My old school Shane has started doing the rounds of Franchise Expos in the hope of setting up franchises in new countries, with Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore on the list so far and a franchise already set up in the last of those. Seems like a great business tactic – all you need is a table, brochures and two members of staff at each franchise expo and the financial rewards are potentially enormous. There are also enormous risks in setting up franchises in a country you have no presence in at all, though, not least of which is that the slipping of standards and screwing of teachers that will inevitably go on there could hurt the reputation of the whole chain. The hideous reputation of EF Indonesia making teachers looking for jobs in London turn their nose up at their (okay) school there is one of many such cases I’ve come across myself.

The reputation with teachers can be particularly affected when, as in the Shane case, they will all be recruited in the same way for fully-owned schools, schools in countries where some are franchises and countries with only franchises – often being told which is which only at the last minute if at all.