Comments on: Proof of a TEFL oligarchy??

By: Jason West

Jason West — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:25:07 +0000

Not looked at the ryan air link yet but yield management has been considered :-)
Anyway, I got wind of this big 4 thing last spring via someone who should know. I was curious as to when and how the decision was made and understood that a committee/group made the decision. I sent the BC a freedom of information request and got some interesting answers which I have been sitting on. I was dangled the offer/prospect of a slot on a new directory part of the site (it was not what I would call 1/10000th parity with said big 4′s long running philanthropic association). Anyway. Rob. If you are reading this. It’s all gone very quiet your end :-)

By: Sue Lyon-Jones

Sue Lyon-Jones — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:50:51 +0000

Whilst I don’t personally buy into the conspiracy theory, it seems to me that if part of the British Council’s remit from the Government is to support British publishers, then shouldn’t they be providing a platform for publishers who genuinely need supporting, rather than free advertising for a bunch of major league players who are already have a huge chunk of the ELT publishing market pretty much sewn up, and clearly aren’t in any need of extra help from the British taxpayer?

Just my two penneth worth.

(Glad you enjoyed the Ryanair post, BTW, Alex :-)

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:07:07 +0000

And how about a few independent British ELT websites too, rather than concentrating on working hand-in-glove with the BBC?

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:06:35 +0000

No one is expecting the British taxpayer subsidized BC to support American ELT publishers (for example), but why only the big 4 British ones? How about Summertown, Marshall Cavendish, Keyways, Delta, Mary Glasgow Magazines, Garnet Education etc etc?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:57:47 +0000

Sorry to disappoint you all, but the British Council supports British publishers because that’s part of its remit from the British government. It also supports British artists, musicians scientists, educators, British English and British values like tolerance, diversity and intercultural dialogue …
(Whether you agree that’s a good thing or not is another question. And yet another question is whether it does the job well or in a fair way. But it’s what the BC exists to do. No conspiracy – it’s all out in the open). The publishers don’t pay the BC for the privelege.
As for the “evil publishers brutally giving stuff away for free”, it’s hard to see what there is to complain about.
I noticed one of my old worksheets was there – one I’d written for CUP’s Professional English Online site, which is also free. The idea is to generate a bit of traffic to the website in order to raise awareness of the books. That’s all.
I didn’t write it in order to help CUP or the British Council take over the world … it was actually kinda hoping teachers would use it and it’d save them some time and their students might learn something.
Of course, I could be the centre of the global conspiracy, with one foot in the BC and the other in CUP …

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:09:41 +0000

Totally changing the topic, here is my favourite blog post of the week:

http://the-pln-staff-lounge.blogspot.com/2009/10/should-tefl-be-more-like-ryanair.html

By: Sandy Mac

Sandy Mac — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:40:03 +0000

I think the old ‘cash-nexus’ was at work here – those companies paid to get the privilege of appearing on the site and hawking their goods. Hardly a conspiracy, is it? Much more like good old-fashioned capitalism!

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:28:42 +0000

No idea how long it’s been up, found it while looking for something else.

The conspiracy theory:
- The British government has a secret list of British industry “winners” that the BC, British Chambers of Commerce etc should promote, while ignoring time wasting losers from other firms

The non-conspiracy theory:
- Like everything else in TEFL (and indeed all industry according to Dilbert cartoons), the job of setting up this page was given to someone with little relevant experience and even less time, and they simply took the easiest option. Now no one is in charge of it at all but the BC is too embarrassed to admit that, so people like Jason who want to be included find themselves fighting with air

By: Jason West

Jason West — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:00:15 +0000

Hmm. Interesting. When did this go up, anyone? It kind of makes official the knowledge/fact, call it what you like, that these four publishers have been quietly allowed to give stuff away on here for more than a year. One reply I got was that the free stuff was non promotional/altruistic and not linked to any to-pay-for product. That took about 20 seconds and the sending of a link to scotch :-)

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:50:48 +0000

They may have been approached and said no….

By: Graham Stanley

Graham Stanley — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:15:52 +0000

Excuse me if I’m being thick here, but I’m not sure I understand the outcry – surely it makes sense for the BC to approach ‘the big four’ UK publishers for such a trial? Or is the point here that they should have contacted all the UK publishers (impossible?) or…? Again, I’m with Valentina here – I’m not sure I understand why you think offering teachers sample materials from these publishers is bad.

By: Karenne Sylvester

Karenne Sylvester — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:35:30 +0000

OH Vale,

You are too kind… and here I was thinking that maybe Alex could stir up some trouble and get the BC to go be nice to the Delta lot – you just ruined it with it’s, shrug, just big business… sigh.

Karenne

By: Valentina Dodge

Valentina Dodge — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:22:38 +0000

It also says “trial period”, I think it is often the case that publishing companies with a higher turnover (profit rates) are able to invest in “trial” periods and therefore get in first and have the financial support to promote these sort of “free sample materials” linking intiatives. Not fair and I’m not defending it, just trying to understand! Perhaps not a conspiracy theory but big business?

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:51:21 +0000

It does say “selected”

of course, why those particular companies were selected….

By: Karenne Sylvester

Karenne Sylvester — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:34:51 +0000

Nice, I’ll put a call-out on Twitter and see if we can’t find the answer… good grief.