Job Discussion Forums

frannie1 · Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 14

do people say you need a degree to teach efl in turkey because of visa and work permit reasons? i am married to a turk and if i get residency or hopefully nationality will i still need a degree to land jobs, will my tesol cert not be enough? thankyou

phoebe caulfield · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 31 Location: Bilkent, Ankara

You don't need a degree, realistically speaking, because some schools are desperate and not prone to obeying legal guidelines, etc. However, don't expect a "great" posotion either... If your husband has some connections, use them.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Yes ... for work permit reasons .. without a degree you will not be granted one for teaching ...

Golightly · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:41 am Post subject:

For teaching anything you should have a degree, not only for EFL! The Turkish government recognised that the country was swamped with dodgy TEFLers a few years back, and decided to make it law that all those who wish to teach EFL should have a degree, preferably in English. However, Phoebe is correct: a lot of cowboy schools will overlook the issue of not having an appropriate academic qualification.
A few years ago, during the happy wild west days that was TEFL in Turkey of the 90s, Dershanes would take on anyone: Nowadays, they're a bit more choosy, and the profession as a whole has become more of a, er, profession. In my opinion, rightly so. I would be very wary of employing someone who doesn't have a degree or lots of pedagogical experience to teach.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Steady on there Golightly ... a related degree required for teaching? Why on earth would you want one of those ...

There are some people that don't have one who are such know-it-alls they don't need one ...

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

And I can provide a correspondence course on the use of capital letters in English orthography. This is a useful skill for those teaching the language.