Asian College of Teachers

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milovinka
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Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 1:33 am

Asian College of Teachers

Post by milovinka »

Hello, anyone who finished one of the online courses by the Asian College of Teachers? I am interested in the Certificate in Pre and Primary Teacher Training Course. I know that this is not an accredited teaching qualification (license) that teachers should have, but probably it is a professional development qualification, am I right? Do you think this course can somehow help me to find a job in an international school if it is in my Resume, is it worth doing it?
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer:
Its a piece of paper by a company. There is little difference in IE between the certificate they would print and one you could print yourself.
Is it a professional development qualification? In what way? Is it a qualification, meaning did some organization state that on a certain day you met some coherent standards and criteria. Okay sure its a qualification then in so much that the certificates ACT (American College of Teachers) issue are little different than the ones PTC (Principals Training Center) provide. Both are just companies with a printer. PTC has some recognition though, there are a lot of leaders in IE that associate themselves with PTC and those leaders are in a position to hire ITs, so PTC has that and ACT doesnt. Typically the example of a qualification is a accredited Uni conferred degree or certificate (such as a PGCE, etc.), thats pretty well understood. A credential as opposed to a license is recognition of an individual to the discipline and practice within a particular field, in this case teaching and specifically teaching in the KS and K12 environment. A teaching license is authorization by a regulating authority to provide instructional services.
So this ACT certificate isnt a license, its very, very, very likely not a credential. If its a qualification its probably not anymore a qualification than some 50-60 hour online ESOL program. Those types of programs and a bachelors degree might get you language school work in China. It wouldnt be worth anything in IE as the ISs that would hire you with it would likely hire you without it. Could there be some bottom third tier IS thats barely any different from a day run EAP program that knows nothing about it and likes the site design, so thinks there is something to it, maybe, nothing surprises me anymore. Its a USD$200 piece of paper though, thats an expensive piece of paper considering youd spend a lot less just printing out your own certificate and calling it a "Certificate of Primary School Teaching from the "Academy for International Teaching".

The second part of your inquiry gets at professional development (PD). That means different things. In one aspect ITs with US credentials typically have to renew them and this requires a certain amount of documented PD. Different DOEs have differing requirements on what is and what isnt acceptable and how much of different types of PD you can use. Its possible this ACT program could be used to fulfill some part of a states PD requirements in so much as if all thats needed is a company to issue a certificate that looks seemingly to relate to education or teaching than this may meet that requirement.

Another aspect of PD is the kind you find for example by the IB where the authorization process refers to training requirements as PD. You can find similar requirements across other curriculum (I.E. Montessori). One such program is ACT, they are best known for and as for their standardized college/uni admissions exam. they however do have an international division that offers a secondary diploma called the GAC along with an ESOL program they have a "Certified Educator" program that is essentially PD. Its very interesting how both the program you inquired about (Asian College of Teachers) and American College testing are both called ACT.
I dont see anything about the Asian College of Teachers program or organization that would prepare you to meet any requirements for delivering or teaching any of the common IE curriculum.
Its possible some of their programs in ESOL could have some value in ESOL, but the program you mentioned isnt going to be worth anymore than the paper its printed on within IE.
sid
Posts: 1392
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 am

Re: Asian College of Teachers

Post by sid »

PG used a lot of words to say the simple truth. This isn’t a particularly useful thing.
Having investigated ACT previously for other reasons, I’ll add that the quality of their course content was pretty suspect. Very not modern, not progressive, not research based approach to our chosen profession. At least for the courses I looked at. If I came across a candidate with ACT coursework, I’d worry that they had learned some very bad approaches.
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