Page 24 - ELG2003 Mar Issue 469

El•Gazette 469.qxp_El•Gazette 469 25/02/2020 21:51 Page 24

UK TOP SCHOOLS 2020 .

At the top for 16+

Melanie Butler explains

he top language centres for students aged 16+ now receive
an area of strength in 80 per cent or more of all the areas
under which they are inspected. That’s a higher average than
Tachieved by young-learner centres (see pages 18-19) partly
because there are around two and a half times more schools, colleges
and universities specialising in adults.
That means that 30 centres are squashed into just six bands. So
how can we tell them apart?

Reading the reports

This extract from a 2017 report shows how inspectors can score
criteria. There are six criteria under which the inspectors can mark We decided to weight the scores based on outcomes in Teaching and
a result. T20 is marked N/A, showing it is not applicable to this Learning, one of four categories under inspection in all centres, by
centre. All five of the other criteria are marked as met and three assigning a maximum of six bonus points. Differences in bonus
have been marked as strong. points are used to show slight differences in this one category and
No criteria is marked as Not met, so under the bonus point do not affect the overall band score of each centre.
system it has scored 60 per cent. This will be reported as 60 per The six bonus points are based on the number of individual criteria
cent of the base score of 6, which is 3.6. marked as a strength on the British Council report in the five areas in
the category of Teaching and Learning, plus the number of those areas
awarded a strength on the inspectors’ summary statement.
A strength is deducted for any criterion in a given area which is
judged as Not met. The British Council place particular emphasis on
the importance of meeting every criteria, and one judgement of Not
Met means an area strength will not be awarded by the inspectors.
The exact number of criteria applicable in each area varies from
centre to centre, as you can see from the 2017 report reproduced on
this page. In that example, one element out of six in this area is not

celebrates 10 years!

English language schools you can trust to provide a

top-quality student experience

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Or contact karen@theenglishnetwork.com

24 March 2020