e4e (English for Employment):
Providing the Roadmap to Curriculum Development
By Paul Catiang

As a response to the growing shortage of competent English speakers in the workforce and to increase the number of qualified candidates for the IT-Enabled Services industry (ITES), the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) launched its English for Employment (E4E) program on February 28, 2006, spearheaded by the association’s Human Resources Power Team. The HR Power Team is composed of Accenture, John Clements Consultants, Teledevelopment Services, FuturePerfect, Asia Partnership and Viventis.

The project aims to raise the level of oral English in order to supply a steady stream of proficient English speakers for the BPO industry. It will also educate the public on the call center and ITES industries.

Originally, the project was intended to develop a standardized assessment scale and curriculum to be used throughout the industry, and reviewed the assessment and training methodologies employed by John Clements, Teledevelopment Services, FuturePerfect, Asia Partnership, and Viventis. After considerable study, it was concluded by all parties concerned that the paradigms behind the different assessment scales and training methodologies were different and that it would not make sense to combine them all.

Still, the project will launch four initiatives. First, E4E will pilot a 100-hour program in selected universities, which will hopefully raise the level of oral English proficiency among their graduates. Second, E4E will develop a certification program that will pre-qualify human resources vendors to teach English programs; this aims to streamline the recruitment process and shorten the in-house training programs of new BPO and ITES companies. Third, the program will develop and roll out a Train the Teachers program, which will ensure more teachers trained in the methodologies chosen by E4E. Lastly, they will work with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to obtain an agreement from the Hong Kong Education and Manpower Branch to use their 150-hour program for primary and secondary school teachers.

The 100-hour program consists of 4 hours per day, to be conducted over 25 days. Three schools will be part of the pilot program, which will train two classes from each school, with 20 students per class. A total of 120 students will undergo E4E’s pilot program, with each of these students screened before entering the program. The curriculum includes grammar, accent, fluency, interactive ability and vocabulary.

The program will be jointly conducted by John Clements, Teledevelopment Services, and FuturePerfect.

For more details, please contact Beth Lui at beth.g.lui@accenture.com and Carol Dominguez at cvdominguez@johnclements.com.