i quite agree with what you're sayin'but blaming the poorly educated or experienced teachers is only one part of the problem here. further more, singling out these money hungry language centers that would recruit any fine looking white face to their classrooms is not what i see as THE PROBLEM here. while i agree that some of these big language macchains may have contributed to the recent UK government's decision, i doubt these kinda schools or teachers were the keys in their decision making process.

The crappy world of ESL is there because it is a business where education does not really count. That's the root of the problem

in my view just a branch. UK and other contries around the world have opened up to foreign students and in an effort to increase their profits and enlarge their businesses they also decentralized their international educational institutions (often big comanies) around the world. culturally more sensitive they have catered directly to the locals' needs which has often brought some lower standards, although more students to schools and more students graduating as well. students out of such schools then apply for higher educational institutions in either UK or other countries around the world. so, i see this as the major root of the problem. just imagine that you've got an academic product that calls for high school grads and your employer cuts corners and enrolls second or even just a first grade high school students in your program. then, after 9 months there they go wiht these students applying for western unis..putting onto their applications that they have actually finished/graduated from their local high schools. from my experience, they can even BUY their grad CERTS from some high schools in china. wasn't exactly this the issue in that really sad story from liverpool uni a year or so ago? and, media blackout was imposed then. these are som dreadful tendencies in education, especially when the developed countries institutions bend over for profits and allow some developing countries to cut corners to such extent.

now, i see the BC racking their brains and worrying about what's gonna happen next. their international IELTS standards might as well be for the question in. are their standards around the world as tough as on their homeland and are their examiners' procedures good enough to test students going for higher abroad education? one of the facts is that the IELTS speaking exams do not test the test takers' ability to use formal/academic english and to demonstrate the abilty to present some academic topics for a lengthy period of time such as for example 5 or 7 minutes only. the BC's open questions or that 2-3 minutes topic presentation are just too lame to determine whether the test taker is at the band 6.5 or 5.5. let's face it as once these students are awared 6.5, they are happily up on their planes and into the western unis taking all that filthy money that their parents have made on, for example mainland. isn't this a root of the problem?

cheers and beers to none for profit organizations such as the BC and above all cheers and beers to the decentralized western educational companies that have been playing with the fire rather than with ice :)