Page 15 - ELG1803 Mar Issue 455

RANKING 2018 . UK Language centres

A test of Rank ELC Bristol Score staff mgmt., publicity, student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning
Areas of strengths
Institution
100%
1
resources, staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of
strength = Wimbledon School of 100% students, accom. leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
resources, acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of
English
students, accom., leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
3 English in Chester 93% resources, acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of
Melanie Butler explains how El Gazette’s students, leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
Lake School of
Centres of Excellence language centre = English Oxford Ltd 93% staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
resources, acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of
rankings are compiled Norwich Institute for students, accom., leisure opportunities.
staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
= Language Education 93% resources, acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, teaching, care of students,
he EL Gazette rankings are in the UK accredited by the British (NILE) accom., leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
based entirely upon the Council. These are all excellent
summary statements issued schools. But how do inspectors award Bell International 87% staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, accom., leisure
Tby the British Council an area of strength? Is it just on the 6* Cambridge opportunities, the care of under 18s.
inspectors. basis of their personal opinion?
As their name implies, these Certainly not. Each area is judged staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
statements summarise the inspectors’ on a number of criteria with an = Bishopstrow College 87% acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, accom., leisure
opportunities, care of under 18s.
findings. They appear at the bottom average of six in each area.
of the first page of the full reports for The first thing a centre needs to do Cambridge Academy staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
every centre, available on the British is to meet expectations in every single = of English 87% resources, acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., care of students,
Council website (see links below). criterion. One criterion marked ‘not accom., and leisure opportunities.
The inspection covers 15 areas or met’ and the centre cannot receive an staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises & facilities, learning
14 if the school doesn’t enrol students area of strength in that area. = Discovery Summer 87% resources, acad. mgmt., course design, teaching, care of students, accom., leisure
under the age of 18. If you look at the As well as meeting every single opportunities, care of under 18s.
sample summary statement on this criterion within an area, the centre staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises & facilities, learning resources, acad.
page (below), you will see that the must be marked ‘of strength’ in at = Eurocentres 87% staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, leisure
inspectors can award areas of strength least 50 per cent of them. Bournemouth opportunities, care of under 18s.
in one or more of these areas, There are around one hundred staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
which means the school exceeds criteria in a full inspection report. = Eurocentres 87% acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students,
expectations in this area. The schools at the top of our rankings Cambridge leisure opportunities, care of under-18s.
The school in the example has been have met every single one of them
awarded seven areas of strength (out and they will have been marked as = staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
of a possible fifteen). strong in at least fifty. Eurocentres Eltham 87% acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students,
leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
However, the inspector can also n To find a report for each centre,
note a need for improvement. This go to: Eurocentres London staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
school, for example, needs to improve https://www.britishcouncil.org/ = Central 87% acad. staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students,
aspects of its accommodation. education/accreditation/centres. leisure opportunities, care of under 18s.
The EL Gazette uses this n You can also find a pdf containing Kaplan International student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning resources, acad.
information to calculate a score for the summary statement for every = Colleges Oxford 87% staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, accom.,
each centre. To do this, we add up school at: leisure opportunities.
the number of strengths, in this case https://www.britishcouncil.org/ staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
seven, and deduct any needs for education/accreditation/information- =  Isca School of 86% acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, accom, leisure
improvement - in this case one. students-agents/accreditation- English opportunities.
The score in our example is six inspections. staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, publicity, premises and facilities, learning
out of a possible 15. So we finally This is the source used by the EL = St. Edmund's 87% resources, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, leisure
calculate its percentage score which is Gazette to compile these rankings. College opportunities, care of under 18s
40 per cent. staff mgmt., student admin, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources,
All the centres in our rankings score *Language Specialists International Portsmouth 17 Linguarama 86% acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., teaching, care of students, acccom, leisure
more than 50 per cent of available is not included in these listing because it is still  London opportunities.
areas of strength. This puts them in under the old system which did not measure
the top 20 per cent of all the centres areas of strenghts. London School of staff mgmt., publicity, quality assurance, premises and facilities, learning resources, acad.
= 86% staff profile, acad. mgmt., course design, learner mgmt., care of students, accom., leisure
English, London
opportunities.

KEY
mgmt. = management All information on the rankings taken
 The language centre has been admin= administration from summary statements list as of
th
reinspected since September 2017 and acad.= academic February 15 , 2018
received a higer score. accom= accomodation
- One need for improvement *Language Specialists International Portsmouth which also
NEW New entry in the Top 20% - Two needs for improvement ranks =6 is not included in these listing because it is still under
the old system which did not measure areas of strenghts.
A sample of a summary statement
14 March 2018 editorial@elgazette.com 15