 hours. These latter models could denote a more studied ap-
proach to the early English initiative.
85
10
Porc
0
30 - 45 min. 1 h. por 2 h. por 3 h. por Más de 3 h.
por semana semana semana semana por semana
Cantidad de tiempo
60
50
40
30
Public
20 Private
10
0
30 - 45 1 hour 2 hours 3 hours > 3 hours
minutes
Time
Figure 27: Survey responses: Amount of time per week spent on English activities
These results confirm that private schools not only have more early Eng-
lish initiatives, but that the time given to English is also quantitatively more.
How this time is used for the early English initiative is not possible to dis-
cern from the survey. Follow up visits and observations would be required
on a much larger scale.
4.4.2.4. Programmes and text books
In the surveys representing private services, 90 per cent of the responses

with an early English initiative specified that they followed a programme
and just over 64 per cent of the respondents representing the public ser-
vices indicated that they followed a programme.
Regarding textbooks, Figure 28 clearly shows that respondents in private

services use a greater number of textbooks in their early English initiatives
—59 per cent use textbooks with 3-year-olds, 67 per cent with 4-year-
olds and 71 per cent with 5-year-olds. In the public sector, respondents
registering the use of a textbook were much lower —20 per cent with
3-year-olds, 25 per cent with 4-year-olds and 28 per cent with 5-year-olds.
Few respondents indicated which textbooks they used, however, in private
services (nº 23) just over half were global textbooks, one third were lo-
cal text books and the remaining were self-made by the teachers. In the
public sector (nº 15) just over half were self-made by teachers, and a third
were global textbooks.
These results indicate that not only do more private services follow a pro-
gramme but that they also rely more heavily upon textbooks. It is possible
that the textbook is considered to be the programme, as it has been sug-
gested that textbooks determine what is taught in an ‘era of textbook-de-
fined practice’ (Akbari, 2008: 647). The relevance of not following a specif-

Edad de los
4 años Público
Privado
3 años
0 20 40 60 80 100
ic English programme, may in fact lead to a more integrated programme,
where the teacher can follow an overall programme, which serves to
integrate learning. It is not possible to determine this from the survey
itself.
5 years
Children's ages
4 years Public
Private
3 years
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figure 28: Survey responses: The use of textbooks in early English initiatives
4.4.2.5. Activities
Only the Teachers’ surveys were analysed with regard to the resources
and activities used in English lessons. The assumption was that the teach-
ers would give a more accurate account of which activities were planned
and what resources were used. The option to provide additional com-
ments was also given. Data was analysed according to respondents who
indicated they were either initial education teachers working in the public
sector, or in the private sector.
Activities considered more ludic and developmentally appropriate for ini-

tial education, and for language learning in particular, included singing
songs and rhymes, doing physical activities, playing games, listening to
stories and arts and crafts activities. All these activities naturally provide
for repetition of language and meaningful language use. Activities such as
repeating words or sentences and asking and answering questions indi-
cate a clear focus on language and are likely to be less ludic in approach.
Doing interactive whiteboard (IWB) activities was also considered to be an
activity that focused on language. Activities not considered developmen-
tally appropriate for initial education children, and which do not support
interactive language use, would include completing worksheets, using the
computer and watching films and animations.
Figures 29 and 30 show the responses from respondents working in the

public and private settings. Looking at the respondents’ choice of activi-
ties used frequently or very frequently, it can be seen that over 80 per
cent of respondents in both settings signalled using songs and rhymes,
87
Completar hojas de ejercicios
Hacer y responder preguntas
Repetición de oraciones
Repetición de palabras
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
and over 70 per cent selected playing games and doing physical activities.
In the private sector, 60 per cent also indicated doing arts and crafts.
Ver películas o animaciones

Watching films or cartoons
Usar una pizarra interactiva
Using an IWB
Usar una computadora
Using a computer
Escuchar una historia
Listening to stories
Cantar canciones y rimas
Nunca
Singing songs and rhymes Rara vez
Jugar Never
Ocasionalmente
Rarely
Playingcomo
Hacer actividades físicas games
moverse por el aula Frecuentemente
Sometimes
Doing physical activities e.g. TPR Muy frecuentemente
Frequently
Hacer trabajos manuales
Very frequently
Doing arts and crafts
Completar hojas de ejercicios
Completing worksheets
Hacer y responder preguntas
Asking and asnwering questions
Repetición de oraciones
Repeating sentences
Repetición de palabras
Repeating words
0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
Figure 29: Survey responses: Activities included in early English initiatives in public settings
Watching films or cartoons
Using an IWB
Using a computer
Listening to stories
Singing songs and rhymes

Never
Playing games Rarely
Sometimes
Doing physical activities e.g. TPR Frequently
Very frequently
Doing arts and crafts
Completing worksheets
Asking and asnwering questions
Repeating sentences
Repeating words
0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %
Figure 30: Survey responses: Activities included in early English initiatives in private settings
Over 80 per cent of all respondents specified repeating words and 60

per cent selected asking and answering questions. In the private sector,
just under 70 per cent also signalled doing worksheets, and repeating
sentences was indicated by 60 per cent. Just over 50 per cent of respond-
ents in the private sector also selected watching films and animations and
listening to stories.

The additional comments from respondents indicated that they
also used drama and roleplay and musical activities as well as reaf-
firming many of the activities included in the question.
It would appear from these results that the private sector includes
a wider variety of activities more frequently. However, they are not
all developmentally appropriate, nor do they promote interaction
in English.
4.4.2.6. Resources
In a low-exposure context (EFL), it would be expected that teach-

ers use visual aids to support children’s understanding and to pro-
vide for opportunities to engage in different game-like activities
affording occasions for meaningful language use. These would include
flashcards, posters and stories, as well as games. In addition, the use of
CDs for songs and rhymes in English, would furnish access to native-like
pronunciation, especially considering the concerns evidenced in the data.
DVDs and work books would be considered inappropriate as they do not
afford opportunities for interaction, and in the case of work books, signal
a focus on reading and writing. Textbooks may or may not be appropriate
depending on their content and how they are used. A board would sug-
gest a teacher-led approach to teaching and learning.
Taking these points into consideration, eleven different resources were

selected for inclusion in the survey, and respondents were asked to indi-
cate how often they used each resource on a Likert scale of never to very
frequently.
Figures 31 and 32 show the responses from respondents working in public

and private settings. Looking again at the respondents’ choice of resourc-
es used frequently or very frequently it can be seen that in both public and
private settings just over 70 per cent of respondents selected posters and
between 50 and 60 per cent selected games. Flashcards were selected by
nearly 80 per cent of the respondents from the private sector and CDs by
around 70 per cent. Story books were used by just under 50 per cent of
the private sector. In the public sector, CDs were selected by 50 per cent
of the respondents, 45 per cent selected flashcards and fewer than 20 per
cent selected story books.
In both the private and public sectors, a board was selected by just over
70 per cent of respondents and DVDs by around 55 per cent. Work books
were evident in the choices of nearly 80 per cent of respondents in the
private sector and just over 60 per cent in the public sector. Textbooks
89
Un títere
Tarjetas de vocabulario
were also evidenced by 53 per cent of the private sector and nearly 40
Una pizarra electrónica
per cent in the public sector.
Libros de texto
Nunca
Libros de cuentos Rara vez
The additional comments from respondents indicated that they also
Ocasionalmente
Juguetes
used musical instruments and realia. Frecuentemente
Hojas de ejercicios Muy frecuentemente
Gráficos murales
Once again it is clear that teachers in private services use a wider
DVDs
range of resources and use them more frequently. However, there
Una computadora
is a heavier reliance on using the board in both settings, which indi-
CDs
cates a more teacher-fronted formal approach to the teaching and
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
learning context. There is also evidence that DVDs were a popular
resource; this may indicate an approach to language learning based
on letting children watch English cartoons, and thus depriving them
Un títere
A board
Tarjetas de vocabulario
Flashcards
Una pizarra electrónica
An IWB
Libros de texto
Text books Nunca
Libros de cuentos Rara vez
Never
Story books Ocasionalmente
Rarely
Juguetes
Frecuentemente
Sometimes
Games
Hojas de ejercicios Muy frecuentemente
Frequently
Activity books Very frequently
Gráficos murales
Wall charts
DVDs
DVDs
Una computadora
A computer
CDs
CDs
0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %
0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %
Figure 31: Survey responses: Resources included in early English initiatives in public settings
A board
Flashcards
An IWB
Text books
Never
Story books Rarely
Games Sometimes
Frequently
Activity books Very frequently
Wall charts
DVDs
A computer
CDs
0 % 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %
Figure 32: Survey responses: Resources included in early English initiatives in private settings

of opportunities for meaningful interaction in English. The lower number of
teachers in both contexts selecting story books is likely to reflect the lack
of financial resources at their disposal.
4.4.2.7. Phonics and reading and writing in English
The use of phonics in mainstream education in English requires under-

standing and, in some cases, special training to use certain resources and
their associated methodologies. Phonics is associated with the teaching
of reading; however, it is only a part of what is referred to as phonologi-
cal awareness —the development of an awareness of sounds in oral lan-
guage. A well-developed phonological awareness is a necessary requisite
to be able to read in English. Research has also shown that the majority of
children in mainstream English education learn to read without a focus on
phonics. The development of phonological awareness in small children is
supported by the inclusion of activities which support emergent literacy
e.g. rhymes, talking about rhyming sounds, story books and related dis-
cussion, and meaningful, rich interactions in English, as well as access to
environmental print. The appropriateness of phonics as an approach to
learning English in a low-exposure early English initiative is debateable
–no research has been conducted to verify its suitability.
Initial education in Peru aims to develop a child’s emergent literacy in

preparation for more formal learning in grade 1 (MINEDU, 2016: 68). For-
mal writing activities are not encouraged. Thus, any reference to reading
and writing in English should take an approach to be recognised as devel-
oping literacy through exposure to environmental print in English, story-
books and storytelling, the sharing of rhymes and quality talk in English.
In the survey, respondents were asked to indicate if they included activi-

ties such as phonics or reading and writing in English. Clearly evident in
Figure 33, all three of these activities were indicated as being employed
by respondents in both public and private services. Phonics activities
were used with all age groups by at least 60 per cent of the respondents.
Reading and writing activities are used with all ages; however, there is
an increase in the amount used as the children get older. There is some
difference between public and private services; however, in the extent to
which these activities are confirmed, especially with 5-year-old children
–nearly 100 per cent of the respondents in private services indicated us-
ing writing activities, and 80 per cent in public institutions.
91
Edad
100
80
60
Phonics activities
Reading activities
40 Writing activities
20
0
3-year-olds 3-year-olds 4-year-olds 4-year-olds 5-year-olds 5-year-olds
public private public private public private
Age
Figure 33: Survey respondents: Phonics, reading and writing activities

