Page 7 - ELG1711 Nov Issue 452

NEWS . NEWS

New standards for Oz English courses Is veteran school chain Bell English

turning its back on UK EFL?

By Claudia Civinini
Australian vocational training By Melanie Butler
providers offering English courses The operating company Bell
to international students will have English is abandoning plans to
to meet new government standards increase its number of language
for language schools. schools in the UK, citing ‘a
Vocational Education and significant shift towards in-
Training (VET) providers, country English-language tuition’
which were previously regulated and away from language travel.
independently, will now be It hopes to diversify instead,
subject to the same standards as offering pre-university and
other providers for their intensive kindergarten programmes in
English courses. Nearly a third overseas markets, according to its
(54,000) of all overseas students 2016 financial statement filed at
attending intensive courses in the UK’s Companies House.
2016 did so with a VET provider, International students The 60-year-old school group,
according to English Australia. come for culture as well as study which was separated out of the
The announcement was made Bell Education Trust in 2012,
as the government unveiled its most out of their education in regarding class size, contact hours ‘Testing is only one form of experienced a 36 per cent drop in
new English Language Intensive Australia’. and teacher credentials. assessment that may be considered turnover in its first five years of
Course for Overseas Students The changes are needed because Elicos courses must have a and education providers will still operation.
(Elicos) Standards 2018, which ‘some students simply don’t have minimum of 20 hours teaching a set their own English language The results are broadly in
will come into force next March. the English language skills they week, teacher-to-student ratios requirements for entry to their line with the 30 per cent drop
These are aimed at harmonising need to succeed,’ education can’t exceed 1:18 and teachers courses,’ they said. in numbers of student weeks
the industry and ensuring that minister Simon Birmingham must have a degree and a suitable The new standards, they say, in the same period reported by
international students ‘get the told the Australian International Tesol qualification. have been supported by education trade association English UK. Source Company’s House and English UK
Education Conference. Schools are now required to bodies as ‘yet another quality But this is only once the figures
He added: ‘It means they draw prove that students on Elicos measure’. are adjusted to take account of company made an operating in September. It ‘remains private-sector language provision
away from getting involved in courses giving direct entry to English Australia chief executive the 2012 closure of loss-making loss in three of the last four committed, above all, to the is correlated with an increase in
lectures, tutorials and group study university have reached the same Brett Blacker, who helped develop projects, including Bedgebury years. In 2016 a small loss was highest quality of education and language travel, not a decline.
work while their classmates and level required of students applying the new standards, said, ‘The boarding school. In a market turned into a profit when the UK student experience available Globally, the in-country
teachers struggle to bridge the directly. This has sparked fears that changes announced today will where currency is king and few company received a £314,000 in the market’, they said in a industry seems to be holding
language divide.’ As a result, some a new standardised test would be ensure that all providers of courses players hedge the exchange rate, dividend from its profitable Swiss statement. steady, with the British Council
students were ‘slipping through the required for international students. to international students where the the dramatic drop in the value of subsidiary. In 2016 sector analysts Student reporting 400,000 enrolments
cracks’, he said. However, English Australia, outcome is solely or predominantly sterling after the Brexit vote has A Bell spokesperson told the Marketing said the global market in its teaching centres for the
The standards, which apply only Universities Australia and other English language will need to seen turnover rebound in most Gazette that it would prefer to in English language travel had second year running. The
to providers delivering English education bodies insist there adhere to the standards, and that UK language schools. wait to comment until it had peaked and predicted a gradual Council opened its first centre in
language courses to student visa is no requirement for further is a positive step in ensuring a level The 2017 figures are not replaced former chief executive decline. Its research, however, China, the world biggest English
Simon Birmingham holders, have recommendations standardised testing. playing field for all providers.’ available for Bell but the UK Greg Hoile, who resigned shows that growth of in-country language market, this year.

newsinbrief CHILDREN BRAINWASHED IN

A BRITISH TEACHER THE CHARITABLE ESL STUDENTS IN PEARSON IS SET TO A SHORTAGE OF
claims she was told ARM of a bank is giving SOLVAG SELL ITS ENGLISH-MEDIUM ISIS-CONTROLLED SCHOOLS
to remove her hijab schools in central California, are working English-language secondary school places
as a ‘non-negotiable’ Italy funds to hire as tour guides for training arm to a group is expected to hit
condition for working English native-speaker Chinese visitors. The of Asian private equity Cardiff, Wales, UK,
at an English-medium assistant teachers. middle school students houses, the Financial by 2019, the city’s
preschool in Kuwait, The Fondazione Carit – all of whom have Times reports. The deal, director of education By Claudia Civinini they relocated to Turkey. used military vehicles
Yahoo Lifestyle reports. will provide €123,000 Mandarin as their first which would see Wall said. Children forced to attend school A former teacher told NBC to teach children how
She posted the email to be split between language – are carrying Street English sold for According to new
conversation with the seventeen schools in out the tours as part $350m, is to be signed figures, the city will in Isis-controlled territories how he was forced to teach to use prepositions –
school’s HR employee the Umbria region. The of a credit-bearing ‘within weeks’. Pearson run out of English- have been brainwashed and Isis propaganda while being and bombs to show
on her Instagram page. main beneficiaries will scheme set up between bought the company medium high-school taught using educational constantly monitored by cameras them how to read
The school denied be late primary and their school and the from private equity places by 2019 and of material that promotes violence installed in the classrooms. time.
the allegations and middle school students, local tourist office. group Carlyle between Welsh-medium by 2021. it has emerged. ‘I was teaching them to The terrorist
said the candidate about 8,000 in total. The students have to 2009 and 2010, first Another 240 places per Families of Syrian refugees become young terrorists,’ organisation has
wasn’t successful due The teaching assistants undergo an intensive acquiring the Chinese year will be needed in now living in Turkey told NBC he said. He also shared the previously opened
to her ‘inappropriate will help students with English language arm of Wall Street the English-medium News that their children had textbooks he had to use. Engl is h-me d ium
behaviour as illustrated their conversation skills course, including English and then the sector, especially in the become radicalised during their Children were taught basic schools for foreign
on her social media and support teachers in training in hospitality, global firm Wall Street central parts of the city,
platform’. planning lessons. as part of the course. Institute. the report suggests. time at school. arithmetic with visual aids such fighters in Raqqa,
One mother said she still as guns and tanks. The English Syria (see Gazette
couldn’t trust her son even after language workbook (see right) March 2015).
6 November 2017 editorial@elgazette.com 7