Policies & Procedures

Learners should note the Policies & Procedures in the following areas:

• Attendance and Punctuality
• Learner Protection
• Holidays and Breaks
• Sick Leave
• Complaints and Grievances
• End of Programme Exams

For our policy on Refunds, please see our Terms & Conditions

ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY

Policy 

Learners are required to attend all classes. Those here on a Stamp 2 (Study) Visa are under a legal obligation to attend at least 85% of the scheduled contact hours for the duration of their course. (‘Contact hours’ refers to learning in the presence of a teacher).

Procedure

The school monitors attendance on a daily and weekly basis. Any learner arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving more than 15 minutes early will be marked absent for that segment of the class.

If 85% attendance is not being achieved by a learner, the learner will be made aware of their low attendance rate and urged to achieve full attendance. They will also be made aware that persistent absenteeism will be reported to Immigration.

Recording of Attendance

The attendance of each learner is recorded for every class. Attendance is recorded on the class register by the class teacher and uploaded to our online management area where it is accessed by the Academic Administrator and transferred to the database where individual student records are maintained.

Absenteeism

Learners whose attendance is below 85% will be given one verbal and three written warnings. If attendance is not brought up to par after the third written warning, Immigration will be informed that the student is in breach of their visa requirements.

Recheck/Review

A student may request a recheck/review of attendance.

LEARNER PROTECTION

Policy

All learners holding Stamp 2 Study Visas are insured for accident and illness. They are also insured should their course provider become insolvent and thus unable to provide the learner with the tuition they paid for. This policy is referred to as Protection for Enrolled Learners (PEL).

Procedure

The cost of the learner’s medical insurance and PEL policies is included in the Academic Year course fee. Students are provided with their policy documents together with the letter of enrolment that is presented to Immigration when applying for their visa. Should medical costs be incurred during the student’s stay in Ireland, such costs are covered by the medical insurance policy. Should the school become insolvent, students will be relocated to another provider where they can complete their course. Where no suitable provider can be found, the unexpired portion of the student’s fees is refunded to them.

HOLIDAYS AND BREAKS

Policy

Learners who have enrolled on a 25-week course are not permitted to take unscheduled holidays during their course. Only scheduled and agreed holidays are permitted. Any other unapproved holidays taken will be counted as absence from class.

Holidays must not exceed one-third of students’ study time. ELTA is closed for annual holidays for the last two weeks of December and the first week of January. These three weeks’ holiday are factored into the students’ 8-week holiday allowance. ELTA is also closed for the week following Easter Sunday. This week is also taken from the students’ holiday allowance.

Procedure

Learners may take holidays representing one third the time attended,and agreed by the school.

If a learner takes time as a holiday, which was not previously agreed, and not covered by sick leave certification such time will be seen as non-attendance.

SICK LEAVE

Policy

Absences will be reviewed and where repeated or unexplained/uncertified sick leave has been taken the following procedure will be implemented under the supervision of the Academic Administrator.

Procedure

Learners are given the office contact details on registration and the sick leave policy is explained.

Learners, or someone acting on their behalf, must inform the Academic Administrator by e-mail or text on the first and subsequent days of the period of sick leave. The Academic Administrator records all sick leave in the learner’s attendance record.

On the first day of their return to class, learners should provide the Academic Administrator with written medical certification confirming their illness.  The medical certification must cover the entire period of absence. The certificate will be held in the learner’s file.

The Academic Administrator will note instances of repeated, or extended, absence due to sickness, and will give appropriate consideration to absence due to sickness in all reviews of learners’ performance and progression.

COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES

Policy

All learners have access to Grievance and Complaints procedures.

Procedure

Learners’ complaints may concern, but are not necessarily limited to:

the assessment process; classroom activities; level; teaching methodologies; teachers; policies and procedures, administration staff; other learners, facilities and the relevance of the assessment tasks to the intended learning outcomes and learning level.

The learner who feels that they have a grievance should ask to speak to the School Director.

Student complaints should be raised within five to ten working days of the issue being reported. While student grievances are given the utmost consideration, those raised when the 25-week course is over, will not be considered.

If the learner accepts the decision of the School Director, the matter is closed. However, if the learner does not accept the decision, they can appeal it as at Step 3

If the grievance cannot be remedied by the Director, the learner may make an appeal to the Accreditation and Co-ordination of English Language Services (ACELS-the current regulatory body for the English Language Department) or its successors in Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).

The maximum length aimed for with regard to the internal resolution of a learner complaint is 2 weeks.

External appeal to ACELS/QQI is within the timeframe of its currently published policy.

END OF PROGRAMME EXAMS AND RECORDING OF RESULTS

Policy

All registered English language Stamp 2 study visa learners are required to take an external examination to verify their learning. All learners at ELTA are automatically registered for the TIE exam, which is held at ELTA. The exam registration fee is paid for by ELTA. Students wishing to sit Cambridge exams or IELTS instead of TIE may do so but the fees for these exams will be paid for by the learners themselves and their school fee will not be reduced by reason of not taking the TIE exam. Those wishing to prepare for IELTS will be placed in a dedicated IELTS class, as soon as their level of proficiency permits; those wishing to sit an exam from the Cambridge exam suite will not receive dedicated training. However, their class content is based on Cambridge English learning materials and their teacher will assign them work from past papers for the relevant Cambridge exams. 

Please note that students wishing to take Cambridge exams or IELTS will still be registered for the TIE exam, which they will be required to take at the end of their course.

Procedure

Stamp 2 Visa Learners must take such an examination and the designated exam suite for learners of General English is the TIE exam.

At the time of registration all registered learners requiring external exam verification for study visa purposes are required to sign a contract acknowledging their commitment to take such an exam.