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Teaching English and Voluntary Work Abroad Checklist

The Careers Service receives many advertisements for TEFL courses and vacancies throughout the year – too many for us to personally check the organisations’ credentials.

Therefore, before you apply for any courses or vacancies, particularly those outside the UK, please do some research of your own.

Choosing a TEFL course

Anybody can set up a TEFL course! – there is no requirement for any accreditation in this field. Here are some tips and sources of information that may help you to evaluate the quality of TEFL courses:

The book 'Teaching English Abroad', by Susan Griffin (available at Reception) includes a chapter covering “The Value of ELT Qualifications” and the range of courses, which provides a useful overview of the types of courses available and some of the potential pitfalls. It also lists CELTA, TESOL and other courses in the UK and abroad.

Cambridge/RSA courses (CELTA) and Trinity College London (TESOL) are known to be well established and respected worldwide. 

Avoid online courses: few schools will accept online certificates unless the job applicant also has practical teaching experience.

There are useful websites you should look at:

• Cambridge CELTA centres: www.cambridge-efl.org
• Trinity CertTESOL courses www.trinitycollege.co.uk
• The British Council - advice on teaching and TEFL qualifications with many links www.britishcouncil.org/teacherrecruitment-tefl-qualifications-certificates-2.htm
• English in Britain www.englishinbritain.co.uk - database of English courses in Britain accredited by the British Council and other agencies
• English UK www.englishuk.com - the national association of accredited English language centres
• Cactus TEFL www.cactustefl.com information and admissions service for CELTA and Trinity courses

When applying for courses abroad, check the following:

• What qualifications does the school offer? Are they externally accredited and recognised?
• What qualifications and experience do the course tutors have?
• What are the pass rates?
• What support does the school offer in finding a TEFL job on completion of the course? What links do they have with local employers? What percentage of past students have obtained jobs, and with what employers?
• What support is offered in finding accommodation, and what type of accommodation is available?
• Is the school willing to put you in contact with past students?
• How does the school accept payment for places on their course? If it is verified by Visa and Mastercard then that means the school has gone through security steps with these international card payment providers to ensure that the school is an officially registered and operating business. Only pay by Paypal if the payee’s address is "Confirmed". Those transactions are protected by Paypal's fraud protection.

Further resources

• www.tefl.com
• www.goabroad.com  - this site makes schools go through additional steps of verification
• ATCC www.accredited-tefl-courses.com/courses/howtochoose.htm

See also the discussion forum sites at the end of this document

Teaching English abroad

Before accepting any TEFL post abroad, be sure to check the following issues:

Qualifications

• If you do not already have a TEFL qualification, are any such qualifications provided by the organisation?
• If so, are they externally recognised and validated?
• Will they give you the necessary skills? Will they give you the flexibility to change employers should you want to?

Personal

• Are you confident in your level of English?
• Are you resilient and culturally adaptable?
• Are you organised; good at planning?
• Can you cope when faced with unexpected problems?
• Are you confident with a range of people?

Conditions and costs

• What expenses (travel, accommodation, meals, etc.) will be paid by the organisation and what by you?
• Are there any “hidden costs” (e.g. cost of compulsory training prior to departure, etc.)?
• What sort of insurance is required and is it included in the scheme?
• What are the arrangements for health care and are there costs involved?
• What will your pay be?

Back to our TEFL page

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