As metaphors go, “being on the shoreline during a tsunami” doesn’t sound like the place to be. But this is how the director of Brighton Language College, Gary Farmer, described his situation.
In July 2019, Mr Farmer’s college had 600 students and employed 100 staff. Now there are just 30 students, with seven members of staff.
The bleak situation is worse for other schools and colleges teaching English as a second language (ESL). Regent Brighton, BSCB, and Sprachcaffe Brighton have all permanently closed.
Eurocentres, ISE and EC have either sold their local premises or are in the process of doing so. Other schools are missing in action and have their closed doors.
And suspended above the ruins of the industry, the tidal wave of Brexit is yet to strike.
But why are English language schools so important to the city?
In less exceptional times, Brighton has been blessed with a bustling English teaching industry.
The city offers foreigners a diverse international community, a range of established schools and a taste of the English seaside – all just a stone’s throw from London and its rapacious living costs.
ESL schools in Brighton blend a learning experience with a holiday. Students pay for the services of a college, while spending in shops, cafés and at tourist attractions. And host families receive rent for their spare room and hospitality.
The industry is worth roughly £1.4 billion to the UK economy – and Brighton is a top beneficiary, possibly the most popular location after the capital.
This is not to mention the closer international ties and friendships the industry builds. The buzz of life and vibrancy which many love about Brighton is amplified by the existence of these schools.
Covid-19 has brought all of this into serious jeopardy. Mr Farmer said: “Students in summer normally come for two to four weeks. What good is it if you have to self-isolate the whole time you’re here? Everyone cancels because nobody wants to self-isolate and test.”
And then there are the effects of travel restrictions and lockdowns. This time last year the number of students enrolled with Mr Farmer’s college totalled precisely zero.
Brexit – Britain’s exit from the European Union – also poses big risks to ESL schools, not least because students from the EU will no longer have the right to work here.
Melanie Butler, the editor-in-chief of the industry’s trade paper EL Gazette, questioned the UK’s competitiveness given changes to the law.
She said: “Australia provides students a right to work. So, as a European, where is it a more attractive place to study – Brighton or Brisbane?”
Europeans will also be required to bring passports rather than identity cards as of October this year. If this proves to be an expense that some are unwilling to bear, Malta and Ireland provide viable alternative destinations.
English Language Homestays, which is based in Shoreham, said: “Truth to say, many government officials don’t realise the importance of language students and school groups.”
This sentiment is shared by many.
Mr Farmer said that many other businesses, including strip clubs and casinos, were entitled to restart grants – but not ESL schools.
He said: “Given mounting debts and the fact that we haven’t qualified for restart grants, I now have to be looking more and more towards (Friday) 1 October with the end of furlough. I will be forced to make redundancies.”
Brighton and Hove City Council has provided some relief in the form of business rate breaks but it has been fairly unusual in this sense, with many schools in other cities not deemed to qualify for the relief.
This may explain why fewer ESL schools have closed in Brighton than in the rest of the country. The figure in Brighton is 10 per cent. The national average is 17 per cent.
Many said that for the industry to prosper, the law on foreign working rights needs to change. Ms Butler said that only Britain and America do not allow the right to work.
UK nationals in France, for instance, are allowed to au pair if they learn the language. The UK does not reciprocate.
There is much talk of how covid-19 has transformed the way we do business, with online learning offering a cheaper alternative to language schools.
Ms Butler, however, remains optimistic on this front. She said: “Online learning is no real substitute for being immersed in the country and learning face-to-face.”
The vigour of the post-covid rebound provides many with a glimmer of hope. Brighton and the UK retain the natural advantage of being the homeland of British English.
Before the virus, the rate of under 16s enrolling in the UK was accelerating rapidly, according to Ms Butler.
Both she and Mr Farmer yearn for the government to take action. Both want ministers to provide working rights for foreign students and to extend business rate breaks until next spring.
Weathering the current tsunami will prove gruelling for many schools. But there seems no doubt that the industry can rebuild in the post-covid world, provided they are lent a helping hand.