in early English initiatives in Peru
Without seeing what actually happens in the classroom, these respond-

ents may be referring to emergent literacy activities. However, as there is
little evidence of using storybooks and more evidence of workbook and
textbook use, it is likely that children in these schools are being taught
to read and write more formally. The very clear existence of phonics may
be a misunderstanding of what teaching phonics actually means. The re-
spondents’ reliance upon repeating words may be what they are referring
to. Nevertheless, these results indicate there is an inappropriate emphasis
on practices related to developing literacy in the early English initiatives.
This is particularly worrying, when most of the initiatives fall into the low-
exposure category of fewer than two hours of English per week.
4.4.2.8. Assessment and transition
Questions about assessment and transition were not included in the sur-
vey due to concerns about the time it would take to complete. When the
interviewees were asked about assessment of progression in English, the
answers received were unclear. The director suggested that children re-
ceived quantitative grades, ‘There are monthly assessments, with an al-
phabetical rating system’ (Interview, D3). The initial education teacher in
this school responded slightly differently, ‘Two-year-olds are not really
evaluated, except for greetings. Five-year-olds are given homework’ (In-
terview, M3). In the second private school, the initial education teacher in-
dicated that ‘Children are evaluated every term in all areas, including Eng-
lish’ (Interview, M7). The director confirmed this approach. We requested
the assessment grids but were not given any to look at.
The question about transition appeared not to be understood. The two

directors were of the opinion that English took place in primary and thus

children were prepared for it by beginning in initial education, ‘Children
are assessed on the basis of what they have learned in order to reach
primary level English’ (Interview, D3). Data from the two school directors
showed that assessment and transition were two areas of early English
initiatives which were misunderstood.
4.4.3. PERU EDUCA and Facebook
A short description of the response to these surveys would be useful.

When the Ministry of Education used their communication lines to dis-
seminate the surveys, they received 46 comments via their website. These
were all fairly polite comments which made reference to children’s ability
to learn languages and the relevance of English as a global language. Con-
cern was also shown for indigenous languages.
In less than a week the Ministry of Education Facebook page had gar-
nered 299 comments and had been shared 470 times. The comments
ranged from polite to aggressive, mainly mirroring the interviewees’ opin-
ions and responses to the surveys, depicting an apprehensiveness about
who would be teaching English, how it would be articulated with primary
education and the shortage of trained staff. There were also comments
which showed concern for approaches which were not developmental-
ly appropriate, as well as unease regarding indigenous languages. The
most perturbing responses were those which showed ignorance of lan-
guage learning and the benefits it can offer individuals and a society in
general.
4.5. Teacher education

4.5.1. Initial education teacher educators
Visits to the teacher education institutions confirmed that the department

of early childhood education and the department of languages were com-
pletely separate and did not collaborate in any way in the education of
their respective student teachers. In both public and private universities,
the teacher educators confirmed that courses for initial education teach-
ers included modules on first language acquisition, but not in Spanish as a
second language, or in foreign language acquisition.
The teacher educators who spoke to us were all positive about the possi-
ble introduction of English into initial education, though it was not a prior-
ity by any means. They were more concerned with other issues related to
teacher education and preparation. Examples of responses were:
93
• ‘How to connect with the child so that what is taught has greater signifi-
cance, to be able to use methodologies and innovative resources for
groups of children to develop their full potential’ (PubTEd12.1).
• ‘To respond to the social demands, and to be able to manage a group

of children who are digital natives, to teach them and provide them with
tools to face a world we do not know yet.’ (PubTEd12.1).
• ‘To know what is the most essential thing that children need to be
taught’ (PriTEd15.2).
Their views about the difficulties involved in implementing such a policy

were focused on the issues of equality, concern for indigenous languag-
es and the lack of language competence of the student teachers taking
their course. One teacher educator was concerned about the university
teachers if such a policy was to be implemented, ‘The lack of [university]
teachers available [who speak English] with a master’s degree to work as
teacher trainers’ (PriTEd15.2).
According to one teacher educator, most of the graduating teachers from

their university would go into private initial education services in the city
of Lima. Another noted, ‘It would be great to receive a course in didactics
in English because it provides the opportunity to work in private schools’
(PubTEd12.1). This university was considered one of the top Peruvian
higher education institutions; it seems rather a shame that they are pre-
paring their teachers for private services.
From the interviews with the teacher educators it was quite clear that
there was no training for initial education teachers in understanding how
second languages were acquired or taught —for Spanish as a second lan-
guage or English as a foreign language— and, despite the Ministry’s com-
mendable initiative to make changes based on research into the possi-
bilities of carrying out these reforms (PriTEd15.2), there were other, much
greater concerns in the training of initial education teachers.
4.5.2. Trainee initial education teachers
According to a recent law, all students require a certain level of English to

graduate from university. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, the majority
of students did not have a level of English beyond A1 / A2. All the students
in the focus groups were female.
These students held very different views on the idea of including English
in initial education. Several were of the opinion that children should learn

their mother tongue first and so English should only be taught in grade
3 of primary education (PubSt13.1). Some voiced feelings in support of
indigenous languages being a priority (PriSt16). Others were certain that
English should be the only other language taught in initial education (Pub-
St1.2).
For some of the students, an early English initiative meant children would
be immersed in English from an early age, which implied a bilingual or
immersion model. They did not seem to be aware of any other model. Fi-
nally, there were also students who voiced concerns about children being
‘forced’ to learn another language for reasons they were unaware of.
When asked how they felt about the possibility of having to teach English
in initial education when they graduated, some were not very enthusiastic,
‘The teaching of a foreign language should not be prioritized unless it is a
social requirement’ (PubSt13.3) and ‘If I had to do it, first I would have to
learn the language’ (PubSt13.4), implying it seemed, that this was not her
responsibility.
One student, who already spoke quite good English said, ‘I think I could do
it but I would like to train myself even more so that I can feel safe in front of
a group of children’ (PubSt14.5). Others also showed willingness to un-
dergo training, in order to teach either an indigenous language or Eng-
lish. These responses mirror those which the initial education teachers
provided during interviews. One student felt that ‘the state must pro-
vide the tools so that educators can adapt to each context and thus
teach in the best possible way’ (PriSt16.4). Could she be referring to
the lack of training in any language other than Spanish on her course?
These students provided a mixed picture of attitudes and dispositions

towards teaching English in initial education. They also showed lack of
real understanding of what it would entail, probably due to the omission
of modules on second language acquisition and approaches to teach-
ing other languages.
4.5.3. Trainee English teachers
It was not possible to interview a teacher educator from the English de-
partment at either university. However, a focus group in the public uni-
versity was arranged with four fifth-year student English teachers: three
female students and one male. Two of these trainee teachers had learned
English from the age of 6 at private schools, the other two much later,
from the age of 16. All four were now in their early twenties and were
at least level B2 in English. Their five-year degree had prepared them to
95
teach all levels of education in Peru, from initial to tertiary. When these
students began their studies many of their subjects were in English, and
they studied English after university lessons too. They lamented that the
newer students were attending classes held in Spanish.
When asked what they were taught regarding teaching English to initial
education children, they explained:
• ‘The communicative approach’ (PubEngSt 1).
• ‘Children are active, we were trained to teach them using games, songs,
pictures, videos’ (PubEngSt 2).
• ‘With children we have to use words, like family members. The focus
was to focus on vocabulary’ (PubEngSt 3).
These students confirmed that they had had modules that looked at both
first and second language acquisition in children —they emphasised that
they had learned that ‘Children can connect learning in their first and sec-
ond languages’ (PubEngSt 3). They also explained that they had learned
about child psychology, but this had been one of their subjects in Spanish.
Teaching practice had formed part of the latter years in their degree. How-
ever, only two of the students had done their teaching practices in initial
education. It was not made clear how the teaching practice was organ-
ised, but they were not allowed to choose at which level they wanted to
teach. These students had taught in a range of contexts —in primary and
in secondary school; initial and primary; primary, grades 1 and 6; initial
and primary grade 2. When asked if they felt confident about teaching in
initial education, one of the students who had had her practice at this level
explained,
I tried to follow all the techniques my training gave me like songs.

They used to learn vocab through songs and games. I found it useful,
but sometimes no (sic) because of the behaviour of the students. It
was an interesting experience (PubEngSt 1).
When asked which level of education they wanted to teach when they left
university at the end of the year, the three female students were quick to
confirm they wanted to teach young adults, and one added,
The majority of our class wants to teach young adults —I think it is

more easier (sic). The methodologies are more diverse and class-
room management is more challenging for us [in initial education], so
we find it easier to teach young adults. (PubEngSt 1)

A fourth student, the male student said, ‘I’d like to teach children, primary.
Being a male teacher is unusual to go into initial education’ (PubEngSt 3).
Some of the English teachers mentioned in the surveys had similar train-
ing to these students. Their broad focus —initial through to tertiary— is
extremely useful, for it enables them to work in all levels of education.
However, the training they receive in relation to English in initial education
may be rather light, as there is no mention of creating opportunities for
interaction and meaningful learning through play —the focus on teaching
words only reflected much of what was observed during the fieldwork vis-
its, heard in the interviews and read in the survey data. The lack of inter-
departmental collaboration and discussion around the real possibilities
open to these teachers if they worked with small children, means there is
room for improvement. However, the fact that this course exists, to train
English teachers for all levels of education, is extremely important.
4.6. The English Teachers Association

A Teachers’ Association provides practical benefits for teachers, through
opportunities to network and engage in professional discussion. It can
also play a role in strengthening a sense of community amongst its mem-
bers (Falcão & Szesztay, 2006). Language Teachers Associations (LTAs) are
also thought to contribute to improving the practice of language teaching,
raising the standards of initial and in-service training and breaking down
the isolation some teachers experience in their classrooms and schools.
Teacher Associations have the capacity to support and encourage change.
During the interview with the President of one of the English Teachers As-
sociations in Peru, it became clear that the association, run by volunteers,
was working hard to ensure all these things. As an LTA, its work focussed
on language teachers, and those teachers who were working in statutory
English education, from grades 5 and above. Nevertheless, a number of
initiatives were described which included support for English teachers
working in initial education:
• A summer school for teachers teaching English in initial education.
• A strand in their annual conference for English in primary and initial

education.
• A section in their newsletter for English primary and initial education.
When asked how the LTA might support such an initiative, the President
was keen to suggest that the LTA could:
97
• Deliver workshops
• Collaborate with the Ministry of Education
• Visit regions and carry out outreach activities
It was also clear from the interview that there were a small number of ex-
perienced initial education English teachers, who were active in present-
ing and sharing ideas at conferences and events.
4.7. Implementing an early English policy

in Peru
4.7.1. Challenges
During interviews with the Ministry of Education staff and regional educa-
tion authorities, they were asked what they thought the challenges might
be in starting English language teaching in initial education in Peru. In
general, the regional education authorities were far more positive about
the idea, considering that ‘It wouldn’t be too much of a problem, just the
training of initial education teachers’ (Interview, LA3.3). In fact, the major-
ity of challenges highlighted by the regional education authorities related
to staff provision and training.
The Ministry of Education staff were less optimistic, and outlined four main
areas of concern:
• The real objectives of initial education – what about play?
• Teacher education
• Maintenance of indigenous languages and their cultures
• The child
Often the themes were combined in comments which showed the inter-
relational issues involved in the possible implementation of an early Eng-
lish initiative.
The training of initial education teachers. The teacher training cent-

ers handle very traditional concepts on how to teach. The theme of
play for example, although we have been promoting this since 2005,
and to change the teacher’s attitude is also an issue. (Interview,
ME1)

This Ministry of Education staff member shows concern as to whether
teacher training centres are capable of preparing teachers for such an
initiative, and a similar comment was made by a teacher educator, who
was apprehensive about the language competence of university teachers
if the policy was implemented.
Another very important issue brought up by a Ministry of Education staff

member was related to the objectives of initial education.
The biggest challenge is to see initial as initial and not as a preschool.

