Page 15 - ELG1710 Oct Issue 451

DATA & ANALYSIS . DATA & ANALYSIS
name ? Anyone looking for a top-quality language course should seriously consider

W hat’s in a Positive association

one belonging to an association, argues Melanie Butler

he big chains may be doing well, but
schools belonging to the International
Association of Language Centres (Ialc) Score distribution of Ialc UK member schools
Tperform twice as well on average as
Melanie Butler reveals how consistent British chains schools are by analysing normal English language centres. The mean
score is 8.8 areas of strength against 4.4. for the
their inspections results brand by brand UK accredited sector overall.
Ialc also out-performs both the universities
and the boarding schools accredited by the
he number on one rule of branding Score distribution of UK chain schools British Council who receive an average of 7.9
is brand consistency’. This and 8.1 strengths respectively. The scores,
marketing slogan does not just Number of areas of strenghts which form the basis of the EL Gazette UK
‘Tapply to the look of the product rankings (see last issue), are calculated from the
but to its quality. When I go into a McDonald’s summary statements issued by British Council
I know what kind of hamburger I am going Inspectors. But how come Ialc scores so well?
to get. If I order a burger in a Hilton hotel I A glance at the pie chart on this page will give
expect something very different. you some ideas. The most common score for an
Language schools chains are in the brand Ialc school is eight areas of strength, compared
business. And with very few exceptions they to a mode score of zero across the UK as a
are aiming to be the Hilton, not McDonald’s. whole. Only 12 per cent of member schools a neat bell curve, which you would expect with drop to one. A little more consistency would
In the last five years, their results from the score below average, compared to 40 per cent a normal distribution of scores, but something help. If the results of UK member schools
British Council inspections have shown their nationwide. And Ialc is helped by the fact that that looks like a range of mountains with a are anything to go by however, it looks as if
quality is improving: the mean average score it’s membership includes all the members of series of peaks and troughs. passing an Ialc inspection is even tougher than
of brand schools is 6, compared to 4.4. for The English Network (TEN) which have an On the right of the graph is a neat row of undergoing trial by the British Council.
UK language schools overall. Only one chain, average score of 12.5, at least for adult courses. schools scoring between ten and fifteen, putting This all suggests that statistically the best
Embassy, has seen its average score drop over Of course, nobody is perfect, as you see from them in the top ten per cent nationally. Then bet for choosing a great language course is to
time But how consistent is the quality across a the graph based on the pie chart. We don’t have a sharp peak at eight followed by a more gentle choose an Ialc member.
chain? Using scores on British Council reports,
we can monitor consistency statistically by
calculating their standard deviation – which
tells us how much the quality varies.
The standard deviation for UK language
schools is 2 points either way from their
average score. Three chains achieve that
across all their schools: Eurocentres, which has
the highest mean average at 12.5, high value
CES with a mean average of 6.5 and Embassy
whose four remaining UK schools have a mean All scores as of 30th August 2017
score is 4.5, slap bang in the middle of the
UK market. St Giles, which is back near the
top with a nine point average after a wobble, KEY: OISE mean score 2.7
is less consistent, largely because its Young BSC: British Study Centres, mean score 8.1 OXI: Oxford International mean score 5.6
Learners operation slightly underperforms the
year- round schools. If you check out the table CES: Centre for English Studies, mean REG: Regents, mean score 4.5
for the pencil icons – which represents junior score 6.5 StG: St Giles, mean score 8.8
operations – you will see this is typical of nearly EC mean score 6 SH: Stafford House, mean score 6.2
all chains. EF mean score 7.5 : Business English
EC does brilliantly with three of its schools Euro: Eurocentres mean score 12.5 : Young Learners
but its low-scoring Oxford school, a statistical Emb: Embassy mean score 4.5 CHAN MEAN: mean score for all chains
outlier, drags down its average and its Kap: Kaplan mean score 7.9 schools is 6
consistency.
Larger chains have a harder time squeezing Kings: Kings Group mean score 6 UK MEAN SCORE: mean score of UK
their schools into one standard deviation, but LSI mean score 6 accredited centres
should get them into a normal distribution – 4
points either from their average. Neither EF
with a mean of 7.5, or Kaplan, with 7.9 make
that. consistency is likely to improve. months this merger between the old English
This is partly because their top schools do so But the top large chain in the UK, both Experience group and British Study Centres,
well, but with their lowest scoring schools up by mean average and consistency, is the new both notoriously inconsistent, has raised its
for re-inspection in the next 12 months, their look British Study Centres. In the last 12 mean score to 8.1.
14 October 2017 editorial@elgazette.com 15