Demetriou, , p. IELTS charges a standard fee by test center location. This data set contains a member nation from each continent excluding Antarctica , including the Indian subcontinent. IDP Education is a for-profit, profit maximizing limited liability corporation that trades on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Figure 3, overleaf, contains the caption of a news article authored by Australian economics journalist Ross Gittins that captures this popular sentiment. Figure 5 shows the stock price movement for IDP Education over the past 12 months. The profile of one of these board members, David Battersby, is described by IDP Education as a career educator with extensive experience in the post-secondary education sector IDP Education, b.
By doing so, the University of Cambridge explicitly and willfully uses its ancient brand to underwrite and promote the commercial sale of goods and services produced by Cambridge Assessment Group, including IELTS.
They also appoint two assessors for speaking tests. Members of the IELTS consortium have proactively forged deep direct and indirect connections with governments, transnational corporations and other influential stakeholders such as professional registration bodies and post-secondary educational institutions. These universities are regulated by the governments of six Australian states and two territories. University of A public British post-secondary education institution that was established by Cambridge Royal Charter.
Blackie, IELTS band score 5 modest user and band score 8 very good user. Relatively few professionals e. Most of these people are citizen residents from birth of their host country and completed their studies in English. Moreover, they have not sought independent advice to validate advice offered by these agents.
This situation is not surprising. Establishing a monopoly market enables IELTS to repeatedly use profit-gouging examination fraud to fail foreign national professionals who must sit an IELTS exam to gain professional registration status and a professional work visa.
The Australian Association of Social Workers AASW is an example of a professional registration body that has a serious case to answer in the public domain.
International student graduates who aim to register with AASW inform me that they repeatedly receive marginal fail scores for writing. IELTS can detect their career and visa objective via their intrusive application form see page Nurses and midwives routinely communicate critical healthcare information in settings such as the operating theatre and emergency department.
Migration agents play an important role in offering their clients sound impartial advice to support their visa applications.
With regards to language testing, this role is more profound in jurisdictions such as Australia and New Zealand that offer competitive options. Numerous migration agents have publicly criticized the design and assessment of the IELTS test in the public domain. Suss, ; Coates cited in Kenny, One way that IELTS corrupts this market is by offering cash sponsorship payments to migration stakeholders such as the Migration Institute of Australia.
Figures 13 and 14 documents this claim. Figure 15 documents this claim. British Council and University of Cambridge. To a large extent, this perception is unofficially correct. IELTS have never been charged or prosecuted for examination frauds and other crimes such as extortion that they have deliberately perpetrated in Australian, British and other jurisdictions on a massive global scale.
It presents itself as a government agency, a diplomatic body, but is really a government subsidized business, as so many of us know to our cost. The British Council did not attend this court hearing and lost on default. This court rejected this argument and stated that there was no diplomatic documentation provided by the British Council to support this claim. To illustrate this argument, please consider this scenario that applies to all international students who graduate in Canada.
An international student earns a four-year Doctoral Degree in French Language Linguistics from the University of Ottawa and passes a written and oral Doctoral thesis examination conducted in the English language. The Canadian Government does not accept this Canadian award as evidence of English or French language proficiency. All international students who study and graduate in Canada are required to prove their English or French language competencies via a language test after they graduate to qualify for a skilled residency visa Government of Canada, Most persons who apply for an Canadian residency visa are not proficient in French and opt to take an English language test to support their application for a Canadian residency visa.
The lucrative virtual monopoly i. The United States has around million more residents than Canada. The Canadian Government blatantly uses IELTS examiner fraud as a covert proxy to expel most international students from their country after they graduate and are no longer profitable to exploit. Academics who receive an IELTS grant may be permitted to use this cash to fund release from their classroom teaching duties.
It is common knowledge among academics that many of their colleagues prefer to use their research grants to fund release from teaching duties, attend overseas conferences and pay for associated costs such as hotels. They do not offer an impartial, deep global critique. This report aims to fill this critical gap in the existing research. The author of this research report is independent, self-reflexive and self-funded.
Phase 2 of this research project aims to interview circa 20 former and 20 currently practicing IELTS examiners. This extension should further strengthen the reliability and validity of inferences drawn in this project.
I warmly welcome constructive feedback and questions from members of the public. The methodological design of this report conforms to the ethical requirements, conventions and high standards imposed on scholars and practitioners who study at graduate research level. Events and quantitative facts that are common knowledge among those who work in the English language testing industry are not supported with a reference, as is customary among scholarly researchers e.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, This research project analyses circa 3, independent pieces of evidence obtained from ten principal data sources. This project achieved data saturation after the examination of circa pieces of evidence. This evidence includes multiple independent data obtained from ten data sets shown in Table 7. Source is official. Secondary data type Public reports e.
