Hello all! Apologies for possibly asking a question that has been discussed a few times already. I did read a few entries on the topic in different forums that were all somewhat helpful but in the end they didn't help me to find an answer. I would even say the amount of informations available rather added confusion.
What I would like to find out is if a TEFL certificate would raise the chances to find work for me, and if so, if there is one that can be done fully online by an internationally well recognized provider.
The general notion seemed to be that online TEFL certificates are not worth it, that one should always aim for a CELTA or certTESOL, and that NNES will have a hard time nonetheless to find work teaching English. I am sure those points are all valid to a certain extent, yet I would like to quickly explain my situation to find out if taking an online TEFL course would be the right step for me.
To explain my situation, I am a 37 year old German national and graduated last year with a German degree which is equivalent to a Master of Education. Unfortunately this degree does not come with a "teaching certificate" which would need another 2 years of in classroom training to obtain. I did leave Germany after my degree to live with my fiancée in Madagascar and have since then been applying for numerous jobs in international schools worldwide. The main reasons for not getting hired yet seem to be a.) having only a bit more than 1 year of work experience in an international school during my university time, b.) not having a "teaching certificate".
Since going back to Germany to finish another 2 years there to obtain said "teaching certificate" is currently an option I want to avoid at all cost I was looking for feasible alternatives to help me to improve my chances to get hired. An online TEFL certificate seemed to be a good option as it does give you a certificate that some schools might consider as "teaching certificate" while at the same time opening more opportunities to gather work experience as a teacher internationally.
I do have a passion for the language and have given private tutorial lessons for non-native speakers in the past, yet the reason I am considering the TEFL certificate is not to solely rely on teaching English, but rather to add another skill/subject to my portfolio (my degree is in teaching Art and P.E.) while at the same time having a type of "teaching certificate" which could help find the first job. I am after all striving to work as an Art teacher, which was my major, but for now the hurdles I mentioned seem to be too big of a factor to get hired.
I would be very grateful for both, advices on which TEFL online provider to choose (I have a few in mind but would like to hear unbiased opinions), as well as suggestions on other possible steps to take to get hired by international schools.
Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
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chiliverde
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 8:45 am
- Location: Europe
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
If you are talking about international school jobs, a TEFL certificate would be considered a form of teaching certificate for only the lowest level schools. It also sounds like from your post that you haven't taught yet - most international schools want 2 years experience, ideally spent abroad. I'm sure you can get hired somewhere, but you will want to vet these schools extremely hard to see if you would actually survive/have it be worth your time there. As you can tell from this site, many schools out there are living nightmares, and that's putting it lightly.
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Michaelesl
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 9:36 pm
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
Hello,
Keep in mind that a lot of language academies will only accept people from English speaking countries, like the US, South Africa, Canada, et al. This is enforced as a part of the visa process.
I worked in So. Korea for many years and I eventually got my CELTA, and it was arduous, but very well worth it.
My advice for anyone looking to travel the world and teach English is to get their CELTA. And, of course, most countries require that potential employees have a degree from a reputable college from an English speaking country, which, in many cases, will have to be authenticated.
Hope this helps.
Keep in mind that a lot of language academies will only accept people from English speaking countries, like the US, South Africa, Canada, et al. This is enforced as a part of the visa process.
I worked in So. Korea for many years and I eventually got my CELTA, and it was arduous, but very well worth it.
My advice for anyone looking to travel the world and teach English is to get their CELTA. And, of course, most countries require that potential employees have a degree from a reputable college from an English speaking country, which, in many cases, will have to be authenticated.
Hope this helps.
Response
No, the real hurdle is youre a NNES applying without credentials and experience to teach English as a language thats not your native language. When an IS wants an NES what they mean is US/UK/CAN/AUS. Why hire a NNES in a market with readily available NES. Your scenario would be very different if you were one of those NESs, there are third tier ISs that would hire you with an M.Ed without a credential.
No a TESOL even a CELTA/DELTA isnt a professional credential, the only ISs that would consider it one are those third tier ISs where a credential in of itself isnt a requirement, sure they would hire you with a TESOL credential, but they would hire you without one either, and if thats their recruiting and hiring standard, than their are plenty of NESs with warm bodies and a pulse they could hire.
A CELTA/DELTA is the gold standard for TESOL, NESs have a lot more flexibility and fewer problems, youre not one of them, if your going to get a TESOL credential that your going to spend coin on than its worth doing a CELTA.
Moving forward, first drop ESOL, your not the type of IT an IS is looking for to fill that type of role. Even if you obtained a professional edu credential it wouldnt improve your marketability. You have two clear pathways:
1) Approach IE as a FL German IT, you have an M.Ed a professional credential isnt going to add much considering you are effectively bilingual.
