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    TEFL certificates

    I have no idea what TEFL is, but my girlfriend wants to enrol on some kind of course with that name over the summer. I've advised caution, as I'm personally suspicious about the legitimacy of qualifications that aren't the tradition A-levels, degree pathway. Is TEFL something legitimate, recognised and useful?

    #2
    I have one. Not had chance to use it yet.

    My friend has just dropped everything and gone teaching English in Thailand with one.
    Last edited by dataDave; 29-05-2010, 17:18.

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      #3
      They're legitmate and are recognised within the English teaching industry. I too currently have one, accredited by Trinity College, though I didn't get any decent job offers where I wanted to travel to so it's currently going unused.

      I did mine back my old university (Aberystwyth) and had a fantastic time on the course. It was a lot of work but I had some great coursemates and my students were really cool too.

      Worthwhile qualification but just be aware that the global English teaching market has been hit hard, due to many treating it as a non-essential expenditure when times are hard.

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        #4
        Just as a warning, as far as I understand it they only count for qualifications if they meet a certain criteria. I enrolled in a TEFL course prior to coming to Japan to teach, and it was only a 20hr weekend thing. At the end I got a certificate but they said that's not really official and I need an 80hr certificate to be recognized. May have just been a sales pitch of course.

        I can't say the course itself helped me much but I treated it more as a form of dipping my toe in the water to see if I could hack it.

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          #5
          Ah, thanks everyone.

          So, basically, the certificates are legit, but are no use for teaching inside the UK?

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            #6
            Originally posted by Grapple Convoy View Post
            Ah, thanks everyone.

            So, basically, the certificates are legit, but are no use for teaching inside the UK?
            to teach in the uk you would need a pgce with nqt for schools or a cert ed for college and above i think

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              #7
              I understood it as the PGCE being a kind of top up course for unrelated graduates. You can still go through the route of a proper education degree, I think.

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                #8
                Originally posted by Grapple Convoy View Post
                Ah, thanks everyone.

                So, basically, the certificates are legit, but are no use for teaching inside the UK?

                Not totally useless within the UK, but really they're designed for people who want to teach English abroad. She may be able to find work at language schools for foreigners in the UK, but if it's teaching within the UK education system she wants to get into, then she'll have to do a PGCE or a degree and train as a teacher, as mentioned above.

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                  #9
                  Thanks again, everyone.

                  Originally posted by endo View Post
                  Not totally useless within the UK, but really they're designed for people who want to teach English abroad. She may be able to find work at language schools for foreigners in the UK, but if it's teaching within the UK education system she wants to get into, then she'll have to do a PGCE or a degree and train as a teacher, as mentioned above.
                  She wants to take the TEFL to teach english in the UK. (She is not a native English speaker, incidentally.) PGCE would be out of her affordability range, and she wouldn't want to teach in our secondary schools, which are deservedly notorious in other countries!

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                    #10
                    I can't blame her there to be honest- I certainly wouldn't have the patience to teach in a secondary school here...

                    As a non-native speaker, your girlfriend will have to have her English ability certified too, and there will be plenty of competition from native speakers, but there are lots of language schools dotted about the place. Good luck with it all

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                      #11
                      Aren't PGCE's free still? Or has that change since there has been a massive influx of graduates applying?

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                        #12
                        I did my TEFL in the 90`s, used it to teach in SE Asia. Your girlfriend must be brave if she wants to teach here, as everyone I talk to still in the profession want out in a big way. There again one or two of them have been worn down by the system over a long period so probably not a fair representation.

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                          #13
                          She's more looking at teaching as a 'summer job', if that makes sense, so she is not looking to a long-term commitment to the teaching profession. (She's not too clued up about the British, well, English and Welsh, education system. Didn't believe me until recently that most kids leave education at 16!)

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                            #14
                            I've got one as well. Been using it for several years now here in Japan. Definitely would say it has helped a lot even if only at a basic level.

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                              #15
                              I'd recommend she take a CELTA certificate. I've just finished studying a TEFL degree and to be honest, a CELTA certificate would've got me further. I've taught in language schools around London using my degree but in order to teach in British Council approved schools (ie the better ones) a CELTA certificate is required. It seems kind of crazy that my degree isn't sufficient but a part-time, three month course is!

                              Outside of language schools (for which a TEFL certificate is needed), a PGCE is only required for state-run secondary schools; public schools will have their own requirements. Therefore, to say that you cannot teach English in the UK without a PGCE is incorrect as it's only state-run secondary education that requires it.

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