Job Discussion Forums

[JRJohn]

I am an experienced ESL teacher with a TEFL certificate and a few years of full-time teaching experience to adults and kids in their late teens. I am interested in becoming an IELTS examiner here in China. (It doesn't have to be in China, but China is where I am, specifically Beijing). How do you become an IELTS examiner? What are the requirements and how much does it cost?

What career opportunities would I then have?

One of the reasons I am considering this route is that I remember teaching in Spain. The school used the Trinity system. I have to tell you that I gained a great deal of career satisfaction out of teaching adult Trinity exam groups at all levels at that school. And the students were equally enthusiastic about my teaching. But I was less keen on teaching the kids.

I know of IELTS events in China, but I would appreciate info from someone who knows more than I do.

[currentaffairs]

If it is the same as the Cambridge exams then you get trained through your company. You can also go to a centre for training on your own but I don't know if you have anything to pay then..

With the Cambridge exams (I am trained as a KET/PET examiner) you usually have an afternoon of training then you are ready to go. You need to keep getting trained every two years.

If IELTS is different then let us know!

PS Just came back from examining a bunch of students for PET. I asked the secretary and she reckons training and getting certified for IELTS is more arduous with 10 hours of training and then certification. You are also monitored on your first batch of exams..

[scot47]

Monitoring is continuous when you are an IELTS Examiner. Doing it gives you a taste of life under Ingsoc in 1984.

[HLJHLJ]

I don't know if this is the case everywhere, but to the best of my knowledge this is how it works in my area.

First, you can't just ask to become an examiner, they only train new ones up when they actually need them (the less people that see the materials, the more secure it is).

When they do need them, either an exams center or the local Speaking Examiner Team Leader asks you to apply. (I don't know if it's possible to get your name in the hat without the support of one or the other, but I suspect not). Then you have to actually apply, which is a full job application, with employment references, etc. and then you have to take a test which is some theory and also practical; grading samples.

It's not essential to have been a main suite examiner beforehand, but you will likely struggle to pass the grading test if you don't have prior experience of assessment. Last time they did it here (the last time I know of anyway), everyone who went for it was an experienced main suite examiner, and they all had years of teaching experience, but Cambridge rejected about half of them.

If they do accept you, the training runs over a couple of days, with about the same again in homework.

I invigilate IELTS exams, but I've not gone for speaking examiner yet, I'm in two minds whether I want it or not. Having seen the endless monitoring they get, I'm not sure I want the hassle. The standards are so strict, it seems like it's practically impossible to consistently get a 'standard' monitoring rating, and 'non-standard' means even more monitoring. (An example of being non standard is being out on your timing of a section by +/- 5 seconds.)

[scot47]

Tedious, repetitive and not specially well-paid.

[theoriginalprankster]

[scot47]

I walked out on the BC in Khobar when, unannounced and without warning ,they tried to give me 20 Speaking Candidates in one day.

That brought to an end my career as an IELTS Examiner.

[theoriginalprankster]

[scot47]

Unheard of in UK and European Centres. Median is 6 or 7.

[theoriginalprankster]

[spanglish]

[Mr. Leafy]