Page 27 - ELG2003 Mar Issue 469

El•Gazette 469.qxp_El•Gazette 469 25/02/2020 21:51 Page 27

UK LANGUAGE CENTRES

For adults only?

Melanie Butler analyses the 16+ results BEET BOURNEMOUTH

rivate language schools dominate with an interesting offer
the rankings for over-16s. But not for international English
just any private language schools: language students.
Pthe long-established ones. There are 33
The single best indicator of excellence is accredited FE colleges,
being a member of The English Network as they are affectionately
(TEN). With the entry of the London known, and with a mean
School of English, the oldest language average score of six
school in England, every single adult points they have pulled
language centre with a perfect score of ten is ahead of the industry
a member. All three schools in our top average, which is just
‘chain’, the English Language Group (see five. Over a third of
page 19), are members; while the number them, listed on this page,
two in our young learners ranking is another are EL Gazette Centres
new member: Discovery Summer. of Excellence.
But ELT’s answer to the Russell Group They are particularly
(another educational association which strong in Teaching and
recruits from the top, long-established Learning. Teaching is an
institutions) isn’t altogether consistent. area of strength in more
Although 12 of its 13 accredited than half of these
organisations are EL Gazette Centres of colleges, which are
Excellence, there is one outlier – a young conveniently scattered Students at BEET Bournemouth
learner operation with just three strengths. across the map of
The teacher trainers do well: Bell Britain. And, they are twice as likely as the is for ten or twelve weeks. This means they
Cambridge, BEET Bournemouth and NILE rest of the industry to gain a strength in can offer longer contracts to teachers, as well
all make the top 30, along with three Academic Staff Profile. as better pay than most of the private sector.
affiliates of International House. One difference is they only run short And it’s their teaching which is the secret of
IH London, IH Newcastle and IH Bristol courses in the summer, otherwise enrolment their success.
all carry the IH flag. With TEN members LSI
Portsmouth and Torquay International
joining its affiliates, IH has nosed ahead in
the overall ranking from old rivals St Giles,
another teacher-training pioneer which has
three centres in the top 30.
Three other chains make an appearance: Last Inspection
Kaplan and EC have two centres each and Percentile Bonus Points
EF Oxford also makes the grade. Hats off,
too, to Liverpool School of English, another
long-established, high ranking school. rank year Ranking max 6
But the grand, old private language FE College Centres of Excellence
schools don’t have it all their own way. There 1 East Sussex College, L & E 2018 5% 4.13
are five universities in the rankings:
Manchester, Liverpool, Edge Hill, King’s 2 Perth College 2018 12% 5.01
College London, Brighton and Leicester.
That’s 15 per cent of all accredited university 3 Guildford College 2019 12% 4.20
language centres appearing in the top 30 but 4 Dudley College 2018 12% 3.24
then, as we pointed out in the last issue, the
universities are the second-best performing 5 Hilderstone College, Broadstairs 2017 19% 4.02
sector in the industry. 6 Belfast Metropolitan College 2018 19% 3.74
That just leaves East Sussex College in
Lewes and Eastbourne, previously called 7 Chichester College 2018 19% 2.54
Sussex Downs, and our top-ranking Further
Education College, heading up a sector 8 Nottingham College 2017 19% 2.31
which is steadily moving up. 9 South Thames College 2017 25% 4.51

Focus on FE 10 Cardiff and Vale College 2017 25% 3.91
The UK’s Further Education Colleges, which 11 Sheffield College 2018 25% 3.07
educate British and international students 12 Itchen Sixth Form College 2017 25% 1.80
ages 16 and over, are a bit of a hidden gem.
Buffeted by government policy and forced 13 Pembrokeshire College 2019 30% 4.20
into mega-mergers, the sector is emerging
from a decade of reform and re-organisation 14 Newcastle College 2019 30% 3.70

editorial@elgazette.com 27