Shocking news out of the UK this morning. The PIE is reporting that the UK Home Office is reconsidering how it handles Secure English Language Testing . Rather than accepting results from a handful of approved tests, the Home Office is considering instead a single test, owned by the Home Office and designed by one supplier. Says the PIE:
“The government appears to be planning to move away from the current concession model based on multiple Home Office-approved suppliers, to a dedicated test owned by the Home Office and designed by one supplier.
The service, carrying an estimated contract value of £1.13 billion, will cover the development and ongoing support of a Home Office branded test to be used globally for all HOELTs, and the facilitation of tests around the world.”
Read the whole tender here.
As most readers know, SELT-approved tests are those tests which are approved by the Home Office for visa and citizenship purposes. They are delivered at test centers that meet the strict security requirements set by the Home Office. Testing providers must also meet certain post-test requirements. SELT-status is highly valued in the testing industry.
Within the UK, these tests are currently delivered by the IELTS partnership, Pearson, Trinity College and LanguageCert. Outside of the UK, tests are delivered by the IELTS partnership, LanguageCert, Pearson and PSI.
The aforementioned change would represent a seismic shift in the language testing world.
A few thoughts and questions come to mind:
- It takes a very long time to develop a test. Many years of research and development are required. Would a Home Office-owned test end up being a variation of an existing test?
- Aside from the above-mentioned organizations, who might be capable of bidding for this tender? Keep in mind that PSI is a subsidiary of ETS.
- I would like to know more about the financial implications of this change. How impacted would some of the major testing firms be by the loss of SELT business? Perhaps some representatives of those firms will chime in.
- Perhaps someone who follows the industry more closely than I do might wager a guess at how likely it is that the Home Office will actually go in this direction. Obviously it is not set in stone.
- If this change is implemented, will other governments follow suit?
- Regular readers of this space know that I value competition. I feel that testing monopolies can sometimes be bad for test takers. This change could reduce competition in the testing space.
- I also value accessibility. Accessibility is impacted by the number of approved test centers available to test takers, and how close they are. This change could reduce the number of test centers available to test takers.
I’ll post more news as it becomes available, obviously.A big thank-you goes to Polly Nash for digging this story up. Apparently the tender was put out during the holiday and went unnoticed by all but her.