Page 19 - ELG2003 Mar Issue 469

El•Gazette 469.qxp_El•Gazette 469 25/02/2020 21:51 Page 19

UK LANGUAGE CENTRES

Linking up the data

Melanie Butler looks at chain schools

-2SD -1SD INDUSTRY MEAN +1SD +2SD
Small Chains (3-5) W/D -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 CHAIN AVG
ELC Group = = = 14.0
+2SD
Bell == == 11.0
Eurocentres = = = = 10.3
Kings = === = 9.4
+1SD
Oxford House = = = = 5.8
Stafford House == = == 5.4
Language Gallery == = 5.0
MEAN
Language Studies = = = = 4.0
LAL = = = 3.7
TEG == == 1.5
-1SD
Twin = = = -0.7

Large Chains (6+) W/D -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 CHAIN AVG
Kaplan = == == == == = 10.0
EF = == ==== = = 9.7
EC = = = ==== == 9.1
+1SD
St Giles == = === 9.0
BSC = = = == = = 7.7
CES == == == 6.0
OI Grp Bucksmore = = = = 5.8
Oxford Int'l
=
=
MEAN
Regent = = = = = = = =
Instill Group Pilgrim = = = = ==== = 4.3
OISE
Other = = = =
-1SD
= Young Learner Operations
ow good are the chains? First, we need to define what we
mean by a chain. In the UK, we can distinguish between
chains, with schools that are all branded with the same
Hname, and groups, where a number of schools or brands
have the same owner. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CENTRE
The ELC group, for example, is a not-for-profit group with three
schools for over-16s: The English Language Centre Brighton, The
English Language Centre Eastbourne and the newly acquired school
English in Chester. It is both high scoring, the mean average being 14
out of 15, and consistent, with all three schools scoring in a three-
point range.
TEG, which stands for Thompson Education Group, is a small,
branded chain at the bargain end of the over-16s market. It is
extremely consistent, but perhaps inevitably, given the price, low-
scoring.
The larger the group, the harder consistency becomes. EF does
well, with nine schools scoring within a six-point range. If we remove
its lowest scorer, which is managed by a different EF division, its
language school operation becomes astonishingly consistent. But to
the consumer, EF is a single brand.
As we report on the opposite page, few players in EFL are equally
good with over-16s and young learners, and it’s their junior operations
that let down Kaplan and EC.
The UKs largest group, Instill, has three separate brands plus four
individually-run schools. With 23 accredited operations, they have
some strong schools and a top ten per cent summer school operation.
The one thing they don’t have, judged by their British Council
reports, is consistency. The English Language Centre school in Brighton

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