It is a struggle to oppose the view that our education service is pre-
paratory to primary school. (Interview, 8.3)
The Ministry of Education curriculum guidelines very clearly follow a child-

directed social pedagogic approach, where attention is given to educa-
tional goals, play, and interactivity with both teachers and peers. However,
what we have seen in relation to introducing English might be a move to-
wards a teacher-led, education-focused approach related to school readi-
ness skills such as numeracy and literacy. It would seem that evidence
collected from observations points in this direction.
References to play as ‘the axis of initial education’ (Interview, 8.3) and

lamentations that it remained misunderstood by initial education teachers
(and even university staff), hinted at in the above quote, were a permanent
concern for the Ministry of Education.
Maintaining the diversity of ethnic cultures in Peru was the third main con-
cern.
The country is very diverse. The Quechua culture has divisions and
there are many types of Quechua. There are very small populations,
whose languages are no longer used. If no culture is generated, its
language is lost (Interview, 8.3)
This was also a common thread in the comments provided in the surveys
and even in the interviews, where interviewees mentioned the importance
of indigenous languages either in addition to English, or instead of English.
The Ministry of Education staff were also aware of the importance of pre-
paring for such an enormous policy change and not moving too quickly,
which may be disastrous for the child:
To force the teaching by starting a quick project without taking into

account the methodology, the teachers. This can generate accept-
99
ance or rejection. The strongest rejection may be that of the child
himself (Interview, 8.1)
There was also mention that the teacher may see it as a ‘burden’ (inter-
view, 8.2), which may also lead to children feeling frustrated.
4.7.2. Possible ways forward
The survey questions included a section on recommendations for imple-

menting a policy for an early English initiative in initial education in Peru.
It required that respondents gave their opinion on nine recommendations
using a five-point Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree. The
recommendations were selected based on the comments made by the
interviewees and other ideas considered relevant. The recommendations
were:
1. To develop a set of guidelines for early English initiatives
2. To introduce in-service workshops in schools to train initial education

teachers to teach English
3. To immediately introduce a policy to begin an early English initiative in

all regions of Peru
4. To immediately introduce a policy to begin an early English initiative in

some regions of Peru
5. To immediately introduce a policy for English teachers in primary and

secondary education to teach English in initial education
6. To pilot early English initiatives in different regions of Peru
7. To restructure initial education to ensure all children from 3 to 5 years

attend school services
8. To restructure teacher education programmes to train English teach-

ers to teach English in initial education
9. To restructure teacher education programmes to train initial education

teachers to teach English in initial education
10. To restructure teacher education programmes to train initial education

teachers to teach indigenous languages in initial education
There was little difference in the respondents’ choices. Around 75 per

cent of the respondents in both surveys were in agreement and strongly
in agreement with eight of the ten recommendations. This is likely because
they are all plausible solutions. The only two which were considerably less

popular in the Teachers’ Survey were Recommendation 4: ‘To immediately
introduce a policy to begin an early English initiative in some regions of
Peru’, and Recommendation 5: ‘To immediately introduce a policy for Eng-
lish teachers in primary and secondary education to teach English in initial
education’.
In recommendation 4, it is assumed that the issue is with ‘some’ –it is

encouraging to think that these respondents want the whole of Peru to
benefit from a policy if it was to be implemented. In recommendation 5,
the issue is with who should be the English teacher. Again, this may show
that the majority of respondents are aware of the implications of bringing
in language specialists who know little about initial education, despite the
fact that data from the survey indicates that English teachers from sec-
ondary and primary education are teaching English in initial education.
Or maybe, it was due to the fact that the majority of respondents in the
teachers’ survey were initial education teachers.
4.7.3. Time required

50
In all40interviews (except those with children) and in the surveys, the par-
ticipants in the study were asked to give their opinion about how long they
30
thought it would take to successfully implement an early English initiative
Maestros
in Peru.
20 Directores
10
Figure 34 shows what the survey respondents thought – they were gener-
ally very
0 optimistic and just over 45 per cent suggested it would take two
Más o menos Entre 2 y Entre 5 y Más de Es improbable
to five years. Just over
1 año 20 per 10
5 años cent
añosthought it might take a year and a little
10 años
less than 20 per cent indicated
Cantidad itdewould take between five and ten years.
tiempo
Under 5 per cent reckoned on more than ten years and around 13 per
cent of the survey respondents considered it to be improbable.
50
40
30
20 Teachers
Directors
10
0
1 year 2 to 5 5 to 10 More than Improbable
years years 10 years
Time
Figure 34: Survey respondents: Suggested length of time for the successful
implementation of an early English initiative in Peru
101
The regional education staff and the teacher educators were also asked
their opinions. Two thirds suggested it would take anything up to five years.
One indicated more than five years, another refused to make a guess and
another suggested ‘It depends on the political will of the training centres’
(Interview, PriTEd15.2).
What seems apparent from these responses is that, once again, the major-
ity of participants in this study consider that such a change in policy will
be undertaken with relative ease.
4.8. Concerns
Without doubt, the Peruvians who participated in this study were, in the
main, positive about including an early English initiative in initial education.
Our concerns regarding these positive views focus on several issues:
1) Misunderstanding the ‘earlier the better’ argument
2) The relevance of quality interaction in English for successful language

acquisition
3) Approaches to language education which respect the child and the

way they learn
4) The time required for the successful implementation of an early lan-

guage learning policy
4.8.1. Misunderstanding ‘the earlier, the better’

argument
On almost all occasions, the argument for starting to learn English early
pointed at the child’s ability to learn another language in the same way
that they had learned their first, that is, quickly and effortlessly. Or, that
there was evidence that children can learn another language alongside
their first, citing bilingual contexts where children grow up with parents
speaking two languages, or in a country where English is the language
of communication, e.g. the United States. These ‘the earlier, the better’
beliefs are misguided by the very fact that they are assuming children in
Peru will be in a context which exposes them to the amount and quality
of language required to become a competent bilingual at an early age.
Murphy (2014) suggests that ‘the variability in the extent to which chil-
dren actually become bilinguals seems to be related to context not age’
(p. 160). In a context where children are exposed to small amounts of a
language in a classroom context with little opportunity for meaningful,

quality interaction, attainment in the target language is the slowest. Mur-
phy has described this context as ‘input-limited’ in comparison to other
contexts like immersion or bilingual education, which are ‘input-rich’. Slow
development is not necessarily a problem. However, any development at
all requires continuation over time. Thus, beginning a language in initial
education, with a view to following a ‘language exposure model’ (Edelen-
bos, Johnstone and Kubanek, 2006), the objective of which is to see the
language learning experience as an end in itself, or ‘learning the basics’,
requires that it is also learned in primary and secondary education, with
policies to support careful transition and teacher education at all levels.
4.8.2. The relevance of quality interaction in English for

successful language acquisition
Input-rich contexts in a classroom learning context require ‘optimal condi-

tions’ (de Houwer, 2014; Murphy, 2014). Taking research by Ramirez and
Kuhl (2017) as an example, optimal conditions include:
• High quantities of quality target language input
• Low child-adult ratio
• Access to multiple speakers of the target language
• Highly social interactions, with meaningful and engaging activities sup-

ported with prompt and contingent responses by adults
• Children being encouraged to speak and interact
• Play-based activities
They are conditions, without doubt, associated with immersion or bilin-

gual education and there may well be schools in Peru that provide such
conditions for learning English, but they will be very special schools, and
most likely, very expensive. There are, however, examples of schools that
provide such an environment for the learning of indigenous languages:
they follow the escuela intercultural bilingüe programmes and are able
to successfully provide opportunities for children to either learn Spanish
or an indigenous language to a satisfactory level upon leaving primary
education.
If quality interaction in English is not possible due to a teacher’s low level

of language competence, what is possible in relation to early language
learning? One of the objectives noted in the interviews, and carried over
into the surveys was the desire to ‘enjoy the sounds of English’ and ‘to
realize the existence of other languages’. Such objectives may be as-
103
sociated with the language exposure model, but also with the language
awareness model (Hawkins, 1987) or awakening to languages (Candelier,
2003), where contact with a variety of languages is planned for, the pur-
pose of which is to prepare children to live in a linguistically and culturally
diverse society. The languages in such a programme could include minor-
ity, endangered or heritage languages, as well as those considered to be
relevant, e.g. English, Portuguese, Chinese etc. Research suggests that
children from 3 to 10 years old benefit from such an approach, as it fos-
ters positive representations of linguistic diversity, motivates towards lan-
guage learning and contributes to the recognition of linguistic repertoires
in children who come from minority backgrounds. There is also evidence
that this approach supports the development of certain metalinguistic
skills e.g. memorization and auditory discrimination, as well as phonologi-
cal awareness (Lourenço & Andrade, 2015). Awakening to languages sug-
gests a broader set of educational goals, which according to Lourenço
and Andrade are particularly appropriate for the early years.
At one of the private schools, an initial education teacher described using

