I am also a UK born and bred, native English speaking Test of English for Aviation Interlocutor / Rater (Examiner/Assessor), employed in the UK.
Firstly, the Mayflower College TEA is NOT assessed only by recording. The initial (and often, only) assessment is usually conducted by the Assessor who submits their rating, together with the recording to Mayflower, who then MAY do a further assessment. Normally, they only check a sample (1 in 10) of assessments for quality control to ensure the Assessor is doing his or her job properly.
The UK CAA does permit CAA Flight Examiners to informally assess Skills Test candidates English language proficiency but can only tick the box to state that they are Level 6 - they cannot assess them at any other level.
ICAO Level 6 descriptors require a high level of fluency. Saying that, I have come across persons who have been informally assessed by UK FE's at Level 6 when those persons were nowhere near Level 6 - on one occasion the person was not even Level 4 (At best a 3 maybe even a 2). I think this problem may have arisen because FE's don't really know what to do if the person is not fluent so the simplest solution is to tick the box.
This may not seem to be a problem......until an accident occurs owing to a lack of understanding. Who is then responsible?
Addtionally, not all native English speakers meet Level 6 requirements. In a previous life, I needed a 'translator' for an apparently English speaking person, whose Northern Irish dialect was so strong I was unable to understand him. In that respect, a previous non-English CFI of mine, also a FE and RTE, had a strong accent when he spoke English which made him difficult to understand. This guy is now signing off other candidates at Level 6.
I don't accept that a tick in the box means that the arse is covered. If the cause of the accident, which cost lives, was found to relate to the responsible person's poor grasp of English and the subsequent enquiry showed he had been signed off at Level 6, then the person signing him off at Level 6 has questions to answer. Further, the relevant Authority has also got problems if their own systems do not ensure that assessors are properly qualified, not granted the power to assess because they are ASSUMED to be able to do so by virtue of the fact that they are a Flight Examiner. The non-aviation authority controlled Courts (sarcastic snipe at the bias of internal aviation authority tribunals) would probably find many cracks (pardon the pun) in the arse covering material.
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