Traditional family-owned language schools dominate the rankings in the market for over 16s, reports Melanie Butler
The traditional British private language school is a family-owned operation. Typically housed in a large Edwardian building, it has year-round students over 16 and takes younger learners in the summer.
These schools make up 57 per cent of the operations accredited by the British Council but one third are now part of a chain.
The mean average in this sector, 4.5 net areas of strength, is a little lower than the industry as a whole, mostly because the most common score is just one area of strength, compared to the industry most common score of three.
In many cases, the lower scoring schools are at the cheap and cheerful end of the market and still represent good value for money. However, a number of international chain schools charging a substantial premium also appear in the bottom 25 per cent based on British Council reports, so it pays to check.
If we strip out the chain schools, a pattern of performance emerges: 20 per cent of independent private language schools score significantly below the sector average (1 SD), and 20 per cent score significantly higher (1-2 SD). Statistically this sector has ‘fat tails’.
If we look at the top independents, we can see one thing they have in common: they have been around a very long time. The oldest school in the UK, London School of English is 106 years old and still featuring in the top ten in this list. Only one, IH Aberdeen, was established in the last twenty years.
The average age of a top performing language school for adults is 47 years old and most are still owned by their founders and their families.
Typically, most of these schools are also active in industry bodies, not only in the UK but overseas. The list of schools includes nine out of the ten members of The English Network, four are affiliated to International House (IH) and thirteen are members of IALC, Quality English or both.
Top 20 Independent language schools for adults (showing date of foundation)
*date first accredited by British Council