2) If you want to teach art or want to supplement your marketability as a FL German IT, than you can obtain a MA provisional credential in either German or art or both. Its basically an application (with NACES evaluation) and a few assessment exams (2-3), its a weekends worth of work and processing time for a few hundred USD.
If you want to continue in ESOL, than as an alternative to the CELTA/DELTA you can pursue a MA provisional credential in TESOL as described above. It will be a lot less expensive outside of travel costs than a CELTA/DELTA and will give you a professional edu credential as opposed to a TESOL certificate which is marketable in IE whereas a TESOL certificate isnt.
No a TESOL even a CELTA/DELTA isnt a professional credential, the only ISs that would consider it one are those third tier ISs where a credential in of itself isnt a requirement, sure they would hire you with a TESOL credential, but they would hire you without one either, and if thats their recruiting and hiring standard, than their are plenty of NESs with warm bodies and a pulse they could hire.
A CELTA/DELTA is the gold standard for TESOL, NESs have a lot more flexibility and fewer problems, youre not one of them, if your going to get a TESOL credential that your going to spend coin on than its worth doing a CELTA.
Moving forward, first drop ESOL, your not the type of IT an IS is looking for to fill that type of role. Even if you obtained a professional edu credential it wouldnt improve your marketability. You have two clear pathways:
1) Approach IE as a FL German IT, you have an M.Ed a professional credential isnt going to add much considering you are effectively bilingual.
2) If you want to teach art or want to supplement your marketability as a FL German IT, than you can obtain a MA provisional credential in either German or art or both. Its basically an application (with NACES evaluation) and a few assessment exams (2-3), its a weekends worth of work and processing time for a few hundred USD.
If you want to continue in ESOL, than as an alternative to the CELTA/DELTA you can pursue a MA provisional credential in TESOL as described above. It will be a lot less expensive outside of travel costs than a CELTA/DELTA and will give you a professional edu credential as opposed to a TESOL certificate which is marketable in IE whereas a TESOL certificate isnt.
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
The kind of schools that would hire you with a TEFL are the kind of schools that would hire you without one as well. Some schools will hire anyone they can and you'll have to mostly target those without a teaching certificate.
I suppose the only other way in might be through applying as an intern or being a cover teacher at a school and then working your way in, perhaps persuading them to take you on while doing a distance learning certification. I doubt that's very likely to be honest, but I cannot really think of anything else in your situation. If you could teach mathematics or physics it might be easier. An uncertified German teaching English, though? Good luck.
I suppose the only other way in might be through applying as an intern or being a cover teacher at a school and then working your way in, perhaps persuading them to take you on while doing a distance learning certification. I doubt that's very likely to be honest, but I cannot really think of anything else in your situation. If you could teach mathematics or physics it might be easier. An uncertified German teaching English, though? Good luck.
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
Thank you very much for all the honest replies!
What I take from it is that a TEFL certificate in my case hardly makes any sense since it would not help to increase my marketability. I did in fact teach for 13 months in Ghana in a German/International school and have a recommendation letter from that school which outlines the responsibilities I had. At one point I was responsible for all of the schools swimming classes ( P.E. is the second subject I graduated in) as well as being responsible for a lot of Art classes and two extra curricular activities per week. I am not sure how much that work experience would count in an application though, since it was done before finishing my degree.
@PsyGuy the provisional MA sounds interesting and I will look into that further, thank you for pointing me towards that direction. Even though I am yet to grasp what that certificate actually is, I am looking forward to do some research on it.
It is a bit a tough realization that a M.Ed. does not seem to account for much without a teaching license. I do hope to save up enough to still get my teaching license at one point, but from what I saw it would cost around 6000 $ which is too much for me currently.
I would still be very grateful for more input on the topic since the advice I can get here leads to much more valuable outcomes as the ideas I could come up with myself doing hours of online research.
Thank you and have a great weekend all!
What I take from it is that a TEFL certificate in my case hardly makes any sense since it would not help to increase my marketability. I did in fact teach for 13 months in Ghana in a German/International school and have a recommendation letter from that school which outlines the responsibilities I had. At one point I was responsible for all of the schools swimming classes ( P.E. is the second subject I graduated in) as well as being responsible for a lot of Art classes and two extra curricular activities per week. I am not sure how much that work experience would count in an application though, since it was done before finishing my degree.
@PsyGuy the provisional MA sounds interesting and I will look into that further, thank you for pointing me towards that direction. Even though I am yet to grasp what that certificate actually is, I am looking forward to do some research on it.