Source is triangulated with at Special Broadcasting least one primary source Service document. The identity of the author must be accessible. Public testimonies of academic Research must conform to Uysal research scholars e. Suss migration agents. Analytical tools This report uses specialist content analysis tools that are appropriate to analyze each type of evidence.
Table 8, overleaf, provides a summary of the main types of data analysis tools and offers an example for each. Cambridge English c, p. The vast bulk of data sources are not influenced by the objectives of this research or by the personal characteristics of the researcher.
This multidisciplinary mixed-methods study triangulates primary and secondary data extracted from hundreds of independent data sources dated over the past ten years to draw inferences. This methodological design aims to achieve data reliability, validity and replicability.
Chapter 3 Evidence This section offers an example of core evidence which underpins analysis in section 4 and Appendix 2 of this report. This policy is unconscionable as it takes advantage of the disparate bargaining power that exists between one individual from a vulnerable demographic compared to the mammoth global power enjoyed by a multibillion dollars business consortium.
IELTS use condensed italicized fine-print shrunken font footnote style text to diminish the clarity of legal jargon that empowers its legal position to the maximum advantage.
The use of condensed fine-print exemption clauses at the end of contracts is widely regarded as a deceitful, unethical, exploitative and unnecessary business practice nowadays. This includes commercial and open-access sources. IELTS do not provide a curriculum document or syllabus document to support each exam cycle. Candidates who have a miniscule spelling error in their written response receive a score of zero for that component of the listening test.
This false score suggests that the candidate could not comprehend that word. There is no reason for the critical reader to suspect that most of these Test Report Forms are forgeries. Figure 23 shows how Test Report Forms are easy to locate via Google images. This includes private testimonies offered to the author of this report in addition to verifiable accounts that exist in the public domain. Since March , the author of this research report has consulted directly with 63 members of the public e.
In addition to this sample, I draw on my extensive face-to-face consultations with two practicing IELTS examiners during when I was employed and trained as a learning skills instructor at an accredited Australian university. Table 9, overleaf, summarizes the sources and quantity of my direct engagement data collection consultations. Between September and March my request for feedback was exclusively neutral. All university research academics from linguistics and education disciplines have identified themselves in confidence and have offered a constructively critical account of their experiences in their capacities as IELTS examiners, instructors and researchers.
The overwhelming bulk of these testimonies are attributable to stakeholders who have a close association with the IELTS exam. This act increases the likelihood that their contribution is authentic. If I extend this definition of IELTS critics to include online posts that are authored by anonymous and semi-anonymous e. An example of a source that contains anonymous, semi-anonymous and identifiable criticism of the IELTS exam is a petition uploaded on Change.
Figure 25 shows an extract of this petition, which has been signed by more than 4, people in recent months. This sample evidence illustrates how serious allegations of IELTS profiteering and corrupt business practices have persisted among professionals in the business community for several years. Most data sources were collected and analyzed between September and December Analysis in this section should be read in conjunction with the appropriate Research Communique research document as shown in Appendix 2.
Discussions in the relevant sub-section of this chapter refers to the relevant research communiques that complement analysis. In recent months, IELTS have publicly claimed that they partially enforce a blind-marking policy for examination remarks. IELTS do not clarify if supervising managers are aware of the original scores.
Jericho over the past six months with regards to the issues contained in this report see The Free School, This public disclosure refers to the miniscule amount of official IELTS preparation materials that are offered for sale. IELTS change their examination content for each test cycle. Highlight does not appear on the original webpage. Improving IELTS It is exceptionally difficult for independent, suitably qualified professionals such as English language linguists and pedagogy researchers to determine whether IELTS exam content is fair and free of numerous unnecessary obvious design flaws.
It is also difficult for test-takers and advocates to determine whether individuals and examination cohorts have been treated fairly. The author of this report has been continuously employed by four Australian universities and two degree-granting educational institutions in Australia since These unfair practices do not align with notions of procedural fairness that exist in educational settings in Western countries e. Canada and most other regions. Google Images. This bogus claim is not supported by independent marketing research that surveys customer satisfaction levels.
Three million tests do not automatically equate to three million satisfied smiling clients. It is likely that IELTS failed hundreds of thousands of skilled migrants, multiple times each during They also do not publish quantitative range performance data such as the number of customers who have taken, e. IELTS routinely use images of relaxed, smiling Asian and Arab youthful adults to promote the sale of their goods and services. I met all 60 persons via random encounters in educational and social settings.
