Page 20 - ELG1601 Jun Issue 437

Page 16 ELpeople June 2016

your own school. How Consistently positive From a global perspective,

ou started out by running

Ydid that prepare you for where do you see the role of
sponsoring governments in the
the job you are doing now? longer term?
When you run your own busi- Melanie Butler asks Kaplan’s Maria Duhan the secret behind the Having been in this busi-
ness, you are responsible for all ness for over 25 years, I have
aspects – from sales and mar- consistent success of their UK schools at British Council inspections seen many governments, from
keting to HR and finance. You Spain to Saudi Arabia, spon-
quickly learn what it takes to be sor their young people to learn
successful because you have to be opportunities. Every year we set and keep a close eye on our stu- English in the environment in
in order to stay in business. You up development plans for each dents. Our adaptive test gives us which it is spoken. Governments
need to move constantly with a school, department and indi- extremely accurate data, allow- rightly recognise their youth can
changing environment, which is vidual employee in alignment ing us to give more detailed and improve career prospects by
very exhilarating. This experience with the goals of the business to tailored recommendations to stu- learning English and becoming
has been helpful in my current role ensure our centres of excellence dents. Teachers can also log on ‘more international’ in outlook. I
as director of operations for the become the standard. to our online learning platform think governments will continue
UK and Ireland because I under- Kaplan schools operate in eight to track students’ progress, and to play a significant role in our
stand how to support the needs of English-speaking countries. How school management can use our industry over the next decade.
our various departments. Having do you monitor consistency on an classing database to make com- If you were trying to sum up
started my career as a teacher and international scale? parisons based on a student’s the Kaplan ethos for students
teacher trainer, I am also able to We achieve consistency in school, course, class, nationality, and their sponsors, what three
support our teacher and product our teaching standards through length of stay, age or gender. things would you say were
development. use of our own K+ online and In your experience with most important?
In our most recent analysis offline materials. We monitor working with government- We promise our students will
of British Council inspection the consistency of the entire stu- sponsored students, what are ‘learn English, enjoy new cul-
results (page iii of the Quality dent experience through student the biggest challenges and tures, make new friends and see
Analysis supplement with this surveys which show we achieve advantages? the world’. We make this happen
issue) your schools in the UK superior student satisfaction. Sponsored students have very through our academic excellence,
come out as the most consist- Kaplan materials combine Courtesy Kaplan specific needs for additional sup- with specifically designed text-
ently strong of the larger chains skills-based work with lan- port, for example to reach their books, extensive online materials,
for adults. About four years guage areas. Depending on required exam results or hone and comprehensive training and
ago your profile was much their language background, TAILORED APPROACH Maria Duhan says a big challenge with vocabulary in a narrow field of development for our teachers;
more jagged. Is the increase in different students have differ- sponsored students from the Middle East is keeping them motivated study such as aviation, and our focus on providing the ‘experience
consistency the result of evolu- ent skills profiles. How does support systems ensure students of a lifetime’ for students whether
tion or revolution? the Kaplan system help differ- enabling goals to be set to ensure the area and difficulty level. reach their goals. All our schools in class, at home in a residence or
Over the past five years we’ve entiated student needs? the student progresses as quickly Talking to government have tutors responsible for spon- host family, on a social trip or just
created a framework which Students take a placement test as possible. Intensive-course stu- agencies responsible for plac- sored students, making sure study hanging out with new friends; and
supports our constant drive to when they first arrive which cov- dents are placed in an elective class ing state-sponsored students, plans are followed, supporting advanced technology including
improve – and our employees ers grammar, vocabulary, listening, which enables them to improve on we find that they put high cultural adjustment and dealing our online platform, which com-
play a key role in this. Their speaking and writing, and they take areas where they are weaker. academic standards and fast with rigorous reporting schedules. plements what students do in class
key performance indicators are further tests every five weeks, giv- K+Tools allows students to progress at the top of the Specifically for sponsored students and guides them to what they need
aligned with in-depth student ing us a highly accurate picture of complete exercises directly wish list. Most accreditation from the Middle East, who are with to study.
feedback covering all areas of each student’s level. All students related to what they have been schemes don’t monitor pro- us for a long time, the biggest chal- The consistently positive
the student experience, and staff have a one to one tutorial to discuss studying in K+Notes, or they gression. How does Kaplan lenge is to keep them motivated, feedback from our students is
are empowered to implement test scores, future learning objec- can study through K+eXtra, monitor progress? but it is fantastic to see them pro- testament to how well we deliver
improvements when they spot tives and negotiate a learning plan, which enables them to choose We take progression seriously gress to higher language levels. on our promise. n

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