Qualifications for Teachers
From The ICAL TEFL wiki
This page is about qualifications for TEFL teachers; to read about qualifications for learners of English, click here.
What training or qualifications do I need?
As with any job, the more you have to offer in terms of qualifications and experience, the better your chances of landing a well paid job with opportunities for advancement.
However it is also true that requirements vary from country to country and even from school to school.
For example, there are small ELT schools with one classroom and a few students and there are universities with several campuses and thousands of students. There are entry level jobs and there are advanced DoS jobs.
Likewise, there are countries where certain qualifications are required to satisfy the visa regulations and they are not so much a requirement of the institute that hires you. For example, you will need to hold a degree if you want to obtain your work visa and work legally in many in Asian countries.
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No Qualifications at all
Although there are jobs available to TEFL teachers with no qualifications whatsoever, we would not recommend this approach.
Firstly it is unfair to your students who will be expecting a professional, well trained teacher who will be able to help them learn English. They are most likely paying a lot of money to learn and they should be respected for this.
Secondly it is unfair to yourself. You will almost certainly flounder and find problems if you do not have even a basic grasp of teaching technique and subject matter. If you have training, you will find the work much easier and much more enjoyable.
On another tack, many schools who employ teachers without qualifications are likely to be breaking the law as most countries have minimum legal requirements for teachers. This being the case you will not only be paid less but be also employed illegally and if discovered you will at best be forced to leave the school and possibly the country and at worst be imprisoned.
Jobs like this are found by knocking on doors. It's unlikely that you can apply for work and be offered a position unless you've got more than a scrap of paper from your high school.
A Degree
With just a university degree you can get offered a job at the lower end of the market in one of the less prestigious countries. Whether you'll be employed without a TESL/TEFL Certificate will depend on the needs and desperation of the employer. In other words, with two untried candidates, the Certificate holder will get the job.
Remember, although you can probably find work with just a degree, we would always recommend getting some kind of training - however basic - before starting work. A simple introductory course (the ICAL TESL/TEFL Certificate, for example) will make your teaching so much better and you'll be so much more confident in class that it will make all the difference in the world to your first year's teaching.
A Degree and a Certificate
A Degree and a TESL/TEFL Certificate is generally accepted to be the minimum entry level requirement for a new teacher. You can find work in most places and a lot of the jobs advertised will need these as basic requirements. But, there are Certificates and there are Certificates.
There is currently NO independent board of accreditation or assessment for Certificates. This means that each institute, school, or organization recognizes their own Certificate and accreditation comes from good practice, professional standards and reputation.
No Degree but a Certificate
Virtually all countries require a degree and TEFL certificate as their basic qualifications to teach. There are jobs available if you don't have a degree but generally they fall into two categories:
- Jobs where there is no legal requirement for a degree; the problem here is that these are few and far between, in limited countries, and it is likely to change in the near future.
- Jobs on the "black market" as it were. These are going to be in schools which are desperate for a teacher and who will hire anyone who speaks English well enough. The problem here is that you will be working illegally which means that there's no recourse if your boss doesn't pay you and likewise the standard of the school is not going to be that high.
The way to get these jobs is simple; you need to be there! So, at minimum get yourself a TEFL Certificate to have at least one qualification you can show, then get over to where you want to teach with enough back up money to get you out if things go wrong.
For a more in-depth look at this issue, see TEFL without a Degree.
Online TESL/TEFL Certificates
Online courses offer a great training opportunity at entry level. They can provide a thorough grounding in a new career and the right tools to approach a new profession within a manageable amount of time and finances.
No matter what traditional in house course providers say to discredit online courses, the truth of the matter is that there has been a dramatic change in attitude towards online certification in the last ten years and online training is here to stay, so much so that even Cambridge University – traditionally a stronghold of in house training is changing their courses to meet the ever growing demand for online training.
