Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 April 2015
164. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of English language colleges operating in each of the last ten years and currently in 2015, by county; and the current number of students in each college. [13567/15]
View answerProvision of private education, including English language training, is not subject to mandatory regulation in the State. Therefore any person is free to set up a private college of education or an English language school without having to come under the oversight of the Department or any of its agencies. The majority of English language schools in Ireland are privately run and there is a diverse range of English language courses on offer which vary considerably in duration and intensity.
The information sought by the Deputy in relation to the number of English language schools is only available to my Department in respect of those that have gone through a recognised quality assurance process. Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) operates ACELS (Accreditation and Co-ordination of English Language Services), which is a voluntary scheme that grants recognition to English language teaching organisations annually.
Currently there are 98 English language organisations nationwide holding ACELS recognition. The breakdown of these organisations by county is easily accessible on an interactive map available at: http://www.acels.ie/search.htm. It should be noted that many of these 98 organisations are not sole English language training providers. Some also operate additional seasonal centres for juniors, typically in the summer. Others operate only as seasonal providers during the summer with junior programmes. Some other providers offer a mixed provision of programmes including further and/or higher education programmes in addition to English language courses.
With regard to student numbers, the majority of English language training organisations operate a system of 'rolling enrolment' i.e. students may enrol at regular intervals onto courses, typically every Monday of a new week or per fortnight. Language school enrolments are very often short-term, and because of this, ACELS does not require providers to supply student enrolment numbers. As a result, it is not possible to provide the Deputy with the current number of students in each of these organisations.
The number of recognised English language training organisations which have voluntarily submitted and gained recognition through the ACELS scheme fluctuates annually. However over the last 10 years, QQI estimates that this number has been within a range of 95-120 organisations, comprising approximately 130-160 centres either permanent or temporary nationwide.
There are currently 24 non-ACELS English language training providers listed on the internationalisation register for immigration purposes offering other English language training awards, mainly UK aligned. There may also be other non-ACELS English language training organisations operating domestically which are not on the internationalisation register. Typically, these are regional seasonal operators offering junior courses, who have relationships with other EU schools/agents and don't see a need to gain ACELS recognition.
