ESB Customer Experience Team Shortlisted for Customer Service Excellence Award
We are delighted to announce that ESB’s Customer Experience Team has been shortlisted for the Customer Service Excellence Award at the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) Qualifications & Assessment Excellence Awards 2026. The shortlist was revealed on 10 July 2026 as part of the 11th annual awards, which celebrate outstanding achievement across the UK’s qualifications and assessment sector.
Being named a finalist is a significant achievement and reflects the dedication, professionalism and commitment our Customer Experience Team demonstrates every day in supporting ESB centres, learners and stakeholders across the UK and internationally.
The FAB Awards recognise organisations, teams and individuals that are making an exceptional contribution to the qualifications and assessment industry. This year’s awards attracted more than 120 entries from across the sector, with FAB Chief Executive Rob Nitsch CBE describing the quality and breadth of submissions as evidence of a sector that continues to innovate and deliver during a period of significant change.
ESB’s Customer Experience Team is one of five finalists shortlisted in the Customer Service Excellence Award category, alongside AAT, DSW, NCFE Customer Support Team and SIAS.
The nomination recognises the consistently high standards of customer support delivered by the team, including an outstanding 96% customer satisfaction score. From supporting centres with registration and assessment processes to providing responsive guidance throughout the academic year, the team plays a vital role in ensuring that centres receive the support they need to deliver ESB qualifications successfully.
While we are proud to celebrate this recognition, our focus remains firmly on supporting our centres. As many centres continue their academic year activities throughout the summer months, our Customer Experience Team will continue providing the high-quality service and support that has earned this national recognition. At the same time, preparations are already underway for the next academic year, ensuring centres can continue to rely on ESB’s customer-first approach.
The winners will be announced at the FAB Qualifications & Assessment Excellence Awards ceremony on Thursday 26 November 2026, taking place during the FAB Conference and Exhibition at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Milton Keynes.
We would like to thank every member of our Customer Experience Team for their hard work, passion and commitment, and extend our gratitude to our centres for their continued trust and partnership.
Congratulations to all of this year’s finalists — and roll on November! 🏆✨
ESB International responds to Curriculum and Assessment Review
English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB International) welcomes the publication of the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review and its recognition of oracy as speaking, listening and communication, encompassing verbal, non-verbal and alternative forms such as sign language and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC).
ESB International has been an oracy leader since 1953 and we are thrilled to see the review’s position that oracy is a vital skill for learning, employment and life, as well as the review’s call for more coherence and guidance to support good practice across all phases of education, including post-16.
1. An Oracy Framework
The recommendation to introduce an oracy framework alongside those for reading and writing is a significant and positive step. At ESB International, we have consistently seen the benefits of structured opportunities for pupils to plan, practice, perform and reflect on their spoken communication. Our collaborative research with Whitgreave Primary School, published in the Chartered College of Teaching’s Impact journal, found measurable progress in learners’ confidence, prosody and active listening skills (amongst others) when oracy was taught and assessed in a deliberate way.
Our external assessment model was recognised by the Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group’s Speak for Change report (2021, pg. 43) as an established framework for oracy assessment. Our oracy qualifications, available from Early Years all the way through to adult learners and accredited at Level 1 and above, assess learners with consistency and fairness, while preserving the authenticity of live and varied communication, providing teachers and learners with impartial feedback while celebrating a wide range of strengths and styles. We welcome a future framework that recognises spoken language as equally significant to reading and writing, reflecting the principles that have long underpinned ESB International’s approach.
I think this has given them the chance to realise they do have knowledge… and what they have in their head is also just as important being spoken as it is written.
A quote from the lead teacher at Whitgreave Primary School
2. Oracy within 16-19 Education
The review also notes that current opportunities to develop communication, teamwork and leadership in the post-16 phase are uneven. We welcome this recognition. Strong spoken communication is central to learners’ confidence as they prepare for work, further study and independent living.
