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[BrownSauce]

From the August edition of the digital EL Gazette, I offer you this lamentable piece...

London schools cheap as China
MELANIE BUTLER reports

ACCREDITED SCHOOLS in London are charging as little as �1.04 per class hour for general English, according to Gazette research, making them cheaper than language schools in China. A survey conducted by Ipsos Mori for the British Council found that the hourly rates in Chinese mid-market schools � the lowest category employing native-speaker teachers � are currently 20�50 Rimbit per hour, equivalent to �1.80�4.50. Even in India, where there is a plentiful supply of local English speakers and native-speaker teachers are rare, Ielts classes now cost �2 per hour, according to British Council research.

In a survey conducted by the Gazette the lowest price available in London for a 15-hour per week course, the minimum required hours for a student visa, was a special offer of �564 for a 540-hour academic year course. The average price across London for the same course type is �6.40 per hour, compared with �6.66 an hour in 1987 � a drop in real terms of 66 per cent over the 22-year period.

The Gazette found, however, that rates among long-established accredited schools was higher, at �9.60 per hour, than among those accredited in the last few years, where just �3 an hour was the average � less than the �4 minimum charge for a single ticket on the London Underground.

Average fees outside London are higher, although the Gazette has found evidence of fees as low as �2 per hour in other metropolitan areas. Most of the low-cost schools found by the Gazette have only recently been accredited, following the introduction of new visa regulations which mean that students from outside the EU can only enrol in accredited schools. The legislation, which was designed to eliminate visa factories, where students enrol in schools in order to obtain visas and do not attend lessons, came into force in March this year.

Low fees are reflected in low rates for London teachers, who are mostly on hourly-paid contracts. Hourly rates for certificate-qualified graduates working in the cheaper schools range from �8�13, equivalent to Euro 9.20�15, compared to E19�24 per hour in Dublin and Madrid and a legal minimum rate of E15.88 in France. As a result, many teachers are forced to work long hours and the British Council, which specifically excludes terms and conditions from its accreditation criteria, has accredited schools where teachers routinely work 45 hours per week. The Gazette has been unable to verify rumours that Council inspectors did reject a school where teachers were employed teaching 12 hours per day for �6 (E6.70) an hour.

Schools at the lower end of the market, however, have been hit by a UK Borders Agency ruling that students on 15-hour courses must spend the whole 900 minutes in the classroom. This has increased staff costs by 12 to 24 per cent for many schools who previously deducted five to ten minutes per hour from teachers� rates to cover breaks between classes.

SHAME ON THE BRITISH COUNCIL! SHAME ON THE UK TEFL SCENE!!
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