Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

Drop in EU English learners
EL Gazette | May 2018
Source: http://www.elgazette.com/item/506-drop-in-eu-english-learners.html

The number of potential English learners in Europe is predicated to drop by nearly 9% between 2015 and 2025, a new report suggests.

The British Council-commissioned study The Future Demand for English in Europe: 2025 and Beyond says there will be a fall in the total number of potential learners of 15.3 million over the seven countries studied. This, it says, is largely due to demographic changes and improvements in school-level English education.

However, European demand for top-up and refresher English courses is set to rise. The research also finds that English will continue to be the dominant language in Europe and remain the preferred second language for most Europeans in 2025. The mature market is likely to grow, the report adds, with students expecting a personalised and flexible product, using a combination of new technology and face-to-face learning.

The report stresses that online and other digital forms of learning will grow but adds there is no evidence that by 2025 there would be the large-scale substitution of face-to-face teaching with artificially intelligent bots.

The report looked at France, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. (For the BC's full analysis, click here).

[twowheel]

[spiral78]

Well, I think it will likely represent a drop in job opportunities for native speakers on the continent, particularly those with basic related qualifications.

The qualified locals teaching public school courses that the article mentions are growing in number, experience, and success levels, making them competitive on the private lessons market as well.

The personalized top-up and refresher courses that may form a greater share of the market require teachers who have solid knowledge and experience of grammar and language items (many more of their students will already have high level knowledge of English relative to the past). European adult students who spend time and energy on private or specialist lessons tend to be quite demanding and expect real value and progress.

This won't be a job market for the faint of heart (or for those with basic quals) in most cases.