English and Quechua during her routine activities with the children in
her care. It is likely that her approach is more aligned with a language
awareness model. This approach to languages may indeed be very
appropriate for Peru, in its desire to revitalise indigenous languages
and follow an initial education programme that promotes respect for
others. As such, quality interactions in the target language are not
necessary; instead the approach relies upon discovering different lan-
guages together, by sharing which languages are spoken in the class-
room, or finding out about other languages. Teachers need not be
experts in any language but their own, and instead require an interest in
other languages and cultures and a desire to share this interest with their
children.
4.8.3. Approaches to language education which respect

the child and the way they learn
The language exposure model is typical with regards to early English ini-
tiatives in most of the studies mentioned in this report. The focus is on
learning the language. However, what is relevant about languages in low-
exposure contexts is their usefulness as a ‘communication tool to be used
in other activities’ (European Commission, 2011: 14). The very nature of
pre-primary education, following a curriculum that supports the holistic
development of the child, would suggest that an integrated model (Mourão
2015; Robinson, Mourão & Kang 2015), would be highly appropriate. This
proposes an approach to the target language that emulates the way chil-
dren learn in pre-primary education, thus it would involve hands-on activi-

ties, child-initiated play and a focus on orality —listening and speaking. An
integrated model would also suggest that the target language accompa-
nies what children are doing in their daily activities so connections can
be made between learning through the languages (Dolean 2015). It also
implies a collaborative approach between the initial education teacher
and the target language teacher, if they are two different staff members
(Mourão & Robinson 2016).
The English lessons observed in private schools did not show evidence
that English was integrated, and neither was it clear that children were ac-
tually involved in a learning activity that respected the way they learned.
Survey respondents also indicated that there was a focus on reading and
writing and more formal learning activities which ignored both the Initial
Education Curriculum and child agency.
4.8.4. Time required for the successful implementation

of an early language learning policy
The responses from both interviewees and the survey respondents sug-
gest that a policy to successfully introduce an early English initiative into
initial education in Peru would be relatively easy. There is little evidence of
such a policy actually taking place, although Cyprus (see Ioannou-Georgio,
2015), Spain (Andúgar, Cortina-Pérez & Tornel, 2017) and Mexico (Sayer,
Ban & López de Anda, 2017) are examples worth discussing.
Cyprus is a very small country in Southern Europe, with a population of

just over a million. It was a British colony until the 1950s, and English has
a strong presence in the education of its citizens and in its linguistic land-
scape. Statutory attendance in the final year of pre-primary education has
been in place for some time. However, in September 2015, English was
introduced as a part of its pre-primary curriculum. Two years later, in Sep-
tember 2017, this was lowered to include all three years of pre-primary
education. This policy change began with a small pilot project which ran
from 2007 to 2010. Pre-primary teachers were given language develop-
ment courses together with training in methodologies to teach English
in pre-primary education. Pre-primary teachers were selected as they al-
ready had a fairly high level of English language competence due to Cy-
prus’s past association with Britain. The pilot project was evaluated posi-
tively and the inclusion of English in the last year of pre-primary education
became more and more widespread between 2010 and 2015, as teachers
were trained and the project gained in strength. In a small country like Cy-
prus, where English is spoken widely, this policy change took ten years to
materialise. To our knowledge, no longitudinal study has been undertaken
and published to show the results of this change.
105
A second example is Spain, where bilingual Spanish and English projects in
pre-primary began as pilots in 1996 with English becoming part of the na-
tional pre-primary programme in 2006 (Andúgar, et al., 2017; Fleta 2016).
A variety of teachers were trained to teach English including language
specialists in primary education and pre-primary teachers. English is now
compulsory in pre-primary education in ten of the seventeen Autonomous
Regions, with 2015 figures showing that 79 per cent of all pre-primary
children learned English from the age of three years old in Spain. Twenty
years from the start of the pilot projects, Spain is still trying to coordinate
a nationwide language policy, hindered by different approaches employed
in the regions. Andúgar et al. (ibid.), share an exhaustive analysis of how
the Autonomous Regions in Spain approach the national regulations of
2006, which suggests that it is the responsibility of the local education
authorities to include English from 3 to 6 years old. The variety of inter-
pretations includes a difference in guidelines around who is responsible
for the English teaching (the pre-primary teacher, an English teacher or
both); the teachers’ language competence; whether language assistants
are involved; the number of hours devoted to English and the different ap-
proaches, which may or may not be labelled bilingual language education
or content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Fewer than half of the
regions have developed a comprehensive plan for English in pre-primary
education and many regions are limited for economic reasons. The rela-
tionship between English and the regional languages, such as Catalan or
Basque, has also affected implementation. Andúgar et al. consider the het-
erogeneity of the regions to be the major stumbling block in a successful
nationwide implementation, which is likely to be the reason in many coun-
tries where there are larger differences between urban and rural areas.
A third example is Mexico, where, as part of a wider curriculum reform, a

national programme was launched in 2009 to introduce English into public
education from pre-primary through to grade 6. This programme provides
a single curriculum, beginning in pre-primary with two and a half hours of
instruction per week of English, to enable children to reach A2 level when
completing grade 6 of primary education. An evaluation of the pilot phase
was recently published (Sayer, Ban & López de Anda, 2017), which high-
lights the challenges Mexico has encountered together with confirmation
that only 25 per cent of Mexican elementary students actually receive
English instruction, with the majority attending schools in urban areas
(p. 272).
The main challenge encountered was the lack of qualified teachers with
sufficient English proficiency, but other challenges include:

• The production and distribution of materials
• Teacher schedules due to the employment of peripatetic English spe-

cialist teachers
• Expansion into rural areas of Mexico and the indigenous communities
• The creation of an administrative structure to support teacher pay-

ments and benefits
Despite issues regarding quality and nation-wide access, parents were

positive about the new programme in the main due to the ‘greater equity
in access to learning English’ (ibid: 285). Nevertheless, the socio-econom-
ic disparities between public and private education remain.
These country examples show that time is needed for a change in policy
regarding the implementation of a successful early language initiative. In
a small country like Cyprus, it took ten years to see the language policy
reach all three years of pre-primary education, in this case we can con-
sider it successful, as its coverage is nationwide. In Spain, with decen-
tralised systems in place, there is still little evidence of nation-wide
success after 20 years, although certain regions are doing very well.
What might be worth highlighting is the relevance of those children
who attended those early pilot programmes in pre-primary and who
will have recently left university, confident in their ability to speak
English. Some may even become pre-primary teachers and the circle
will be complete. In Mexico, after eight years of curriculum reform,
there is still a long way to go before such a programme reaches the
initial and primary education population it is intended for. The difficulties
encountered in Mexico will be similar to those in Peru and as such it might
be useful to follow Mexico’s progress and reflect on its relevance for such
a curriculum change in Peru.
107
PART 5: Conclusions and
recommendations
This baseline study set out to understand the present situation in Peru
regarding initial education and early English language initiatives; to col-
lect examples of practices and approaches in different contexts and to
make recommendations for the introduction of English in initial educa-
tion in Peru. Using more qualitative approaches during school visits and
interviews with stakeholders, followed by a more quantitative approach to
collecting data using surveys, a picture of initial education and early Eng-
lish initiatives has emerged, together with an impression of stakeholders’
attitudes. The study represents a tiny slice of the population; however, it
is sufficient to provide enough information to create a set of recommen-
dations.
We have encountered a country of enormous richness, but socio-econom-

ically disparate. The fact that school services do not reach all children,
with a percentage of children attending non-school services, which do not
always provide the level of education and care to the required standard,
means a nation-wide early English policy would be difficult to implement.
Recommendation 1: Create nation-wide school services of quality, be-

fore embarking on an initial English language initiative.
There is evidence that diversity and contrast is exacerbated by the in-

clusion of English in private initial education services. The private sector
remains a minority sector, but has expanded in recent years, as have the
number of early English initiatives. It would also seem that this concern
about inequality has contributed to an interest in English and a desire for
it to be available to all children in Peru, together with a belief that children
should begin learning a language earlier and a recognition that English is
a global language guaranteeing access to better education and work op-
portunities.
Recommendation 2: Consider publishing fact sheets about different

models of early language learning, e.g. language awareness, language ex-
posure, bilingual and immersion models. Include information about what
these approaches involve, what they require to be successful as well as
the benefits of the different models. Ensure these fact sheets are available

in schools and online so that stakeholders can make informed choices
about what happens in initial education classrooms.
Peru is a multilingual, multicultural and multi-ethnic society. Our study has

certainly shown that there is interest in and concern about indigenous
languages and with national plans to support cultural and linguistic rein-
forcement and revitalisation, is an early English initiative desired at this
time? If so how can it be seen to support Peru’s many languages instead
of smothering them?
Recommendation 3: Consider further investigating language awareness

programmes and their use in initial education to contribute to supporting
interest in indigenous languages as well as other languages, like English,
Portuguese etc. throughout Peru.
Officially, there is a lacuna of information regarding early English initia-

tives. This is not restricted to private services, for evidence points to past
initiatives in the public sector, as well as a small number of public services
at present with early English initiatives, some of which incur additional
costs for parents.
Recommendation 4: Consider tightening up regulations around private

school services, and creating a system which enables schools (public and
private) to easily inform the Ministry of Education about activities which
are not, thus far, part of the Peruvian initial education curriculum.
Present approaches to early English initiatives are questionable. Firstly, in

relation to the language competence of the education teacher. Secondly,
in relation to approaches and practices, which do not, most often, appear
to be age-appropriate. This problem is related to a lack of training and
know-how, in all sectors, including the publishing industry.
Recommendation 5: Consider creating a set of guidelines for early Eng-

lish initiatives, possibly in collaboration with the two English Teacher Asso-
ciations in Peru. Ensure these guidelines are available not only to English
teachers, but to initial education teachers and publishers as well. They
could be made available online through the usual communication lines.
Long-term planning is essential for any early language learning initiative

to be successful. An earlier start, if done properly, allows for a longer term
overall for engagement with other languages. However, an early start re-
quires a strategy for continuity from initial education into primary educa-
tion and then into secondary education. Introducing an early language
109
learning initiative in initial education, requires that there is planned con-
tinuation into primary education.
Recommendation 6: Consider a long-term plan for the introduction of

an early English initiative, which may require wider national curriculum
reform.
Teacher education for initial education teachers and English teachers,

in the contexts visited, were separate and divided. It is obvious that ex-
pertise exists, however departments are isolated with no opportunity for
sharing and expanding. Nor do they appear prepared to educate teachers
in learning, learning about or teaching foreign or second languages.
Recommendation 7: Consider encouraging teacher education pro-

grammes to collaborate between departments. Suggest a restructuring of
teacher education models which involves preparing teachers to combine
expertise in initial education and second and foreign language learning.
Pilot projects in education are usually the first stage of any curriculum
change, they serve to show if there are any significant benefits to such
change, as well as evaluating the practicality of successful implementa-
tion. There is evidence that suggests piloting is more successful if it takes
a bottom up approach and is seen collaboratively, utilizing the expertise of
teachers who may already be innovating (Levy, 1990).
Recommendation 8: Consider extensive piloting of an early language

learning initiative. When selecting where to pilot, it might be useful to take
into consideration the early language initiatives that are already in place
in the public sector, once they have been appraised. In addition, ensuring
a variety of contexts are included in a pilot stage, including those which
represent the most difficult geographical areas for curriculum innovation
to succeed.

