The second in a series of FAQ for people at particular stages of their career.

What is the best qualification before your first job?

The industry standard is a course with at least 100 hours of tuition and at least six hours of observed and graded teaching practice. This is usually taken intensively over four weeks, but part-time and blended courses are available. The Cambridge CELTA is by far the oldest, most popular, most respected and most well known of these kinds of course. Other options include the Trinity CertTESOL and SIT TESOL course. If you have the opportunity to do a more in depth course before your first job, that would be great as long as it is still an internationally recognised practical course with observed teaching practice. Options include some pre-experience MA Courses (others have no observed teaching practice) and a PGCE in TESOL/ TEFL.

I’ve been offered a job with just a degree/ I’ve seen jobs advertised that you can get with just a degree. Is it still worth doing a TEFL certificate?

Yes. You will be able to do your job better with less stress, develop more quickly, and move onto better jobs in the future.

I don’t have time to do a four-week TEFL certificate course before I start work. What should I do?

If you are lucky there will be part-time courses available in the city you are moving to, e.g. at a local International House or British Council branch. If not, there might still be one-off workshops at a local school or through a local teachers’ association. Other options include shorter courses such as weekend courses before you go, online courses before you go and/ or while you are there, basic-level teacher development books like How to Teach English, and online resources like TeachingEnglish and TEFL.net.

For more information, see TEFL Course FAQ, especially the TEFL Certificate FAQ page. Part One of this series is here:

No degree, TEFL qualifications or experience

Other questions and answers very welcome indeed, either in comments below or by email via the Contact Me button top right.