BALEAP Statement: Challenges Facing our Field

2 May 2025

Members of the BALEAP Executive Committee have been dismayed by recent news of increasing challenges and threats affecting the field of EAP in the UK. We know that many in our wider membership and practitioner community are deeply concerned. We share these concerns.

In this statement, we set out our position on the challenges facing our field, affirm our support for affected members and clarify what action we can and cannot take in response to the threats impacting our community.

Against a background of deepening uncertainty across the entire higher education sector in the UK, many EAP providers are finding themselves in increasingly precarious positions within their institutions, with colleagues potentially facing redundancy, outsourcing, mergers and closure. While it is not within BALEAP’s remit to involve ourselves in restructuring decisions that our institutional members may take, our position is that the closure of EAP centres or units is a shortsighted and mistaken action that not only threatens our practitioner communities and knowledge-base but also the experience and success of the student communities that we serve.

We are opposed to the closure of EAP provision within institutions.

As a charitable organisation BALEAP cannot engage in lobbying activities, but within our purpose of supporting the professional development of those involved in teaching, learning and research in EAP, we do have a role to play in supporting practitioners affected by the challenges impacting our sector.

We are committed to doing the following:

• Facilitating and championing members’ efforts to create a network of support and resources to aid colleagues affected by redundancy.
• Continuing to provide financial support to attend events for first-time speakers experiencing professional precarity, and continuing to offer a discounted membership for unwaged colleagues.
• Working to create clearer guidelines for our institutional representatives in order to promote more engagement and community, including with practitioners on fixed-term contracts within institutions.
• Continuing to create space for discussion and co-construction of strategies to counter threats, noting that effectiveness will be context-specific.
• Supporting and funding research that articulates the value of EAP provision to institutions and governments.
•  Continuing to promote professionalism and integrity through our institutional accreditation scheme.

Alongside this, members may be aware that BALEAP is currently working on a project to develop a Vision for the organisation and statement of our Values in Practice. This work will proceed on a consultative basis with members and is therefore an opportunity for us to co-construct a robust ethical framework to guide our work in these challenging times. Please look out for opportunities to engage with this.

 For those not already aware, we would also like to highlight the group led by Alison Goodliff and Angela Hulme and the group’s Padlet as a source of ideas and support for those affected: Ideas for supporting colleagues & institutions facing cuts, redundancies and ‘restructuring’

 We recognise that the amount and type of support that BALEAP can provide may not meet everyone’s expectations. However, we are committed to helping where we can and we are open to ideas from both our individual and our institutional members. Please do not hesitate to contact me at chair@baleap.org.

Hannah Jones, BALEAP Chair, on behalf of the BALEAP Executive Committee

BALEAP_Statement_on_Challenges_Facing_our_Field

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