PART 6: Possible routes
towards including an
early language initiative
in Peru
In the report, references have been made to two models of early language
initiatives, a language awareness model and a language exposure model.
Of these two models, the latter is most widely known for it focuses on the
learning of one language, usually English. Nevertheless, both models are
possible and possibly desirable, though they take different approaches to
language education and require different teacher profiles.
6.1. A language awareness model

If quality interaction in English is not possible due to a teacher’s low level
of language competence, what is possible in relation to early language
learning? One of the objectives noted in the interviews and carried over
into the surveys was the desire to ‘enjoy the sounds of English’ and ‘to
realize the existence of other languages’. Such objectives may be associ-
ated with the language exposure model, but also with the language aware-
ness model (Hawkins, 1987) or awakening to languages (Candelier, 2003),
where contact with a variety of languages is planned for, the purpose of
which is to prepare children to live in a linguistically and culturally diverse
society. The objective is not to ‘teach languages per se, but to promote
questioning about language to develop linguistic understandings and to
challenge linguistic prejudices’ (Garcia, 2008: 387). The languages in such
a programme could include minority, endangered or heritage languages,
as well as those considered of relevance, e.g. English, Portuguese, Chi-
nese etc.
Research suggests that children from 3 to 10 years old benefit from such
an approach, as it fosters positive representations of linguistic diversity,
motivates language learning and contributes to the recognition of linguis-
tic repertoires in children who come from minority backgrounds. There
is also evidence that this approach supports the development of certain
metalinguistic skills e.g. memorization and auditory discrimination, as well
as phonological awareness (Lourenço & Andrade, 2015b). Awakening to
111
languages suggests a broader set of educational goals, which accord-
ing to Lourenço and Andrade are particularly appropriate for the early
years.
In one of the private schools, an initial education teacher described using

English and Quechua during her routine activities with the children in her
care. It is likely that her approach is more aligned with a language aware-
ness model. This approach to languages may indeed be very appropriate
for Peru, in its desire to revitalise the indigenous languages and follow an
initial education programme which promotes respect for others. As such,
quality interactions in the target language are not necessary, instead the
approach relies upon discovering different languages together, by sharing
which languages are spoken in the classroom, or finding out about other
languages. Teachers need not be experts in any language but their own,
and instead require an interest in other languages and cultures and a de-
sire to share this interest with their children.
6.1.1. An academic profile
The academic profile for an initial education teacher to successfully im-

plement an early language initiative in the form of a language awareness
model would be little more than an interest in languages and a curiosity
regarding discovering languages together with the children in their care.
Training would be necessary to contribute to a deeper understanding of
the components of the language awareness model to enable teachers to
participate in a programme which was flexible enough to incorporate the
social and cultural values of a particular school community as well as en-
suring it was ‘inclusive and dynamic, and open to diversity and coopera-
tive learning’ (Lourenço & Andrade, 2015b: 133). This training is likely to be
short-term and could even be provided through online modules.
6.2. A language exposure model

A language exposure model focuses on the formal learning of one lan-
guage and planned continuation through the school years is essential. It
requires that teachers involved in such initiatives have a fairly high level
of language competence. As mentioned earlier in this report, the recom-
mendation in Europe is B2, although there is evidence to suggest that C1
is more appropriate, ‘as it enables teachers to be fully functional in the
informal and incidental language regularly required in primary classrooms’
(Enever, 2011: 26).

6.2.1. An academic profile
The implications for the academic profile of a teacher who is responsible

for teaching English in initial education are that they necessitate at least a
B2 level. However, as initial education is qualitatively different to primary
education, with a focus on developing the whole child rather than being
subject focused, knowledge of and competence in English is not enough.
Teachers require an understanding of early childhood pedagogy, first and
second language development in early childhood, together with method-
ologies for teaching English to such young children. The implications of
such a profile are that teacher education programmes would require ex-
tensive reformulation, as long-term training would be required.
An alternative might be to bring two members of staff together, an initial

education teacher and an English teacher. Through collaboration, these
teachers would bring their individual competencies together for the ben-
efit of the children in their care. However, both professionals would still
need a training of sorts. The initial education teacher would require a brief
introduction to early language learning and the strategies she could put
into practice to create a classroom environment which supported such an
initiative. The English teacher would need training related to early child-
hood pedagogy and subject-specific methodologies to enable them to
bring appropriate early language learning experiences into the classroom.
Collaborative practices also require time and dedication, which would re-
quire the support of school directors and local authorities.
6.3. Sustainability
A language awareness model represents a very different form of early lan-
guage initiative and one which is often misunderstood. Immediate results
would not be visible. Instead, over a longer period of time, as children
move through the education system, their openness to difference would
become evident, as would their willingness to approach and learn other
languages. Despite very positive results in such programmes in all levels
of education in Europe over the last 20 years (Candelier, 2003; Lourenço
& Andrade, 2015a; Young & Helot, 2003), opposition from parents of chil-
dren in primary education has been noted, as they wanted their children
to be ‘taught the “global” language, English’ (Barton, Bragg & Serratice,
2009: 148). It is for this reason that such an approach would have to be
carefully explained to stakeholders.
113
A language awareness model might be seen as a first step towards a more
generalised wider curriculum reform which included language education
in all levels of compulsory education. Transitional issues providing for con-
tinuity are often overlooked, thus beginning an early language learning
initiative in initial education would require that there was continuation into
grade 1 in primary education in whatever approach was adopted.
It goes without saying that the Ministry of Education and regional authori-
ties have a major role to play in ensuring early language learning initia-
tives are successful. In research into such initiatives in primary education,
Enever and Moon suggest that the design and implementation of early
language learning programmes is ‘dependent both upon political will and
available national investment’ (2009: 9), and they outline a broad set of
issues which demand attention (pp. 10-13):
• Teacher quality and availability and the relevance of teacher training

and development.
• Smaller class sizes for realistic attention to a communicative approach,

which is more interactive and develops oracy skills.
• Curriculum and assessment design, with attention paid to avoiding a

mismatch between exam focused and communicative, oracy focused
approaches.
• Resource provision which would need to support whichever model(s)

were adopted.
• Equity of provision, with innovative models to overcome the challenges

of implementing successful, nationwide, public provision.
• Continuity across school phases, with the development of ‘a cohesive

curriculum outline ensuring a cumulative programme of provision for
each phase of schooling’ (p. 12).
• A dynamic interplay between top-down and bottom-up, which involves

the Ministry of Education but also the classroom teachers who may
already be innovating.
To begin a national policy that involves such a huge curriculum change,

much needs to be done in preparation. President Ollanta Humala’s pledge
to achieve bilingualism by 2021 was, unquestionably, a good idea. How-
ever, such an idea requires national resources which are not available.
Such an idea requires trained teachers, with good levels of English and a

knowledge of early childhood development and teaching methodologies.
Such an idea requires an understanding of the limitations of the kind of
bilingualism that would result from a few hours of English a week. Such
an idea requires a long-term plan that is carefully monitored and well re-
sourced. Such an idea would take many years to achieve, but if such an
idea is approached with care and a clear, well prepared plan, success is
more likely.
115
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Appendices
1. School observation tool
2. Lesson observation tool
3. Questions for interviews and focus groups
a. Children in schools where English is taught
b. Children in schools with no English provision
c. Parents of children in schools where English is taught
d. Parents of children in schools with no English provision
e. Teachers in schools where English is taught
f. Teachers in schools with no English provision
g. Directors in schools where English is taught
h. Directors in schools with no English provision
i. Student teachers
j. Teacher trainers
k. Local council representatives
l. Ministry of Education representatives
4. Informed consent letter
5. Teacher online survey
6. Director online survey
7. Teacher trainer online survey
8. Callao Project report
123
Appendix 1 - School observation tool
Teaching English in the Early Years

Peru 2017
Observation of pre-primary institutions
Place: Facilities Class Lesson observation
Setting: School building Teacher: Children:

Rural Condition: Primary generalist Nº
Urban Good Pre-primary professional
Average Semi-professional Boys Girls
English session Poor Volunteer
General session Ages: 3 4 5
Nº of classrooms Additional adults:
Institution type: Yes No L1
Playground Spanish
Public Toilets Notes Quechua
a) Centre Gym Aymara
b) Day care / Pronoei Kitchen Other
Dining area
Private Library SES
Language school Office Middle
English project Yes No Middle low
Total nº of children: Classroom Low
Teacher: Very low
Nº of teachers: Size: English specialist
Primary generalist SEN: Yes No
Notes Wall space Pre-primary professional
Windows / light Semi-professional Notes
Circle time space
Tablets & chairs Amount per week:
Board
125
Appendix 2 - Lesson observation tool
Pre-primary lesson/ class observation checklist (English)
Date: Adults present: Children:

Place: English teacher Nº:
Pre-primary professional Gender mix:
Assistant Age range:
Children with SEND:
Classroom: Notes
• Existence of an English learning area (ELA)
• Worksheet / arts and craft displays in English
• English books /literature in library / ELA
• Information in English on walls e.g. weather charts
• Environmental print in English
• English resources e.g. CDs, DVDs, course books
Context: (lesson aim(s) or description of activity)
Teacher-led: An activity defined structured and delivered by an adult. It focuses on the direct teaching of
skills and knowledge with a specific objective in mind.
Whole class/larger group input Notes

• Clear focus – learning aims explained appropriately and
matched to needs of children
• Explicit links made to children’s prior learning within the
continuous provision
• Revisiting of learning aims to assess children’s understand-
ing
• Clear staging, using opening and closing routines and rou-
tinized language and varied set ups e.g. circle time, table
time
• Effective modelling of language, reformulating and recast-
ing to extend children’s speaking skills
• Lesson engaging, interactive and meets the diverse needs
of all children
• Successful modelling of skills, knowledge, attitudes and
understanding
• Effective questioning and prompts which probe for under-
standing
• Careful and appropriate use of resources, e.g. flashcards,
realia, music, story etc
• Use of interactive strategies e.g. paired talk
• Positive relationships – children feeling secure and being
encouraged to keep trying, experiment with English and
become confident learners
• ‘Positive’ behaviour promoted – clear and consistent
boundaries demonstrated
• Effective deployment of additional adults
• Use of ICT when appropriate