It is a bit a tough realization that a M.Ed. does not seem to account for much without a teaching license. I do hope to save up enough to still get my teaching license at one point, but from what I saw it would cost around 6000 $ which is too much for me currently.
I would still be very grateful for more input on the topic since the advice I can get here leads to much more valuable outcomes as the ideas I could come up with myself doing hours of online research.
Thank you and have a great weekend all!
Reply
@ Labadi
Your experience in Ghana would very likely count as a year of experience.
An M.Ed in education is valuable and marketable, there are lots of ITs in IE that are teaching in ISs without professional edu credentials, its just not going to help you. Youre a German trying to move into IE teaching ESOL. Even if you had a professional edu credential its not going to change any of that (round peg, square hole). Anything but ESOL and its a different story, switch it to a bilingual German FL IT and its a very different story, and you probably wouldnt need to write to the forum except to complain about the small number of German FL vacancies there are.
Your experience in Ghana would very likely count as a year of experience.
An M.Ed in education is valuable and marketable, there are lots of ITs in IE that are teaching in ISs without professional edu credentials, its just not going to help you. Youre a German trying to move into IE teaching ESOL. Even if you had a professional edu credential its not going to change any of that (round peg, square hole). Anything but ESOL and its a different story, switch it to a bilingual German FL IT and its a very different story, and you probably wouldnt need to write to the forum except to complain about the small number of German FL vacancies there are.
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
@ PsyGuy
Your input is really helpful and I appreciate it a lot, so thank you again there.
Now that everyone here convinced me that the TEFL certificate will not do much for me, and the DaF (the German teaching certificate equivalent to TEFL) is very limited in terms of available positions abroad, I am wondering what my next step could be. I know now that I want to focus on teaching the two subjects I graduated to teach (Art/P.E.), but do feel that with my current qualification and experience it is close to impossible to find work. At least the number of applications I sent imply that. And since schools never send a feedback as to why they didn't consider you for the position, I can only still guess it has to do with the years of experience/teaching license.
Are the provisional teaching credentials that PsyGuy suggested maybe my best bet? Or should I just keep trying to land a job in a tier 2/3 school to have more work experience to show for? ( Although I am pretty sure I also applied to some low tier International Schools without success)
Your input is really helpful and I appreciate it a lot, so thank you again there.
Now that everyone here convinced me that the TEFL certificate will not do much for me, and the DaF (the German teaching certificate equivalent to TEFL) is very limited in terms of available positions abroad, I am wondering what my next step could be. I know now that I want to focus on teaching the two subjects I graduated to teach (Art/P.E.), but do feel that with my current qualification and experience it is close to impossible to find work. At least the number of applications I sent imply that. And since schools never send a feedback as to why they didn't consider you for the position, I can only still guess it has to do with the years of experience/teaching license.
Are the provisional teaching credentials that PsyGuy suggested maybe my best bet? Or should I just keep trying to land a job in a tier 2/3 school to have more work experience to show for? ( Although I am pretty sure I also applied to some low tier International Schools without success)
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
You can keep applying with your credentials as they are, but it will limit you and, moving forward, the lack of formal licensing will limit you in terms of moving up to more quality schools. I would look at Master's Degrees that will wrap in degree qualifications in the program, so that by the time you finish the coursework, you would have to student teach and then you'd have the necessary components to be licensed. If you are a German national, I'm not sure if you can be licensed in the States or if you have to be licensed in your own country, but I'm sure there are programs where you can get both the degree and the licensing qualifications all in one. Without that, good schools will probably steer clear of you, even with more experience.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Reply
@Labadi
There are a few states that issue credentials to foreigners, but Uni training is going to be very pricey. The only realistic avenue is going to be looking at England and combining a PGCE which will award you QTS and carrying those credits into a Masters degree, that will cost you about £10K. Doing the same in the US is going to cost you USD$50K. Th other option is splitting the credentialing process from the Masters process. You need to either decide on doing a M.Ed and using that as a credential or doing a credential.
The MA process is certainly an option and a very affordable one if you exclude travel costs (you will have to travel to the US likely to complete the MTEL testing, though you do not need to do it in MA). The other option is doing the Teach Now program which will award you the professional grade DC credential, though you will likely still need to find a job as the field work is 12 weeks, its possible to do it in addition to a night job but that would be exhausting.
You can find Masters programs in Education very cheaply, UPe has a program thats USD$2600, and Uni. Portsmouth in the UK has one for £4200, and you can find a number of Unis in the UK that have programs in the £7K range.