But the change does not only come from the course provider’s side. More and more schools around the world recognize the value of online certificates issued by professional organizations like ICAL, and employers no longer discriminate between Certificates obtained through traditional institutes and those online.
Just be careful who you choose as your course provider (and this applies whether they are online or not) and make sure what they offer is of good standard. You can find quality online courses that will give you not only a widely accepted Certificate but also, and perhaps more importantly, will prepare you for the job.
If at all unsure which way to go, check first with the school owner.
The bottom line is that it is the employer who chooses, so if you are at all uncertain about the course to take, check out the requirements in the jobs on offer and, if need be, contact your agent or prospective employer and ask them what they are looking for.
In House Courses
There are many traditional in house courses offered by various English language schools around the world. Attendance is compulsory and fees are relativley high, certainly much higher than the fees for online courses. Some contact hours (classroom presentation & observation) are usually part of a typical in house training course.
For the CELTA and Trinity courses below, it is generally better to have a couple of years experience before attempting them due to the workload and new material which will be taught.
CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) is a Certificate awarded by Cambridge ESOL.
It is a fairly intensive certificate program in terms of finance, workload and commitment, and a bit of an overkill if you are on a gap year or just trying out teaching for a while.
Unless your intention is to remain within the ESL industry and build a career for yourself in this field then you could quite happily opt for a basic TESL/TEFL Certificate.
As mentioned above, in most places the basic requirements for entry level teaching positions are a degree plus a TESL/TEFL certificate - not necessarily a CELTA.
CELTA is undoubtedly a popular qualification especially in Europe, but has far less clout in other parts of the world like Asia, for example.
CELTA is offered by English language schools selected and monitored by Cambridge University, who runs the course. In theory the schools should get annual check ups and approval from Cambridge but in practice once they have become an approved Cambridge Center they pretty much run the course as they wish and standards do vary, so much so that poor standards are a recurrent complaint from teachers taking the CELTA course in various centers around the world.
Trinity TESOL
Trinity TESOL Certificte is issued by Trinity College. It doesn't have the external assessment that CELTA has, but it is still fairly well regarded in the ELT community.
Trinity is less recognized than the CELTA so a few jobs might not be open to Trinity certificate holders, but there are still plenty of schools which accept this certificate. Though this certificate is far more known in Europe than elsewhere.
Both CELTA and Trinity are demanding in terms of finances, time and commitment.
Online or In House
There are quite a few good courses (and several bad ones!) both online and in house to choose from. As for which would be the best course for you it really depends on how much time, money, and commitment you are prepared to invest.
Whether you are considering a traditional in house course or training online start by asking a few providers for their course syllabus and compare them. Check their tutors’ credentials. Make sure the course requires some actual work on your part and it is not based on “Yes or No” answers or “Read This Unit and Summarize It” type of coursework. Try and find out what other students who have taken the course say about it. Basically do as much research as you can.
Higher Level Qualifications
As mentioned above, the Certificate is the basic qualification for teaching English. If you've been in the game a few years and fancy climbing higher on the ladder to fame, success and fortune, then you should think about a higher qualification.
The Diploma is one option along with the MA, which is a university degree course. Both these should only be undertaken by experienced and previously well qualified teachers.
Diploma
A diploma is the next level up from a Certificate. If you have substantial experience of teaching English to speakers of other languages or are looking at professional development then you may want to consider getting a diploma.
TESL Diplomas are usually offered by universities.
MA TESOL
Usually an MA TESOL is a course for experienced TESOL professionals or for people who already have an understanding of the subject but wish to further their knowledge.
MA programmes are designed for students who plan to teach in the UK and the USA, or who plan to do research on the teaching, learning or assessment of English as a second or foreign language.
In the US you would need an MA to meet the licensing requirements for teaching in any public school. Many private schools also list it as one of their requirements for employment.
To enroll in a MA TESOL program you will normally need a first degree or equivalent and two years experience of teaching English as a second or foreign language. If your first language is not English, you will also be asked to provide evidence of your competence in English.