Smaller group work Notes
• Children grouped appropriately with tasks matched to needs and
abilities
• Tasks well planned and purposeful that engage and interest the
children, and help to achieve an appropriate learning aim
• Tasks modelled and scaffolded with appropriate resources ac-
cessible
• Sufficient opportunity for collaborative work
• Assessment for learning opportunities are maximised and chil-
dren are actively involved
Teacher-directed: An activity defined by an adult that focuses on a specific objective that the child may
complete independently or with adult support
Teacher-directed Notes
• Clear focus – learning aims explained clearly and matched to
needs of children based on prior learning
• Activities have previously been modelled through whole class/
group sessions
• A balance of adult-directed activities indoors and outdoors (if
appropriate)
• Effective use of additional adults
• Organisation promotes independence
Self-initiated: An activity wholly decided on by the child and that is the result of an intrinsic motivation to
explore a project or express an idea. In doing this, the child may make use of a variety of resources and
demonstrate a complex range of knowledge skills and understanding.
Child/Self-initiated (as appropriate) Notes

• Children access areas of continuous provision (indoors and
outdoors) independently and demonstrate an understanding of
organisational systems
• Individuals and groups of children initiate activities, show initia-
tive and make decisions
• Adults encourage and support children to work co-operatively
• Adults promote ‘positive’ behaviour and teach children how to
look after themselves
• Children are active learners having time to explore ideas and
interests at length and in depth in a safe, secure and challenging
environment
• Children are given time to explore ideas and interests at length
and in depth
• Adults recognise when it is appropriate to engage in children’s
self initiated activities to challenge and extend children’s think-
ing so that learning is taken forward
• Children are able to ask questions, reflect on and discuss their
learning with both adults and other children
• Provision promotes an inclusive approach that meets the diverse
needs of all children
• Adults are responsive and supportive of children’s emotional
needs and promote acceptance of each other’s differences
• The outdoors extends children’s learning and provides opportu-
nities that are not so readily available indoors
Adapted from Devon Learning and Development Partnership

Early Years Foundation Stage
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2017/03/EYFS_STATUTORY_FRAMEWORK_2017.pdf
EYFS Profile Handbook 2008 http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415485586/data/EarlyYearsFoundationStage-
AssessmentProfileHandbook.pdf
127
Appendix 3 - Questions for interviews
and focus groups
Appendix 3a - Children in schools where
English is taught
Niños
El objetivo es averiguar qué es lo que los niños piensan sobre las lenguas y
en particular sobre inglés y también para tener una idea de qué hacen en
inglés desde su punto de vista.
Hola chicos! Mi nombre es Laura y ella es Sandie.
1. Estamos aquí para hacerles algunas preguntas sobre su escuela y lo que apren-
den. No tienen que hablarnos si no quieren. Si quieren pueden …
2. Sandie quisiera grabarlos cuando hablan así podemos recordar lo que nos di-
cen. ¡Pulgares arriba si está ok que los grabemos!
3. Cuando ustedes se vayan les vamos a contar a otras personas lo que nos di-
jeron. Vamos a escribir un documento muy largo y mucha gente lo va a leer.
¡Pulgares arriba si está bien que hagamos esto!
4. ¡Pulgares arriba si están contentos de quedarse y hablar con nosotras!
¡Ok, muchas gracias!!
Trajimos un amigo para que hable con uds. Este es Buddy. Buddy viene de muy,
muy lejos. ¿Adivinan de dónde viene? ¿Saben qué idioma habla? Buddy tiene al-
gunas preguntas para hacerles. Después uds. pueden hacerle preguntas también.
1. Buddy está muy interesado en saber qué lenguas hablan, ¿le pueden contar?
• ¿Qué lenguas hablan?
• ¿Dónde hablas esa lengua? ¿Con quién?
• ¿Hablas inglés fuera de tu escuela? ¿Dónde hablas inglés? ¿Con quién?
2. Uds aprenden inglés en la escuela, ¿no es cierto? Buddy quiere saber qué hacen
en las clases de inglés, ¿le pueden contar?
3. Buddy quiere saber si les gusta aprender inglés.
4. Buddy quiere saber por qué uds aprenden inglés. ¿Le pueden contar?
5. ¿Les gustaría aprender otras lenguas? ¿Cuáles? ¿Le pueden contar a Buddy por
qué?
Buddy está muy contento con las respuestas. Muchas gracias. ¿Quieren hacerle
algunas preguntas ahora?

Appendix 3b - Children in schools with no
English provision
Niños
El objetivo es averiguar qué es lo que los niños piensan sobre las lenguas y
qué lenguas les gustaría aprender en un futuro y por qué.
Hola chicos! Mi nombre es Laura y ella es Sandie.
1. Estamos aquí para hacerles algunas preguntas sobre su escuela y lo que apren-
den aquí. No tienen que hablarnos si no quieren. Si quieren pueden …
2. Sandie quisiera grabarlos cuando hablan así podemos recordar lo que nos di-
cen. ¡Pulgares arriba si está ok que los grabemos!
3. Cuando nos vayamos les vamos a contar a otras personas lo que nos dijeron.
Vamos a escribir un documento muy largo y mucha gente lo va a leer. ¡Pulgares
arriba si está bien que hagamos esto!
4. ¡Pulgares arriba si están contentos de quedarse y hablar con nosotras!
¡Ok, muchas gracias!!
Trajimos un amigo para que hable con uds. Este es Buddy. Buddy viene de muy,
muy lejos. ¿Adivinan de dónde viene? ¿Saben qué idioma habla? Buddy tiene al-
gunas preguntas para hacerles. Después uds. pueden hacerle preguntas también.
1. Buddy está muy interesado en saber qué lenguas hablan, ¿le pueden contar?
• ¿Qué lenguas hablan?
• ¿Dónde hablas esa lengua? ¿Con quién?
• ¿Hablas inglés fuera de tu escuela? ¿Dónde hablas inglés? ¿Con quién?
2. ¿Les gustaría aprender otras lenguas? ¿Cuáles?
3. ¿Le pueden contar a Buddy por qué?
Buddy está muy contento con las respuestas. Muchas gracias. ¿Quieren hacerle
algunas preguntas ahora?
129
Appendix 3c - Parents of children in
schools where English is taught
Padres y tutores en escuelas privadas con inglés
Para averiguar qué idiomas hablan
1. ¿Qué lenguas habla Ud.?
2. ¿Cuál considera Ud. que es su lengua predominante?
3. ¿Ud. habla inglés?
4. ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer, escri-

bir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
1. ¿Ud. cree que es importante hablar más de una lengua? ¿Por qué? ¿Por qué no?
2. ¿Ud. cree que es importante hablar inglés? ¿Por qué? ¿Por qué no?
Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en la

escuela en educación inicial
1. ¿Ud. cree que es importante enseñar otras lenguas en Perú?
2. ¿Qué lenguas deberían enseñarse?
3. ¿Cuándo deberían los niños comenzar a aprender una lengua adicional en la

escuela? ¿Puede explicar por qué?
4. ¿Qué piensa Ud. sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación ini-

cial?
5. ¿Qué lengua debería ser? ¿Por qué?
Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de inglés en educación inicial
1. ¿Sabe Ud. de quién fue la decisión de enseñar inglés en educación inicial?
2. ¿Alguien le consultó su opinión?
3. ¿Ud. está de acuerdo con que sus hijos aprendan inglés aquí?
4. ¿Qué beneficios le trae a sus hijos aprender inglés en educación inicial?
5. ¿Puede señalar algún aspecto negativo sobre el aprendizaje de inglés en edu-

cación inicial?
6. ¿Quién cree Ud. que debería enseñar inglés? ¿la maestra inicial, otra maestra o
ambas? ¿Puede explicar por qué?

Para averiguar qué conocen sobre las clases de inglés
1. ¿Cuáles son los objetivos de aprendizaje de sus hijos en las clases de inglés?
¿Los conoce?
2. ¿Ud. sabe qué están hacienda/aprendiendo los niños en la clase de inglés?
• ¿Qué tipo de actividades realizan?
• ¿Qué recursos se utilizan? E. g. libro de texto, tarjetas, canciones, libros de

cuentos, computadoras, etc.
• ¿Sus hijos son evaluados en inglés? Si fuera así, ¿cómo?
3. ¿Sus hijos disfrutan sus clases de inglés? ¿Cómo lo saben?
• ¿Sus hijos hablan sobre la clase de inglés en casa? Si fuera así, ¿de qué ma-
nera?
• ¿Ud. alienta a sus hijos a que utilicen inglés en casa? Si fuera así, ¿de qué
manera?
• En caso de viaje ¿Ud. utiliza inglés?
¿Hay algo más que Ud. quisiera decir sobre sus hijos y las clases de inglés que
nosotros deberíamos saber?
131
Appendix 3d - Parents of children in
schools with no English provision
Padres en escuelas sin inglés
4. ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer, escri-

bir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
Para averiguar qué piensan sobre hablar distintas lenguas
Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en la

escuela en educación inicial

4. ¿Qué piensa Ud. sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación ini-

cial?
Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de inglés en educación inicial
1. ¿Su hijo tiene alguna exposición a inglés? Si fuera así, ¿de qué forma?
2. ¿A Ud. le gustaría que sus hijos aprendieran inglés en educación inicial?
3. ¿Qué beneficios les traería a sus hijos aprender inglés en educación inicial?
4. ¿Hay algún aspecto negativo relacionado a la enseñanza de inglés en educación

inicial?
5. ¿Quién cree Ud que debería enseñar inglés? ¿La maestra inicial, otra maestra o
ambas? ¿Puede explicar por qué?

Para averiguar cómo creen que deberían ser las clases de inglés
1. Si sus hijos aprendieran inglés en educación inicial:
• ¿cuáles serían los objetivos de aprendizaje?
• ¿qué tipo de actividades se incluirían?
• ¿qué recursos se utilizarían? e. g. libros de texto, tarjetas, canciones, libros

de cuentos, computadoras, etc.
¿Hay algo más que Ud. quisiera decir sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales
en Perú en educación inicial?
133
Appendix 3e - Teachers in schools where
English is taught
Maestras de inicial en escuelas privadas con inglés
1. Para averiguar qué idiomas hablan
4. ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer,

escribir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
2. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre hablar distintas lenguas
1. ¿Ud. cree que es importante hablar más de una lengua? ¿Por qué? ¿Por qué
no?
3. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en

la escuela / educación inicial
3. ¿Cuándo deberían los niños comenzar a aprender una lengua adicional?

¿Puede explicar por qué?
4. ¿Qué piensa Ud. sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación

inicial?
6. Entonces, ¿Ud. estaría de acuerdo con que los niños aprendan inglés en
Perú?
7. ¿Qué beneficios traería aprender inglés para los niños de su escuela o clase?
8. ¿Puede señalar algún aspecto negativo relacionado a aprender inglés?
4. Para averiguar cuánto saben las maestras iniciales sobre las clases de
inglés
1. ¿Ud. sabe quién tomó la decisión de enseñar inglés en educación inicial en

esta escuela?
2. ¿Alguien le preguntó su opinión?
3. ¿Cuáles son los objetivos de aprendizaje de las clases de inglés de los niños?

