Page 15 - ELG2309 Sep Issue 486

UK RANKINGS 2023-24
The ups and downs for British EFL

It’s that time of year again! Melanie Butler walks us through what to
expect in this year’s UK language centre rankings!

ow the devastation of the COVID storm seems to have finally Contents
abated, the last 12 months find UK ELT in calmer waters.
However, the flood of private language school closures seems
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Nto carry on. 16
Since the last EL Gazette ranking, twelve private language schools How we calculate the rankings
and six summer schools have left the scheme. Additionally, six state
Further Education Colleges, four boarding schools and two universities
have opted out; a hugely disproportionate number! Among EL Gazette
THE RANKINGS
Centres of Excellence, we have lost only two. The rate of attrition at the 17
top end of the business remains low. The final list, plus key
There are signs of growth: of the 25 new entrants to Accreditation
UK, 12 have come on board in the last academic year. Perhaps the most
eye-catching entrant is a brand new international chain, English Path,
which has opened four new centres in the UK alone. FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS
There has been a drop-off in new entries to the Centres of Excellence Why have so many schools dropped
this year, with Into Manchester, Celtic English Academy in Cardiff, and 21 this year?
Language in Action all coming through with flying colours. Meanwhile,
only a handful of existing Centres of Excellence have risen up the rank,
most notably Chichester College, one of only two FE colleges ever CHICHESTER COLLEGES
to hit the top 10% in the Gazette rankings and the only one judged How one Centre of Excellence remains
‘Outstanding’ by England’s much-feared state inspection authority,
Ofsted. Turn to page 22 to find out how they did it. 22 ‘Outstanding’
If there are fewer centres moving up the ranks this year, there are more
dropping out of the top 25% of schools. Of the providers featured in our
THE NEW KIDS
supplement last year, thirteen – around 10% of the total – have failed 24
to make the cut-off score on re-inspection. All but one of the fallers This year’s new entrants
belonged to chains. To see the impact on each chain’s performance
overall, turn to our analysis on page 25.
Stranger still, of those ten, all but one opted for a Full Inspection
rather than a Compliance one. To find out how this might make a BREAKING THE CHAIN
difference, turn to page 16. Chains and franchises:
Happy reading! 25 how did they fare?

Who do you think will be at the top this year?
editorial@elgazette.com 15