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UK RANKINGS 2021-22

Top 100 for 2021

Melanie Butler explains how we

calculate our rankings PHOTO BY GERD ALTMANN FROM PIXABAY

he Top 100 UK language centres ranking only covers
providers inspected by the British Council. More than one
centre can have the same score: as you can see from the table
Topposite, the six centres in blue at the top all have a perfect
score of 10. Schools are listed alphabetically, so ELC Bristol is listed
above LSI Portsmouth even though they have the same score.
Because groups of centres have equal scores, our Top 100 actually
has 112 entries. All of their scores are 6.84 or above out of 10.
Scores are based on the number of areas of strength awarded
by inspectors. These are shown on the summary statement on the To complicate matters further, a number of school inspections with a
first page of each inspection report. These reports can be found at score of 0 or even -1 on spreadsheet calculations give weird results, so
https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/accreditation/centres. we award every centre a range modifier of four points for passing the
The Council inspects 15 areas listed on the right-hand side of the inspection.
table opposite. Each area can be awarded an ‘area of strength’, marked So, to calculate the score for any centre there are five steps:
on our table with a pink or blue square, or given a ‘need for improvement’ Step 1 Add up the areas of strength on the centre’s summary
marked on our table with an orange square. White squares signal that a statement.
centre has simply met the standard for the area. Step 2 Deduct the number of areas marked as having a need for
To calculate the raw score we add up the areas of strength a provider is improvement.
awarded on the summary statement and deduct a point for every need for Step 3 Add four to the result.
improvement. Then we divide that by the number of areas inspected. Step 4 Divide that total by the number of areas inspected.
The first problem is that one area of inspection is ‘safeguarding Step 5 Report the number as a score out of 10.
under 18s’. However, some centres don’t enrol under 18s, as is the To be in the top 1% a school needs to achieve a perfect 10. Take a
case with business and professional English specialists like the London bow Wimbledon School of English, Summer Boarding Courses, LSI
School of English and universities like Manchester. Look at their results Portsmouth, London School of English, The English Language Centre
under safeguarding and you see a grey square for ‘Not applicable’. Brighton and ELC Bristol.

16 September 2021