4. ¿Ud. sabe qué actividades están haciendo/aprendiendo los niños con el/la
maestra/o de inglés?
• ¿Qué tipo de actividades incluyen?
• ¿Qué recursos se utilizan? e. g. libros de texto, tarjetas, canciones, libros

de cuentos, computadoras, etc.
• ¿Los niños son evaluados de alguna manera? Si fuera así, ¿cómo?
5. ¿Hay alguna evidencia en el aula de que los niños están aprendiendo inglés?
Si fuera así, ¿puede darnos algunos ejemplos?
6. ¿Los niños disfrutan sus clases de inglés? ¿Cómo lo sabe?
7. ¿Los niños utilizan inglés con Ud. en algún momento? (fuera de la clase de
inglés)
5. Para averiguar qué piensa la maestra inicial sobre la colaboración con la/
el maestra/o de inglés
1. ¿Quién debería enseñar inglés: la maestra inicial, otra maestra o ambas? ¿Por
qué?
2. ¿Ud. cree que tiene un rol específico en la experiencia de los niños apren-
diendo inglés? Si fuera así, ¿cuál sería su rol?
3. ¿Ud. está presente durante las clases de inglés?
4. ¿Ud. se comunica regularmente con la maestra de inglés? ¿de qué manera?
• ¿Tienen encuentros frecuentes?
• ¿Ud. le da ideas para las clases o temas para enseñar?
• ¿Comparten ideas y/o planifican juntas?
6. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la formación de las maestras iniciales y

la enseñanza de inglés
1. ¿Ud cree que la formación de maestras iniciales debería incluir entrenamien-

to en inglés?
• ¿Debería ser un curso de lengua para enseñar/mejorar su inglés?
• ¿Debería ser un curso sobre metodología para enseñar inglés?
• ¿Debería incluir ambos ejes?
¿Hay algo más que Ud. quisiera decir sobre las clases de inglés de los niños que
135
Appendix 3f - Teachers in schools with no
English provision
Maestras iniciales en escuelas públicas
4. ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer,

no?



inicial?
6. ¿Quién debería enseñar esta lengua? ¿la maestra inicial, otra maestra o am-
bas?
4. Si no mencionan inglés:
1. ¿Qué piensa Ud. sobre la idea de enseñar inglés en educación inicial?
2. ¿Quién debería enseñar esta lengua? ¿la maestra inicial, otra maestra o am-
bas?
3. ¿Qué tipo de actividades cree Ud. que deberían incluirse en las clases de
inglés en educación inicial?
4. ¿Qué beneficios les traería a los niños en su clase o escuela?

5. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la formación de las maestras iniciales y
la enseñanza de inglés
1. ¿Ud cree que la formación de maestras iniciales debería incluir entrenamien-

to en inglés?
¿Hay algo más que Ud. quisiera decir sobre las clases de inglés de los niños que
137
Appendix 3g - Directors in schools where
English is taught
Directores de escuelas en escuelas privadas con inglés
3. Ud. habla inglés ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer,
3. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en la escuela

en educación inicial
3. ¿Cuándo deberían los niños comenzar a aprender una lengua adicional en la escuela?
4. Para averiguar cuándo comenzó la enseñanza de inglés y por qué
1. ¿Cuándo comenzó a enseñarse inglés en educación inicial?
2. ¿Por qué comenzó Ud con inglés en educación inicial?
• ¿Fue su idea?
• ¿Los padres lo pidieron?
• ¿El personal docente lo pidió?
• ¿Fue la idea de alguna otra persona?
5. Para averiguar quién, qué y cómo enseñan inglés
1. ¿Qué edad tienen los niños cuando comienzan inglés aquí?
2. ¿Cuántas horas de inglés tienen?
3. ¿Todos los niños asisten a las clases?
4. ¿Esto significa algún costo adicional?
5. ¿Cuáles son los objetivos de aprendizaje en las clases de inglés?
6. ¿Son distintos en los diferentes grupos etarios?
7. ¿La maestra sigue un programa? ¿Quién lo diseñó?
8. ¿Qué tipo de actividades se incluyen?

9. ¿Qué recursos se utilizan? E.g. libro de texto, tarjetas, canciones, libros de cuentos, com-
putadoras, etc.
10. ¿Los niños son evaluados de alguna manera? Si fuera así, ¿cómo?
11. ¿Cómo se maneja la transición entre la educación inicial y primaria?
6. Para averiguar si tienen algún tipo de devolución sobre inglés en educación inicial
1. ¿Los niños disfrutan de las clases de inglés? ¿Cómo lo sabe?
2. ¿Tiene Ud. algún tipo de devolución por parte de los padres? Si fuera así, ¿de qué tipo?
3. ¿Las maestras iniciales están contentas de incluir inglés en la educación de los niños?
¿Cómo lo sabe?
4. ¿Las maestras de inglés están a gusto en la educación inicial? ¿Cómo lo sabe?
5. ¿Sabe Ud. de algún desafío que alguno de los profesionales deba enfrentar?
7. Para averiguar lo que el/la director/a piensa sobre la maestra inicial y la enseñanza
de inglés
1. ¿Quién se desempeñaría mejor como docente de inglés en educación inicial?¿La maestra

inicial, otra maestra o ambas? ¿Puede explicar por qué?
2. ¿Ud cree que la maestra inicial debe involucrarse en la experiencia con inglés de sus
alumnos? Si fuera así, ¿de qué manera?
3. ¿Ud. cree que la formación docente de las maestras iniciales debería incluir entrenamien-
to en inglés?
8. Para averiguar qué formación docente cree el director que debería tener una maestra
de inglés
1. How do you select your English teachers? ¿Cómo selecciona Ud. sus maestras de inglés?
2. ¿Qué tipo de formación profesional debería tener una maestra de inglés en educación
inicial?
3. ¿Qué tipo de características personales cree Ud que debería tener una maestra de inglés
en educación inicial?
4. Si existiera un trayecto de entrenamiento en inglés para maestras de educación inicial,

¿qué información/módulos cree Ud. que debería incluir?
¿Hay algo más que Ud. desearía agregar con respecto a las clases de inglés en educación inicial
en su escuela?
139
Appendix 3h - Directors in schools with no
English provision
Directores/as de escuelas públicas
3. ¿Ud. habla inglés? ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de inglés? ¿Cuál es su habilidad

dominante: leer, escribir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
no?

la escuela en educación inicial


inicial?
5. ¿Qué idioma debería ser? ¿Por qué?
4. Para averiguar qué piensan sobre la enseñanza de ingles en educación

inicial
1. ¿A Ud. le gustaría que su escuela incluyera inglés en educación inicial?
2. ¿Qué beneficios les traería a los niños en educación inicial?
3. ¿Existe algún aspecto negativo que nos pueda señalar relacionado a la ense-
ñanza de inglés en educación inicial?
5. Para averiguar lo que el/la director/a piensa sobre la maestra inicial y la

enseñanza de inglés
1. ¿Quién se desempeñaría mejor como docente de inglés en educación

inicial?¿La maestra inicial, otra maestra o ambas? ¿Puede explicar por qué?

2. ¿Ud cree que la maestra inicial debería involucrarse en la experiencia con
inglés de sus alumnos? Si fuera así, ¿de qué manera?
3. ¿Ud. cree que la formación docente de las maestras iniciales debería incluir
entrenamiento en inglés?
6. Para averiguar qué formación docente cree el director que debería tener
una maestra de inglés
1. ¿Qué tipo de formación profesional debería tener una maestra de inglés en

educación inicial?
2. ¿Qué tipo de características personales cree Ud que debería tener una

maestra de inglés en educación inicial?
3. Si existiera un trayecto de entrenamiento en inglés para maestras de educa-

ción inicial, ¿qué información/módulos cree Ud. que debería incluir?
¿Hay algo más que Ud. desearía agregar con respecto a las clases de inglés en
educación inicial en su escuela?
141
Appendix 3i - Student teachers
Estudiantes /docentes en formación
3. Si hablan una segunda lengua,
• ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de dicha lengua?
• ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer, escribir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
• ¿Cuándo (y con quién) habla Ud. dicha lengua?
no?

1. ¿Cuándo deberían los niños comenzar a aprender una lengua adicional?

2. ¿Qué lengua debería enseñarse? ¿Por qué?

inicial?
4. ¿Qué lengua debería ser? ¿Una lengua originaria? ¿Inglés? ¿Otra?
5. ¿Quién debería enseñar esta lengua? ¿La maestra inicial, otra maestra o am-
bas?
4. Para averiguar acerca de sus estudios
1. ¿Están disfrutando sus estudios?
2. ¿Qué es lo que más les gusta acerca de estudiar para ser docente?
3. ¿Qué es lo que menos les gusta?
4. ¿Qué creen Uds que su centro de formación docente / universidad hace

especialmente bien?
5. ¿Qué se podría mejorar?

5. Para averiguar acerca de la formación docente actual y las lenguas
1. ¿El programa de esta casa de estudios incluye:
• un módulo sobre adquisición de lengua materna? (e. g. español y/o len-

guas originarias)
• un módulo sobre adquisición de una segunda lengua? (e. g español como

segunda lengua / lengua regional como segunda lengua)
• un módulo sobre enseñanza de español como segunda lengua? (e. g para

enseñar a hablantes de lenguas originarias)
• un módulo sobre la enseñanza de una segunda lengua? (e. g. para enseñar

lenguas originarias / una lengua extranjera)
• un módulo que les enseñe una segunda lengua (e. g. una lengua originaria
or una lengua extranjera)
• ¿Uds. creen que debería incluirlo?
6. Para averiguar su opinión si tuvieran que enseñar inglés en educación

inicial
1. ¿Cómo se sentirían Uds. si les dijeran que tienen que enseñar a) una lengua
originaria b) inglés cuando comiencen a trabajar en educación inicial?
2. ¿Cómo quisieran que sus universidades/centros de formación docente los

prepararan para esto? e. g. ¿qué módulos deberían incluirse en el curso?
¿Hay alguna otra cosa que Uds. quisieran decir sobre las lenguas en la educación
en Perú?
143
Appendix 3j - Teacher trainers
Formadores docentes
3. Si hablan una segunda lengua,
• ¿Cómo definiría su nivel de dicha lengua?
• ¿Cuál es su habilidad dominante: leer, escribir, escuchar o hablar inglés?
• ¿Cuándo (y con quién) habla Ud. dicha lengua?
no?

1. ¿Cuándo cree Ud. que los niños deberían comenzar a aprender una lengua
adicional en Perú? ¿Puede explicar por qué?

inicial?
bas?
2. ¿Quién cree Ud. que debería enseñar inglés? ¿La maestra inicial, otra maes-
tra o ambas?
5. Para averiguar cuáles son los desafíos en la formación docente en Perú

en la actualidad
1. ¿Cuáles son los mayores desafíos en la formación docente en Perú en la

actualidad para maestras de inicial y primaria?

