About Educational Services and Testing (ESaT)

Established in 2013, ESaT is a Further Education Institution based in Malta, (MFHEA Licence number: 2018-019) which caters for an international clientele of discerning educational service providers and learners.

Educational Services and Testing was set up to assist ESOL training centres.

Mission Statement: ”To provide educational services and tests which have a positive influence on Teaching and Learning”.

ESaT is responsible for two key areas:

1) The Testing division of the organisation specialises in testing English as a Second or Other Language, as well as the auditing and accreditation of test centres, training of testing staff.

ESaT offers two up-to-date suites of examinations targeting two specific clients: the TELSa for Adults and the jTELS for Juniors.

2) The Educational division is mainly responsible for the development of Communicative English language courses and the related coordination and monitoring.

ESaT staff are experienced ELT professionals, most with a strong background in teaching, training and item writing.

At ESaT we feel very strongly about the direct relationship between the learning process and assessment and believe that testing should positively influence the teacher and the learners. With this in mind, both language courses and tests focus on learners’ communicative competence.

To further assist teachers in focusing on the candidate’s needs rather than on test preparation, tailor-made manuals have been created for the teacher and the candidate. ESaT seminars and workshops will soon be offered regularly for centre teachers, at all levels, who wish to benefit from training or refresher courses relating to teaching skills and techniques, as well as examination preparation techniques.

Certification QA

ESaT is licenced as a Further Education Institution by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA Licence number: 2018-019). ESaT offers both certified ECTS programmes and courses as well as uncertified programmes and courses.

The certified qualifications provide the learners with credits (ECTS). ECTS credits act as a quality assurance policy which establishes a point of reference for recognition. ECTS is a credit system based on the learning achievements and workload of a course. A learner can transfer their ECTS credits from one university to another and these are added up to contribute to an individual’s degree programme or training. The recognition of credits enables learners to obtain recognition of the learning outcomes achieved in different countries without the need of re-assessment. Therefore, upon presentation of the accredited certificate, employers will have a clearer picture of the candidate’s achievements within the national and European framework of qualifications.

As a licenced Further Education Institution, ESaT must ensure that its Quality Assurance Policy meets the standards set by the MFHEA.

Learning materials are written by academic staff employed or chosen by ESaT and are required to abide by ESaT standards and procedures. Procedures are in place to assure the quality of programme development, delivery, management, systematic monitoring and on-going review of all programmes offered.

TELSa and jTELS qualifications are used by further and higher education institutions as entrance requirements.

The TELSa and jTELS suite assess the four language skills through specific tests and subtests for Reading comprehension, Written production, Listening comprehension and Oral production as well as Use of English/Language Use.