This sample is diverse in terms of age, first language, citizenship, work experience and test location. Many examinees claim that a high percentage of IELTS examiners and examination administrators persistently act in a way that is authoritarian and intimidating.
They suspect that IELTS staff act this way to maximize job security and overtime payments that arise from repeat failed exam sales. Figures 32 and 33 are indicative samples of these discussions as told by persons who have taken multiple IELTS exams.
As a collective, these entities accrue more than estimated million dollars USD annually in economic surpluses for the sale of IELTS services and products. Most of these sales are made to citizens of developing nations. In this context, IELTS never mention information such as the fact that they charge test-takers a commercial fee that is equivalent to the average salary earned in one month by a Filipino nurse Graham, for each test that their candidates sit.
The logic that I use to discuss these flaws should be clear to a lay audience. For example, one may argue that a linguist or pedagogy researcher is not qualified to comment on the many business-oriented graphical diagrams that IELTS use in writing part 1 of its Academic test.
Table 11 summarizes major and obvious pedagogical design flaws that persist throughout the IELTS exam. As discussed in the Research Communique series, these flaws are relatively easy to fix. Secretive assessment rubrics.
Subjective assessment rubrics. Incorporates a western-centric hidden curriculum that unfairly 2, 4 assumes the test-taker has knowledge on a vast range of topics. Assessment structure is stubbornly rigid and therefore lacks 4 authenticity. Correct answers may earn a score of zero for listening tests. Miniscule spelling errors earn a score of zero for the listening test. Sequencing errors exist in speaking exam content.
Figure 35 is an example of such a claim. This notably include those who aim to earn a skilled migrant visa. This demographic requires higher IELTS scores on average than unskilled workers and international students. IELTS hire and publicly showcase the most qualified educators that billions of dollars of revenues earned per decade can buy.
Moreover, its direct ownership by ranked universities that instruct in the English language is a fact. The claims that I discuss in this section are the most serious allegations that I put forward in this document. I draw on my extended research and personal experiences in educational settings over the past seven years.
I do not make these claims recklessly. There is an abundance of evidence available in the public domain to support the claims that I discuss in this section.
Candidate profiling IELTS collect more personal demographic client data than any other English language testing agency. This personal data is used by IELTS to ensure that it does not award too many test-takers a set of scores that will qualify them for skilled migration to Australia and Canada.
Figure 36 provides primary evidence to support this claim. IELTS do not define this term. It is fair to assume that IELTS defines this term to include a candidate withholding private demographic data e. IELTS can use statistical sampling to extrapolate this data to reflect the population makeup. IELTS do not follow this standard business practice as they harbor secretive, unethical criminal motives for dictating that all clients must offer a complete description of their demographic background and intended use of the exam.
Based on statistical sampling techniques, I estimate that IELTS do not meet their self-defined service charter for examination results reporting, i. This feedback is consistent with other primary and secondary data sources that I use to triangulate inferences drawn in this section. Magoosh are suitably placed to provide accurate commentary on exam processes and scores as reported to their staff by their massive international client base.
This approach is akin to using artificial intelligence software to prove a crime for a high-stakes test. As noted by Pell , p. In other words, it is near-certain that Cambridge Assessment rely on statistical data to unfairly fail and extract more revenue from multiple clients. There are numerous legitimate reasons that may explain why honest candidates may offer identical responses such as multiple-choice selections during the reading test.
For example, two candidates who sit the same IELTS exam may produce identical or near-identical examination responses because they are siblings who live together and prepared for the exam as study partners using the same preparation resources. IELTS reserve the right to award these siblings a score of zero, without justification, merely because they suspect that they cheated. Per Research Communique 1, p.
A candidate achieves a very high band score for one IELTS c or more language skills and receives a very low score for one or more different language skills taken in the same test cycle. Extracts from two policy documents listed in Table 13 are shown in the two figures below. For example, a candidate who scores 8. Alternatively, they may score 4. IELTS reserve the right to award a score of zero merely because they suspect that an answer that is relevant and technically flawless was memorized.
IELTS take the liberty to award scores of zero, without providing reasonable justification, because they have no hesitation in abusing their unrivalled market power at all stages during their exam design cycle and business administration processes. The testimony shown in Figure 46, overleaf, is typical of numerous accounts that exist in the public domain. This strange policy is open to abuse. Figure 47 is evidence of this intrusive, unnecessary policy. Most skilled visa applicants and permanent residency visa applicants require band scores of 7.
Using statistical sampling techniques, I conservatively estimate that IELTS have defrauded at least , persons annually, multiple times each over the past decade by awarding repeat score patterns typical of those in Figure Reading 8. IELTS test-takers consistently report that they immediately receive higher i.
