Page 12 - ELG2003 Mar Issue 469

El•Gazette 469.qxp_El•Gazette 469 25/02/2020 21:50 Page 12

BUSINESS NEWS .

Is the EFL model broken

in the UK and the US? UPKLYAK / FREEPIK

Melanie Butler gives her view

fter 30 years reporting on English Embassy chain of language
language teaching, I am schools and was closing all
accustomed to waves of school Embassy year-round centres in
Aclosures in one English-speaking the UK, the US and Canada.
country or another. The results are Why is this happening? I see
predictable: students are stranded, teachers two main factors: courses have
protest; occasionally, national governments gotten shorter, and agents’
get involved. commissions have gone up. As
In the same period, the terms of trade have a result, profit margins have
changed dramatically. To see the difference, plummeted, and one way that
look at the table (see below) comparing the schools have responded is by
situation in London language schools in bearing down on their teaching
1987, when I stopped teaching, and the costs. In the US and the UK,
situation as I see it now. politically inspired visa changes Schools in the UK and US are finding it harder to
All language schools in English-speaking have made things worse by make the numbers add up
countries have been affected, but it seems to limiting options for students to
me that the US and the UK have been hit work and therefore stay longer. ‘the big two’, have only made the situation
hardest. The length of stay has been dropping since worse.
In the UK, we have seen several closures the mid-1990s, when UK language schools When long-stay students disappear, so do
in recent months among well-established were forced to introduce continuous permanent teaching jobs, although the
private language schools from the top of the enrolment, as students had begun joining and casualisation of English language teaching is
EL Gazette rankings (see this month’s leaving classes on a weekly basis. Some long- also apparent in these destinations.
supplement for our latest rankings). Excel haul markets have continued to enrol This may be partly because the rise in
English in Muswell Hill, London, closed its agents’ commissions have hit all the English-
doors in September and Lake School of speaking countries, while the percentage of
English in Oxford followed suit this January. Profit margins students coming through agents has gone up.
The international chains have not been have plummeted and Moving staff costs from fixed costs to variable
immune: British Study Centres and costs is a popular move for accountants
Eurocentres have each closed one of their one way that schools looking to make the bottom line look better.
London branches, in Hampstead and Eltham But agents aren’t laughing all the way to
respectively. Meanwhile, as we report in this have responded is by the bank either. As the average length of stay
issue, teachers have been out protesting after bearing down on their has dropped, so has the average commission
being made redundant from another London per sale. At the same time, the internet has
school. teaching costs. increased marketing costs and introduced
In the US, we have reported on old, competition from on-line only operators.
established language schools in both Boston students for periods of three to six months, With profit margins dropping in both
and New York shutting their doors within the but students tend to head for destinations agencies and language schools, the terms and
last year. Last September, one US university which offer part-time work visas. conditions of teachers have gone down.
language centre laid off all the permanent This is good news for Canada, Australia, In the private sector, hourly teaching rates
teaching staff, quoting a steady decline in the Ireland and, most recently, Malta. have been dropping steadily in real terms over
length of enrolments. It replaced them with But this is bad news for the US and – since the last thirty years except in unionised sectors
hourly-paid teachers. the British government withdrew work rights like higher education, and unionised markets
Most dramatically, in January 2019, for language students in 2011 – the UK. The like Australia where rates are broadly in line
Maltese-owned language school chain EC high value of the dollar in the US, and with expectation but casualisation has grown.
announced it had bought the British-based political changes to the visa systems in both Across the world, profit margins have been
cut to the quick. Yet teachers remain
convinced that schools are raking in money,
Factor 1987 adj for inflation 2020
while their terms and conditions decline. So,
Hourly rate of pay: average in PLS £11 £31 £13-17
they turn to unions and strikes and protests
Hourly rate of pay: average in Universities £13 £37 £37-45 (may include holiday pay) surge. It’s hard to blame them.
"Normally" first degree, "post schools Just as it’s hard to blame the American-
Minimum teacher qualifications required for First degree, 4 week initial study" or "substantial owned Kaplan International language school
British Council accreditation course, diploma life experience" also considered, chain which announced last year that it had
+ 4 week initial course. acquired a large multinational agency, and
Cost for 15 hours a week study therefore, in locations where it has its own
£99 £280 £255
Average London PLS (non-chain schools) language schools it is unlikely to send
Average length of stay (Adults in PLS) 12 weeks 3.5 wks students to its rivals.
Thirty years after I came up with the term
20% PLS 30-40% PLS
Agents' commission (average) Language Travel to describe this part of the
10% Universities 10-20% Universities
English Language industry, it looks to me like
% students placed through agents (PLS) 50% 80% this business model is broken.
The numbers then and now
12 March 2020