Page 9 - ELG1601 Aug-Sep Issue 439

2016 ELrankings Page iii

of accredited schools have Strengths and weaknesses

s of this year 80 per cent

Abeen awarded one or more
areas of strength on their British
Council inspections, according report, available on the web that called up to complain. Melanie Butler looks at the British Council inspection
to their summary statements, for those inspected since 2013, ‘Strengths were noted in the
and the mean average of areas of our friend’s schools has been areas of leisure opportunities regime and attempts to untangle some tricky knots
strength is 3.75 per school. This awarded eleven strengths – in and academic management. The
is a significant improvement terms of individual criteria. inspection report noted a need
since the introduction of the new The school has been judged for improvement in the area of
British Council scheme in 2012, strong in three out of the appli- publicity.’
when only 60 per cent of schools cable four criteria in leisure Our school failed to meet the
received a point of excellence, as opportunities, and three out of requirement in three of the crite-
they were then called. six for academic management. ria for publicity, which triggered
The new system for award- Because it reaches the threshold in their summary statement a
ing areas of strength is far more of 50 per cent or more in both ‘need for improvement in the
transparent: any school awarded of these areas, they are shown area’. This is the most common
a strength in 50 per cent or in the summary statement as area in which a need for improve-
more of the criteria in a single areas of strength. These areas of ment is found, figuring in around
area will be awarded an area of strength are publishable. 15 per cent of all schools.
strength in the summary state- It also receives strengths In addition it failed to meet
ment. The only exception is if in five more individual crite- the requirements in three areas
they fail to meet the requirement ria: one in learning resources, under accommodation but didn’t
for any single criterion in that two under accommodation all trigger a need for improvement,
area, in which case an area of types, and one in accommoda- perhaps because it also had two
strength will not be awarded. tion homestay. None of these, strengths in that area, but dif-
Although this seems sim- however, reach the magic 50 per ferent sub-areas too. Finally, it
ple in theory, in practice it can cent threshold, and so none are failed one criterion in the area of
confuse not only students and shown in the statement and none care of under-18s.
agents but even the language is publishable. Failure to meet key criteria in
centres themselves. But there is something else care of under-18s, a standalone
In a typical phone call which is publishable, which our section of the report since Janu-
between the Gazette staff and friend’s school was given and ary 2014, is the most common
an irate school principal com- which he somehow forgot to reason that a school is put under
plaining about our rankings, this mention: a ‘need for improve- review. A centre doesn’t need to
normally friendly man accuses ment in the area of publicity’. fail to meet the criteria under
us of lying when we publish The term ‘need for improve- three areas – just one or two
the results for his school based ment’ means different things to will do if the failure is deemed
on the following hypotheti- different people. To the lay per- serious. Fail to criminal-record-
cal judgement from the British son it may seem to mean ‘there check one host family recruited
Council’s summary statements. are a couple of things that aren’t at the last moment and you will Courtesy PughPugh
‘Strengths were noted in the good enough’. In British educa- fail to meet that criteria. Fail to
areas of leisure opportunities tion, however, it generally means criminal-check any of them and
and academic management. The ‘the school is not good enough’ you may find yourself under KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL One way to understand British Council inspections is to compare
inspection report noted a need and can result in a school being review. the way the results are reported to the way a tennis match is scored (see red box below left)
for improvement in the area of put in ‘special measures’ – given This can happen to any
publicity.’ a short time to change things or school, however strong it is in
Now the Gazette rankings are face closure. other areas. Last year a centre
based entirely on the summary For British Council inspec- long ranked in the top 100 in the
statements because they provide tors it seems to mean something country was put under review
the only information avail- in between. It marks a point for failing to meet the require-
able for centres inspected before where a centre has failed to meet ment in three areas of care of
2013 and the only publishable the requirement in a significant under-18s. It failed despite hav-
information available before number of criteria, normally ing two strengths in the same
2015, according to legal advice. three in any given area, but the area and being awarded more
The summary statement of failures are not so egregious than seven areas of strength in
our friend’s school scores two as to warrant the accreditation the other sections under inspec-
areas of strength. being ‘put under review’ and tion. It can happen to any school,
‘It’s not true,’ he replies. subject to re-inspection. however good. And it does.
‘We’ve got eleven strengths.’ Currently only 20 per cent of In our experience, too many
This is the biggest cause all accredited schools are given school principals worry about not
of confusion – the distinction a need for improvement in one being given enough strengths.
between areas of strength, which or more areas in their summary Too few of them worry about
are publishable, and individual statement. A further 4 per cent their needs for improvement or
strengths awarded in those areas, are currently under review. even notice how many individ-
which are not. Indeed if you Let’s look again at the sum- ual criteria they have failed to
check this individual school’s mary statement of the school meet. n

Inspections – anyone for tennis?

One way to understand British Council the standards of the section. There are
inspections is to compare the way the currently no examples of a centre being
results are reported to the way a tennis given a need for improvement in three
match is scored. areas in the same section, say teaching
A match has a number of sets, a set and learning, and meeting the standard
has a number of games and a game has a for that section. Though it is theoretically
number of points. You must win enough possible, there are also no examples of
points to win a game, enough games to centres judged to have more than three
win a set and enough sets to win a match. needs for improvement in total and being
The British Council inspection reports re-accredited without re-inspection.
have criteria (or points) in areas (or Just as each set is made up of a num-
games) which are in sections (or sets). ber of games, each section of a British
The sections are management, resources Council inspection is made up of a num-
and environment, teaching and learning ber of areas. The teaching and learning
and welfare and student services. If you section, for example, is made up of five
take young learners, there is a further areas: academic staff profile, academic
section, care of under-18s. management, course design, learner
In tennis, you can lose up to three management and classroom observation
points and still win a game. Likewise, in (which is also called teaching).
the British Council inspection, you can Finally, there are two areas: care of
fail to meet up to two of the criteria in an under-18s and teaching (based on class
area and still pass in that area. More than observation) where a need for improve-
that, though, and you will probably be ment often leads to a spot inspection, and
judged as needing to improve in that area. failure to meet the requirements in more
In tennis, you can lose a number of than three criteria, or a particularly egre-
games in a set and still win the set. In a gious failure in three or fewer, can result
British Council inspection, you can be in the centre being put under review. A
judged to have a need for improvement in case of sudden death in a tennis tie
a couple of areas in a section and still pass break? No, much more serious.

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