Expat Forum, IELTS encourage international students to advise them what faculty and institution they aim to access. IELTS examiners are more likely to offer fake marginal fail scores to test- takers who fit a certain demographic. Using statistical sampling, I estimate that in excess of , verfiable similiar accounts exist.
This test-taker is a mature-age 30s immigrant from South Africa who consistently records perfect average band scores of 9. IELTS award fake scores of 7. IELTS award this test-taker a score of 8. These Governments rely on IELTS examination fraud to expel most international students from their countries after they graduate and are no longer profitable to exploit. Jericho et al. Claims made in this report are supported by thousands of individuals from a range of professions.
These professions include educators, judicial officers, journalists and migration agents. My colleagues report that they repeatedly see their students earning scores of 6. These scores are much lower than scores that they consistently earn in mock examinations, as assessed by experienced, qualified IELTS tutors. A candidate who could not score band scores of 5. This test-taker applied his reading, writing, listening and speaking English University of Sydney: Human Trafficking Criminal wwww.
This judge had no difficulty following the arguments put forward by this man. I refer to figure IELTS simultaneously extorts massive financial surpluses from global exam fraud. Ahern, ; Al-Issa, They also violate international law. It is imperative that these institutions act with compassion and set the highest standards of ethical behavior. At present, they fall far short of these moral standards. Market power When determining what is a business racket and extortionate business practices, the courts take context into consideration.
They also consider the market structures of where the business conducts its operations. National Consumer Complaint Forum India, IELTS are aware of their colossal global market power.
IELTS routinely boasts that it maintains around 1, test centers in over countries. Figure 57 offers an example of these websites. United Nations, c. The ABC is a respected, not- for-profit public institution. Figure 58, overleaf, documents this claim. It is exceptionally rare for the ABC to use such confronting accusatory language.
The ABC has the authority to quote or omit any statements provided by interviewees. Table 14, overleaf, summarizes these business practices and supports these claims with a description of the logic that I use to draw these conclusions. I also offer a current primary source to support all claims.
Fatima has invested most of her life savings to sit one IELTS test so that she can migrate to Canada as a skilled worker. Fatima receives scores of: 8. Fatima is surprised by this score of 6. Fatima is convinced that the score of 6. Fatima explains her story multiple times and her calls are never returned.
This illustration vignette is not theoretical. IELTS staff routinely ignore messages left via their local customer service number e. Magoosh, b. There is ample evidence available from public testimonies that IELTS use its appeals remarking process to deliberately extort further profits from the estimated hundreds of thousands of people which it has repeatedly failed using fake marginal fail scores of 6.
Moreover, it does so, on a global scale, to extract maximum monopoly rents i. Figure 59 supports this claim. IELTS willfully target a vulnerable demographic and exploit their colossal market power to enforce a fake, unnecessary service that it repeatedly imposes on its clients to earn millions of dollars in revenue and profit each calendar year. As shown in Figure 60, Burger reports that he is not aware of a successful outcome from an Enquiry on Results application.
Figure 61, overleaf, captures this claim. Most persons affected by the two-year expiry date of the Test Report Form are international students. Figure 63 illustrates the very high cost that IELTS willfully imposes on most of these fraud victims. The Candidate from India graduates with a B. Com from Macquarie University in and is eligible for skilled migration to Canada.
To slow down immigration to Canada and to maximize profits, Monash University IELTS test center determines in advance that this candidate will be awarded fake 6. This claim is false. Cambridge English test certificates which are not related to IELTS do not expire and may be used for migration and professional registration purposes.
For example, a Doctor of Medicine Degree and a Master of Linguistics Degree remains perpetually valid at these universities. The University of Cambridge and IDP Education cynically profiteer to their maximum advantage from a highly vulnerable demographic. This youthful demographic, who are mostly citizens of developing nations, are very easy and highly profitable to defraud.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Figure 65 shows that there are three elements to human trafficking crimes UN, b. Figure 65 Three elements of human trafficking crimes Source: United Nations b My research concludes that the collaborative activities of IELTS and its sponsors meet the three criteria of human trafficking.
Table 15 summarizes the logic that underpins this conclusion. Means Fraud, deception, abuse of power and vulnerability. Purpose Exploitation: slavery and other types of exploitation i.
Nursing in their countries. Means: Fraud and Deception Canadian and Australian Governments deceitfully impose mandatory language tests on international student graduates who aim to earn a residency visa for either country. Canadian and Australian Governments offer IELTS favorable legislative conditions to manage their Governments' international student migration programs.