2. ¿Cómo tratará su institución de sobrellevar estas dificultades?
6. Para averiguar acerca de la formación docente y las lenguas en la actua-

lidad
1. ¿La formación docente (primara e inicial) incluye:
• un módulo sobre adquisición de lengua materna? (e. g. español y/o lenguas

originarias)
• un módulo sobre adquisición de una segunda lengua? (e. g español como

segunda lengua / lengua regional como segunda lengua)
• un módulo sobre enseñanza de español como segunda lengua? (e. g para

enseñar a hablantes de lenguas originarias)
• un módulo sobre la enseñanza de una segunda lengua? (e. g. para enseñar

lenguas originarias / una lengua extranjera)
7. Para averiguar acerca de sus ideas para la formación docente en el futuro,

que incluye una segunda lengua
1. ¿Qué cambios deberían hacerse dentro de la formación docente para maes-

tros de inicial y primario para apoyar la inclusión de la iniciación en segunda
lengua?
2. ¿Qué lengua debería ser? ¿Originaria? ¿Inglés? ¿Otra?
3. ¿Qué desafíos pueden Uds. anticipar con respecto a implementar esta ense-
ñanza?
4. ¿Cuánto tiempo creen Uds. que se tardaría en ver los frutos de estos cam-
bios? (e. g. ¿Cómo sería una posible línea de tiempo?)
¿Hay alguna otra cosa que Uds. quisieran decir sobre las lenguas en educación
inicial que deberíamos saber?
145
Appendix 3k - Local council
representatives
Local council representatives
no?


inicial?
bas?
tra o ambas?
5. To find out about the challenges in educación inicial in Peru at the present
time
1. What are the greatest challenges in educación inicial in Peru?
2. ¿Cómo tratará su institución de sobrellevar estas dificultades?

1. ¿Qué cambios deberían hacerse dentro de educación inicial para apoyar la

inclusión de la iniciación en segunda lengua?
ñanza?
147
Appendix 3l - Ministry of Education
representatives
MINEDU
no?


inicial?
bas?
tra o ambas?
5. To find out about the challenges in educación inicial in Peru at the present
time
1. What are the greatest challenges for teachers/ maestras iniciales in educa-
ción inicial in Peru?
2. How does the Minedu support teachers / maestras iniciales to overcome

these difficulties? If at all?

1. ¿Qué cambios deberían hacerse dentro de educación inicial para apoyar la

inclusión de la iniciación en segunda lengua?
ñanza?
149
Appendix 4 - Informed Consent Letter
Enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación pre-escolar en Perú

Mayo 2017
El Ministerio de Educación de Perú ha expresado su interés en incluir la enseñan-

za de una lengua adicional en la educación pre-escolar en el futuro. El Consejo
Británico ha sido elegido para llevar adelante la investigación que le permitirá al
Ministerio de Educación realizar decisiones informadas sobre el tema. Norwich
Institute for Language Education (NILE) en el Reino Unido ha sido contratado para
diseñar y llevar adelante la investigación. La Dra. Sandie Mourão y Mg. Laura Re-
nart encabezan el equipo de investigación, con el apoyo de Ana Maria Hurtado y
Ralph Grayson del Consejo Británico en Lima.
La entrevista a la cual Ud. ha accedido a participar es parte de esta investigación.

Su objetivo es conocer las opiniones de todos los actores que participan del he-
cho educativo relacionado a la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación
pre-escolar en Perú. La entrevista / discusión en ‘focus groups’ será grabada y
luego transcripta. Su identidad se mantendrá anónima y toda la información que
Ud. nos brinde será confidencial.
La información recolectada será utilizada con el fin de redactar un informe final

para el Ministerio de Educación. Dicha información también será citada en artícu-
los académicos y en presentaciones académicas en conferencias relacionadas
con la enseñanza de lenguas adicionales en educación pre-escolar.
Si Ud. tuviera alguna pregunta sobre su participación por favor contactar a Ralph
Grayson en el Consejo Británico Lima: Tel: +51 1 712 8454, o escribir a Ana Maria
Hurtado a [email protected].
Declaración
Nombre: _______________________________________________________
He leído y comprendido la descripción de la investigación y acepto participar en

la entrevista.
Firma: Fecha: _________________________
Declaración
Nombre: _______________________________________________________
He leído y comprendido la descripción de la investigación y acepto participar en

la entrevista.
Firma: Fecha: _________________________

Appendix 5 - Teacher online survey
https://pe.live.solas.britishcouncil.digital/sites/default/files/appendix_5_-_tea-
cher_survey.pdf
Appendix 6 - Director online survey
https://pe.live.solas.britishcouncil.digital/sites/default/files/appendix_6_-_direc-
tor_survey.pdf
Anexo 7 - Teacher trainer online survey
https://pe.live.solas.britishcouncil.digital/sites/default/files/appendix_7_-_tea-
cher_trainer_survey.pdf
151
Appendix 8 - Callao Project report
The Callao project
During our visit to Peru anecdotal references were made to an early English lan-
guage initiative in Peruvian initial education – the Callao Project. During interviews
with the Ministry of Education initial education staff we asked for information about
this project, but none was forthcoming. However, we were able to interview a mem-
ber of the Ministry of Education staff who had been involved for one year in the
evaluation activities of the project, as well as a Regional Education representative
who had been involved as an initial education teacher in the project. The following
is a summary of the information we have collected about the Callao Project.
Callao Project 2012-2013
In 2012 the Callao regional administration supported an initiative involving public

school initial education teachers and primary teachers teaching English to the
children in their care. A two-year course was designed by CICEX Institute, a private
language institute, which involved improving the teachers’ English language com-
petence and also developing their methodological skills to teach English.
Teachers volunteered to take part in the project and received a remuneration of

300 soles (€60) in the first year of participation. The course ran as an intensive
professional development course in the evenings and at weekends, with three af-
ternoons of language development and two afternoons of English methodology.
In addition, teachers attended classes on Saturday mornings and on occasional
Sundays for whole day sessions. According to one of the interviewees, there were
around 300 teachers involved in the course divided into different levels of langua-
ge ability.
Primary teachers taught from grade 1 and initial education teachers were encou-
arged to teach English to their children in cycle II, from the age of 3 years old,
using age appropriate methodologies involving routines in English, using visuals
and movement when introducing language and songs and game-like activities.
Teachers were given a teachers’ guide with an audio CD, and 5-year old children
were given a text book. The course incorporated themes which are typical in pre-
primary education. The examples given were, ‘greetings, giving instructions, family
and actions’ (Interview, LA2.1). Teachers were assessed through formal observa-
tions and project work (Interview, ME4). In the second year teachers were expec-
ted to put what they had learned into practice with the help of assistants who
visited their classrooms and gave feedback (Interview, LA2.1).
The information we were given about the success of the project is contradic-
tory. One interviewee described participating teachers complaining of the heavy
workload and subsequently giving up. In addition this interviewee felt that articu-
lation between the training content and the initial education curriculum was not

successful (Interview, ME4). The initial education teacher who was involved in the
project was very positive about the results and said she enjoyed participating. She
was considered pre-intermediate in terms of language competence. When asked if
she found it easy to integrate English into her daily practice she was enthusiastic
and described using instructions in English and giving two 45-minute English les-
sons a week. She said, ‘at the end of the year it was a very positive experience and
the children really did learn English’ (Interview, LA2.1). She was especially glad of
the continuous support she received in the second year of the project, which was
both encouraging and positive.
It is not clear what happened to the project. It appears that the professional deve-
lopment course was discontinued due to budget cuts and the language-learning
project continued unsuccessfully in primary education, with new English teachers
untrained in primary methodologies (Interview, ME4). Both interviewees confirmed
that nothing had been written down about the project. The British Council also
confirmed, after speaking to the Ministry of Education, that nothing had been re-
corded or systematized.
153

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ENGLISH TEACHING

IN THE EARLY YEARS:

Lead Researcher and Author Sandie Mourão

Co-Researcher Laura Renart

Project Manager Thom Kiddle

Coordinated by Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE)

British Council Peru

Country Director Samantha Lanaway

Education Services Manager Ralph Grayson

Project Manager Ana Maria Hurtado

Co-ordinator Giselle Higa

Foreword: Samantha Lanaway, Country Director, British Council Peru 8

PART 2: Discovering Peru 24

PART 3: The study 32

PART 4: Discussion of emerging issues 62

PART 5: Conclusions and recommendations 108

PART 6: Possible routes towards including an early language

Figure 1: Study timeline 23

Figure 2: Map of Peru, showing the three geographically diverse areas 24

Figure 3: Early childhood education and care services in Peru 29

Figure 4: Number of interviews with central and regional

Figure 5: Total number of education service visits and interviews 39

Figure 6: Map of public initial education institutions along

Figure 7: The number of interviews and focus groups in

Figure 8: The number of surveys received and accepted 42

Figure 9: Survey responses: Regional representation 42

Figure 10: Survey responses: The school services 43

Figure 11: Survey responses: School services 43

Figure 12: Respondent profession or activity 44

Figure 13: Survey responses: Indications of early English

Figure 14: A bilingual sign, showing Shipibo and Spanish in a

Figure 15: A child-made label for an activity centre 51

Figure 16: A poster showing how the children contributed to

Figure 17: Ojotas at the classroom door 55

Figure 18: Survey responses - Preferred choice of other

6 English Teaching in the Early Years: Research in Peru

Figure 20: Survey responses: Categories of concern regarding

Figure 21: Survey responses: Respondents opinion regarding

Figure 22: Survey responses: Who teaches English in Initial

Figure 23: Survey responses: Percentage of respondents in agreement

Figure 24: A photograph of the board in an English lesson with

Figure 25: A page from Tiempo Divertido for 4-year-olds

Figure 26: Survey responses: Length of early English initiatives 84

Figure 27: Survey responses: Amount of time per week of

Figure 28: Survey responses: The use of text books in early

Figure 29: Survey responses: Activities included in early

Figure 30: Survey responses: Activities included in early

Figure 31: Survey responses: Resources included in early

Figure 32: Survey responses: Resources included in early

Figure 33: Survey respondents: Phonics, reading and writing

Figure 34: Survey respondents: Suggested length of

In 2016, approximately one year after the Peruvian government formal-

In response to that challenge and as part of our permanent work in English

This scientific enquiry emerges in a favourable context where quality Early

8 English Teaching in the Early Years: Research in Peru

NILE had already had extensive experience both of working in South

10 English Teaching in the Early Years: Research in Peru

Dave Allan, President, NILE