LONDON, BRITAIN — BRITAIN is the home of the English language and the home of high quality English language teaching.
Recently released statistics show British ELT generates an estimated 1.3 billion (US$2.3 billion) for the UK economy annually. This is a sector that Britain cannot afford to overlook.
To make sure the message is heard loud and clear around the world, the Home Office in Britain delcared recently all UK language schools would have to apply for accreditation by the end of the year or risk their non-EU students being unable to obtain visas.
Britain has become the second most popular choice, only after the United States, as an overseas destination for Chinese students. By this May, the figure reached 50,000. Among this group, thousands have spent or are spending their time in various language schools. In this sense, the new measures to regulate language schools can give stronger protection to Chinese students in Britain.
When asked if the Home Office intended to set up a separate scheme or existing accreditation schemes would be expected to do the job, the Home Office said that existing accreditation schemes would be used.
"The main accreditation providers we know of are the British Council, the Association of British Language Schools (ABLS) and the British Accreditation Council (BAC)." Accreditation by all the three is voluntary. To be accredited, schools usually need to be inspected in areas such as administration, staffing, quality of management and student welfare.
The British Council has a total of 380 accredited institutions. Each one pays an annual 800 subscription and inspections are carried out every four years.
This May, a new and enlarged professional association, English UK, was launched to co-operate with the British Council on an accreditation scheme. The new body was formed by the merger of two associations, the British Association of State English Language Teaching serving 100 language programmes at state-sector colleges and the Association of Recognized English Language Services representing 220 private language schools.
Following its own inspection scheme, the ABLS has granted 28 schools memberships so far. The Home Office has said that its members will be considered as accredited. ABLS, founded in 1993, represents a wide variety of English language providers throughout the UK including large schools, small schools, one-to-one and homestay organisations.
The BAC was established in 1984 after the government withdrew from earlier inspection scheme operated by the Department of Education. But its service is aimed not only at language schools but also other educational institutions.
Estimates of the number of non-accredited schools range from 550, a figure arrived at by the British Council, to 1,100, according to English UK.
The British Council's research also suggests that the majority of non-accredited schools are genuine. Many are small operations, active during the peak summer season and without fixed premises.
However, even a small number of bogus schools could be devastating both to Britain's reputation and to its language students from overseas.