IELTS use examiner fraud to fail most international student graduates. Purpose: Other types of exploitation Australian and Canadian Governments target vulnerable citizens of developing nations in Asia and the Middle East who aim to migrate to a developed country. Both Governments deceitfully fleece billions of dollars in tuition fees and other revenues e.
Moreover, it has been established that IELTS use systemic examination fraud to earn repeat exam sales from their vulnerable client base. They are criminal global business operators. On average, it takes these persons approximately one month to earn enough income to pay for one IELTS test.
IELTS repeatedly fail most foreign worker and permanent residency visa applications multiple times via examination fraud. The IELTS consortium willfully imposes modern day slavery on mostly non- white citizens of developing nations and they do so on a massive global scale. Canada The Canadian Government has willfully and persistently offered IDP Education and IELTS Canada immunity from prosecution as these corporations serve as a covert proxy agent that expels international students from Canada after they complete their studies in Canada.
Furthermore, IELTS have repeatedly acted negligently by authoring secretive examination content and assessment policies that purposefully sets most test-takers up to fail. A quantification of funds collected by IELTS via extortion, racketeering and examination fraud is the subject of a separate project. A relatively small percentage of applicants opt to undertake the French language test to earn a skilled work visa for Canada. This country aims to maximize fees collected from international students and minimize the number of onshore graduates who are eligible for a permanent residency visa.
Ahern, Eligible international students who graduate in Australia are required to pass an English language test to qualify for permanent residency Australian Government, IELTS repeatedly use examiner fraud to cull the number of international students who are eligible to immigrate to Australia after they complete their onshore studies and are no longer profitable to exploit. It should also desist from its hypocritical behavior of criticizing human rights violations that are ostensibly perpetrated by other nation-states.
At present, the Australian Government is an Arch human rights criminal under the auspices of international law. Accessed 27 November Al-Issa, A. Allen, D. Accessed 23 November Accessed 15 April Accessed 20 November Bagshaw, E. Accessed 28 November Accessed 17 March Bell, C. Blackie, D. Accessed 20 November Accessed 19 November Accessed 24 November Accessed 12 March Accessed 18 December Burger, L. Accessed 22 November Assessment 24 November Cached , Accessed 24 November Accessed 18 November Demetriou, T.
Accessed 17 November Accessed 20 December Gittins, R. Accessed 16 March Graham, S. Accessed 15 November Accessed 21 November Accessed 25 November Accessed 1 February Ingram, D.
Jericho, J. Louis, R. Accessed 10 November Massachusetts Institute of Technology , What is common knowledge? We need fair and transparent evaluation! Accessed 2 February Accessed 14 November Prokhovnik, R. Suss, M. Accessed 30 November Taylor, L.
Available open-access via Google Scholar. Accessed 14 July Accessed 22 July Accessed 31 March Accessed 30 December Uysal, H. Van der Craats, A. Visentin, L. Winkler, P. Sc Syd jay educate.
The scope of this project discusses the pedagogical design and the administrative regime of global English language examinations such as the IELTS. Table 1 summarizes the service-delivery structure of these three entities.
Table 2, overleaf, shows the fees schedule in six selected countries as at March, This data set contains a member nation from each continent, including the Indian subcontinent. A literal reading of this assessment rubric suggests that an examiner may award a band score of zero for all four criteria if in their subjective opinion an answer has been memorized for Writing Task 1. According to the rubric British Council, e, p. It is possible for any person to assess their reading and listening skills at home.
It is impossible to prepare fully for any exam if the examiners use a marking system that is not disclosed in full and in a timely manner. This lack of transparency in turn may increase the anxiety levels of those required to prepare for an academic assessment e.
Reynolds-Keefer, The use of secretive business practices in educational settings defies the spirit of fairness, transparency and accountability which the public expects from educational service providers that trade in the exchange of truth and knowledge e. Furthermore, the use of secretive business practices does not reflect a customer-oriented service delivery model.
Such practices are indicative of a monopoly business model whereby one party aims to preserve its dominance as the gatekeeper of knowledge in a narrow field e. Zoellner, , such as English language testing. Education Minister, United Kingdom. Commercialization, competition, and secrecy in the entrepreneurial university. Reynolds-Keefer, L. Zoellner, D. Table 3, overleaf, summarizes the major similarities and minor differences between the General and Academic versions of the writing task 2 component of the IELTS.
Topics for essay Similar General questions tend to focus on common issues. The Academic test examines a wider range of topics. This data set illustrates the breadth of general knowledge required for writing task 2 for both versions of the IELTS exam.
It also illustrates the strong similarities between each version of this scholastic aptitude test. Old-fashioned values, such as children to go to school.
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