ESB International’s experience working with sixth forms and colleges shows that externally assessed communication qualifications can provide valuable evidence for the practical, interpersonal skills young people develop in this phase. ESB International’s Oracy assessments encourage reflection, dialogue and adaptability, skills identified in the review as increasingly important for future-proof employability. We believe that oracy offers a potentially game changing pathway for learners who struggle with traditional English resit pathways, with enjoyable assessments grounded in real-world communication and with a strong focus on employability.
Holly Lodge High School College of Science’s sixth form have been taking our Level 3 oracy assessments since 2021 with great success, qualifications that carry UCAS points.
We look forward to contributing to the wider conversation about how oracy can be meaningfully embedded within 16–19 routes, ensuring that all learners have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their critical thinking, leadership, and communication skills.
3. an Inclusive Understanding of Oracy
We are particularly pleased to see the review adopt an inclusive definition of oracy that recognises non-verbal communication, sign language and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). This definition reflects the diversity of learners’ voices and aligns with assessment approaches grounded in universal design, a principle long embodied by ESB’s qualifications.
We are passionate about enabling learners with a range of communication profiles to access oracy education and qualifications that reflect their strengths and their authentic voices. Our ‘Building Confidence in Communication’ suite of qualifications, for example, designed specifically for 16+ learners with significant learning needs offers adaptable pathways that recognise every form of communication as meaningful and valuable.
By embedding these inclusive principles across our wider portfolio, ESB shares the Review’s vision of ensuring that every learner regardless of background, ability or mode of communication has the opportunity to develop, demonstrate and be recognised for their voice.
Thank you to the Oracy Community
This moment belongs to a whole network of advocates, researchers and practitioners who have worked tirelessly to raise the status of oracy. We extend sincere thanks to:
The Review’s Chair, Professor Becky Francis CBE, the expert panel and contributors for foregrounding oracy in a world‑class curriculum, and to DfE for accepting the framework recommendation.
The Oracy APPG, its Chair Emma Hardy MP, its officers and all contributors who fed evidence into the final report.
Our founders Christabel Burniston MBE and Jocelyn Bell who in 1953 as innovators and educators created a form of Oracy assessment experience that was so valuable it has been able to bend and flex over that time as our society has changed and whose value today has been validated by the positioning of Oracy in this curriculum and assessment review.
The schools and colleges who have been innovators themselves and given children and young people an opportunity to have an Oracy education with ESB International.
Together, we can ensure that the framework becomes more than a document, that it lives in lessons, empowers every learner and strengthens the social fabric of our classrooms and communities. ESB International stands ready to support the development of the framework and offers its skills to the Department for Education.
English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB International) is proud to lend its voice in support of the open letter from Voice 21 to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, urging the government to fulfil its commitment to prioritise oracy in schools. We fully endorse the findings of the Oracy Education Commission to embed oracy as a core component of the national curriculum — making it the essential “fourth R,” alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Oracy — the ability to speak, listen, and communicate effectively — is not an optional extra. It is fundamental life skill that has a proven impact on improving the learning, wellbeing and future opportunities of young people. As Voice 21’s open letter rightly states, giving every child access to a high-quality oracy education is one of the most effective ways to tackle entrenched inequality, support mental health and employability and ensure all young people can thrive in school, work and life.
‘Oracy for All’ – 72 years of championing oracy
For 72 years, we have been dedicated to championing the value of oracy education and assessment in the UK and internationally. We have been assessing speaking and listening skills since 1953 and believe that in the age of burgeoning technologies such as AI, the ability for young people to express themselves clearly, thoughtfully, and authentically is more important than ever.
ESB International has consistently prioritised giving people of all ages and backgrounds the confidence and ability to develop their agency and speak passionately about their interests. Our accredited qualifications provide a structured, rigorous yet supportive way for learners to develop these essential skills. From our earliest days, we have worked to ensure that the speaking and listening skills so vital for success are not left to chance, or reserved for the few, but taught, nurtured and recognised for all learners.
