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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world
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Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2018 7:41 am Post subject: UK ESL schools employ hundreds of non-graduate teachers |
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British language schools employ hundreds of non-graduate teachers
EL Gazette | March 2018
http://www.elgazette.com/
Hundreds of teachers employed by UK accredited language schools do not have all the core qualifications required by the British Council, an analysis of inspection reports reveals. Over 200 schools employ at least one teacher without a first degree or equivalent, known as a level 6 qualification.
However, the Gazette found only 12 cases where the requirement for level 6 teachers is marked as ‘not met’ on the inspection report. Our analysis also found that 30% of schools have one or more teachers without an EFL certificate that meets the requirements of the scheme. In every single case the centre was judged as not meeting the teaching qualifications requirement. The most serious shortfall appears to be in the number of graduate teachers. The inspection criteria state that all academic staff must be educated to degree level but ‘exceptionally, the employment of any academic staff without the appropriate general level of education may be acceptable with the provision of a valid rationale.’
A spokesperson for the BC told the Gazette: ‘The scheme’s requirements maintain high standards but allow for some flexibility to enable providers to recruit the best person for the job.’ However an English UK spokesperson said: ‘The analysis highlights the difficulties our member schools face in employing sufficient numbers of teachers with the required levels of education and teacher qualifications. ‘There are many reasons for this, and in particular the historically low level of graduate unemployment in the economy.’
A low graduate unemployment rate and the financial squeeze on language schools seems to be resulting in an increase in the number of exceptions granted by the BC inspectors over the graduate teacher requirement.
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Stuka
Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Posts: 237
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Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:02 am Post subject: |
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This doesn't just happen in the language schools, but also in our most prestigious universities up and down the UK who are unable to scrape enough staff together during the busy summer months. What is the use of accreditation rules if they are constantly being bypassed in the name of flexibility? The BC aren't doing their job, which is why overall standards are dropping and students are voting with their feet and going elsewhere. Recently a student from Hong Kong sued Anglia Ruskin University for palming her off with a Mickey Mouse degree. Maybe some of her teachers were not qualified for the job? I know that many universities are using Ph.D students to do the teaching while the real profs engage in research. This is all wrong, and students deserve a better deal for their money. I hope she wins her case. |
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