PHE and Art tend to be saturated teaching fields and they rarely are a combined subject, the other issue is youre not a NES, and many ISs wont look past that when screening. If you were applying for German FL positions youd have a different experience.
There are a few states that issue credentials to foreigners, but Uni training is going to be very pricey. The only realistic avenue is going to be looking at England and combining a PGCE which will award you QTS and carrying those credits into a Masters degree, that will cost you about £10K. Doing the same in the US is going to cost you USD$50K. Th other option is splitting the credentialing process from the Masters process. You need to either decide on doing a M.Ed and using that as a credential or doing a credential.
The MA process is certainly an option and a very affordable one if you exclude travel costs (you will have to travel to the US likely to complete the MTEL testing, though you do not need to do it in MA). The other option is doing the Teach Now program which will award you the professional grade DC credential, though you will likely still need to find a job as the field work is 12 weeks, its possible to do it in addition to a night job but that would be exhausting.
You can find Masters programs in Education very cheaply, UPe has a program thats USD$2600, and Uni. Portsmouth in the UK has one for £4200, and you can find a number of Unis in the UK that have programs in the £7K range.
PHE and Art tend to be saturated teaching fields and they rarely are a combined subject, the other issue is youre not a NES, and many ISs wont look past that when screening. If you were applying for German FL positions youd have a different experience.
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
@PsyGuy
The degree I hold is the equivalent to a Master of Education, it would cost me around 200$ to get the degree accredited to state that it is the equivalent to said Master by a government licensed institute in the US. So maybe that is something I should do. What my university issued for me after I requested for an English translation of my degree is a "diploma supplement" which describes the German educational system pretty detailed, as well as the length of my study and the type of courses I had to pass, but in no way mentions the words "Master of Education". As I was using this document for all my applications it could have contributed to my difficulties finding work.
I also looked at the provisional degrees, but the fact that I would have to travel to the US for it also currently makes it too difficult for me.
If getting my degree accredited so it states that it is equivalent to a Master of Education is something that would be helpful I would be able to do that fairly easy. If that won't be helpful I would not know what else to do, since I am very grateful for all the other suggestions but they all seem to be beyond my means at this moment.
The degree I hold is the equivalent to a Master of Education, it would cost me around 200$ to get the degree accredited to state that it is the equivalent to said Master by a government licensed institute in the US. So maybe that is something I should do. What my university issued for me after I requested for an English translation of my degree is a "diploma supplement" which describes the German educational system pretty detailed, as well as the length of my study and the type of courses I had to pass, but in no way mentions the words "Master of Education". As I was using this document for all my applications it could have contributed to my difficulties finding work.
I also looked at the provisional degrees, but the fact that I would have to travel to the US for it also currently makes it too difficult for me.
If getting my degree accredited so it states that it is equivalent to a Master of Education is something that would be helpful I would be able to do that fairly easy. If that won't be helpful I would not know what else to do, since I am very grateful for all the other suggestions but they all seem to be beyond my means at this moment.
Reply
@Labadi
You dont need to do any of that, what you need to do is change your resume to say "Master of Education", and send them the scroll scan as part of your application packet or when they request it. Let HR figure out what its worth after you have the appointment and discuss with them if they under state the salary on a contract offer. If the degree is equivalent to a Master of Education that say that its a Master of Education, because thats what equivalent means. Dont leave it up to some junior, or senior or professional staffs imagination to figure out what it means when they are trying to figure our a short list for interview.
You dont need to do any of that, what you need to do is change your resume to say "Master of Education", and send them the scroll scan as part of your application packet or when they request it. Let HR figure out what its worth after you have the appointment and discuss with them if they under state the salary on a contract offer. If the degree is equivalent to a Master of Education that say that its a Master of Education, because thats what equivalent means. Dont leave it up to some junior, or senior or professional staffs imagination to figure out what it means when they are trying to figure our a short list for interview.
Re: Would a TEFL certificate be helpful for getting hired?
@PsyGuy
Thanks a lot for all the help. So I will do that, just say its a Master of Education and hope that it will suffice as teaching credential. I might still invest the 200$ to get an official certificate which states that it really is the equivalent to a Master since I don't want to leave the impression of trying to deceive people.
Will leave an update here once I hopefully manage to move forward so others in similar situations can learn from it.
Thanks a lot for all the help. So I will do that, just say its a Master of Education and hope that it will suffice as teaching credential. I might still invest the 200$ to get an official certificate which states that it really is the equivalent to a Master since I don't want to leave the impression of trying to deceive people.
Will leave an update here once I hopefully manage to move forward so others in similar situations can learn from it.