I understand but I am VERY sure the teachers’ pockets will be the first to feel any effects of loss of income, not the owners.

Tony

http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com/2009/12/petition.html

@Alex / Andy / etc: I understand you are abroad and your job might not depend on it, but your future job might if you intend to return to the UK and work in TEFL!

Even one MP said: “If the government adopts these proposals, it could effectively close every language school across the country”.

If you are a Brit with a UK address please sign the petition!

Thanks

As for slagging off the UK education industry – please feel free to counter by praising it to the skies if you like.

IMO there is good and bad in it. Some really great schools and teachers, and some total rip off merchants. Hard to say who should be in charge of promoting the good and shutting down the bad. For a long time I thought that’s what the BC was for….how naive I was…

http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/teaching/tefl/tefl-as-private-education/

I am a bit saddened by the comments on this page. It seems people are more keen in picking holes in the UK education system or criticizing the person who started the petition.

I’ll give you a brief run down of the actual issue that the petition addresses:

* UK has decided to clamp down on bogus colleges
* UK government has introduced Ozzie-style Points Based System (PBS) visa system which gives the power to school to decide who is a genuine student or not
* So schools must be registered with UKBA to issue student visas.
* Schools are required to do the UKBA’s work in collecting student data and reporting student attendance/non-arrival

So far so good, sounds like a good idea. But…

* Beginners are not allowed to come to UK for more than 6 months
* UKBA have made a complex process even more complex (for students, agents and schools)
* UKBA and UK Embassies abroad do not follow same rules
* UKBA keep changing the rules
* UKBA implemented the PBS visa system to suit Universities which makes many things difficult for EFL schools where students enrol all year round for a few weeks at a time

And now the problem gets worse. The Prime Minister has decided to review the PBS and perhaps:

* Raise minimum English level to CEF B1 (intermediate)
* Require English tests before people apply for visa to study English
* Ban students from working part-time
* Ban work experience programmes
* etc…

So the consequences are:

* Less students > less revenue for schools > less jobs for teachers

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!!!

I think it’s all about a visa mill crackdown that will also impact on some other schools. Haven’t heard anything that would make we want to sign it yet

Isn’t that the point of education in general? ;-P

http://tristanverboven.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/why-does-school-suck-we-teach-it-to-suck/

See my article on them here for an overview of the sort of school he runs:

http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com/2008/11/bournemouth-bullsht-school.html

While it might be argued that ELT in the UK includes some of the best teaching/learning in the world – I don’t think anyone would say that about the British school system in general. In fairness it is not and never was about education – just about keeping kids off the streets and out from under their mother’s feet.

So – what is the point/gist of this new law?? Anyone know?