Demonstrating impact
You can find our published article here in Curriculum Innovation & Impact, Issue 18 of the Impact Journal from the Chartered College of Teaching
Our commitment to oracy assessment is not just longstanding — it is also evidenced by clear and compelling results. Our Impact Report demonstrates the transformative power of oracy assessments in helping learners improve confidence, articulation and overall communication, while also supporting their learning in other subjects and personal development.
Moreover, our published article in the Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching sets out in detail the principles and practices that underpin effective oracy assessment, contributing to the wider professional conversation about how to make oracy education both meaningful and equitable.
So that oracy is not thought of as peripheral, but an essential curricula area, ESB International firmly believes that oracy skills should be assessed to ensure that it achieves parity as the ‘fourth R’ of education.
A call for action
Focusing oracy, the government has the opportunity to transform education for the better — making sure that every child, no matter their background, has the speaking, listening and communication skills they need to achieve their aspirations.
For over seven decades, ESB International has seen first-hand the difference oracy education can make. We stand ready to support teachers, schools and policymakers in making this vision a reality.
After nine years at the helm of English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB International), our Chief Executive Tina Renshaw is stepping down from her role. During her tenure, Tina has led the organisation through a period of growth and transformation, championing the values of accessible, high-quality assessment and communication skills for all. We thank her for her dedication and visionary leadership.
Tina has shared a personal statement reflecting on her time with ESB International, which you can read below.
Dear Centres, teachers and tutors,
I will be leaving my role as CEO of ESB International at the end of October, as I know that the time is right for me to find a new challenge and for the organisation to embrace new leadership and ideas.
For 9 years I have loved this leadership opportunity and feel that the whole ESB International team evolved a new phase for this wonderful organisation of which I am truly proud. To hear everyday of our impact on your children, young people and adults is life affirming and humbling – their improved Oracy skills or English language skills earning them a qualification. Yet our work together with you as centre organisers, exam teams, teachers, tutors and for your learners creates far much more than that- it grows their confidence, sense of agency and self respect, they feel the affirmation of achievement, of being listened to when speaking and experience the acceptance and service of learning from and listening to others.
Tina visiting Broadfields School, a primary school in Barnet that has been delivering ESB’s oracy qualifications for over 10 years.
ESB International’s Tina Renshaw and Chief Assessor, Anthea Wilson (left), attending the Europalso annual conference. ESB and Europalso have been working together for over 15 years.
Importantly the ESB International family have also ensured that the legacies of our founders Christabel Burniston MBE and Jocelyn Bell were honoured through our outreach work and showcased in our 70th anniversary celebrations with you, our learners and centres. A wonderful external accolade for our work together was being recognised as Awarding Organisation of the Year in 2023.
So ESB International has begun a new phase with its search for its next CEO. If you or someone you know is looking for such an organisation and role: to develop its amazing reputation and grow its reach as an Awarding Organisation and charity, do delve deeper into the information – you have a magnificent team waiting to create and deliver the next chapter with you.
Thank you for your loyalty to ESB International.
Tina Renshaw, Chief Executive
Tina visiting learners at the Supported Learning Centre at Belfast Metropolitan College
The Honorary Treasurer of ESB International’s Board of Trustees, Dr Jim McAtear, has offered his appreciation for Tina’s many contributions and longstanding commitment to the organisation.
Tina with ESOL Skills for Life learners at New City College, a valued partner who hosted a day of celebration as part of ESB International’s 70th anniversary celebrations.
It is with great regret that we begin to say goodbye to Tina Renshaw, our Chief Executive Officer who will leave us in October of this year.. Tina announced her resignation just this week and, in doing so, brings an end to nine years at the helm. She has steered ESB International successfully through to its 70th year as an awarding body as well as its recognition as Awarding Body of the Year in 2023. Tina’s work has ensured the success of our mission to improve the oracy skill, and therefore, the confidence of children, and the social mobility of young people and has promoted the value and benefits of learning English across the globe. We are grateful to Tina for everything she has given and achieved.
Dr Jim McAtear, Honorary Treasurer Board of Trustees
