Page 18 - ELG2210 Oct Issue 482

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UK RANKINGS 2022-23

The Covid fall-out on Contents

Centres of Excellence THE COVID EFFECT
What’s happened to the English
18 language school landscape
Melanie Butler on who has survived,
thrived and dived in the past two years
HOW THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED
RANKINGS
There have been a number of major changes to our Centre of
Excellence rankings this year, most of which are the result of the 19 The scores explained
chaos and confusion caused by Covid. Now, in a year where most
schools in the UK have been able to open and operate, it is possible
A LOOK AT PERFORMANCE
to begin to see the damage that the pandemic has done. 20
Since March 2020, 25 Centres of Excellence have disappeared from Not everything has changed
the British Council accreditation list. However, just nine have closed
down and three have merged, the rest are still trading. Together these
centres, which are listed in the box opposite, represent 17.5% of all
THE RANKINGS
Centres of Excellence listed before the pandemic. Overall, the UK 21
accreditation scheme has now lost 104 centres, or 21% of its members. The list, plus explanatory key
In addition, 17 centres are listed on the British Council website as
currently closed and re-opening in 2023, of which five are Centres of
Excellence. A month ago the number was six, but one, International
FE COLLEGES
Community School, has since withdrawn from British Council 26
Accreditation(see box opposite). As a result, we have temporarily Why they’re a good idea
removed the names of the other Centres of Excellence which are listed
as currently closed from the main ranking. Apologies to Cambridge
Academy of English (year round), Christian English Language Centre,
Manor Courses and Nottingham College EFL department. We look 26
UNIVERSITIES
forward to welcoming you back next year. Consistently high scorers
New entrants
the rankings this year: congratulations to Stafford House Canterbury 27
Unsurprisingly, a relatively small number of inspections have been
completed in the last three years. Normally we would expect to be
BOARDING SCHOOLS
near 100 a year, but since March 2020 they have totalled around 90,
Can’t be beaten
excluding spot checks. As a result there are very few new entrants in
provisional accreditation still awaiting full inspection. Predictably, 28
and London, and to the University of Birmingham.
A total of 16 centres underwent their first inspection between
CHAIN SCHOOLS
March 2020 and September 2022. A couple of others were inspected,
The winners and losers post-Covid
but have since left the scheme. There are also a number with
none of the newly accredited centres scored enough areas of strength
on inspection to become a Centre of Excellence. In the 10 years since
the British Council transitioned to this version of the scheme we typically, a private language school will lose three or four areas of
are aware of only three newly accredited centres which have made strength following its acquisition.
the rankings first time round. Since March 2020, 18 centres have undergone full re-inspections.
Twelve have seen their score rise, typically by a point or two, and just
Compliance inspection six have seen their score fall. Half the centres with falling scores had
In order to speed things up, the British Council has introduced the recently changed owners, but none of those with rising ones had done
option of Compliance Inspections, where inspectors mark all criteria so. Faced with this evidence, we are not including the scores of any
met or not met. No criteria can be marked as strong, so no areas of centres which have changed owners in the last three years unless they
strength can be awarded and while Needs for Improvement can be received a spot inspection from the British Council.
noted on the full report, the Summary Statement from the previous
inspection remains in force.
However, the EL Gazette rankings note every area with a Need
for Improvement for every centre. How can we ignore a Need for PHOTO WIKIMEDIA
Improvement noted on a Compliance Report? One school, for example,
had its statement withdrawn following a Compliance Inspection because
of a serious problem with Safeguarding. The problems in that centre
were subsequently rectified.
We decided that we will no longer rely entirely on the document of
Summary Statements, but rather on the full or Compliance Report.
Needs for Improvement noted in a Compliance Report are deducted
from the total areas of strength on our records. NB. Only one
Centre of Excellence has received any Needs for Improvement on a
Compliance Report.
The one school to lose its place in the rankings on a Compliance Nab Cottage, which was a Centre of Excellence in the UK’s Lake
Inspection has also seen a change of ownership. This is unsurprising: District and has now closed
18 October 2022