Job Discussion Forums

[Jetgirly]

A few years ago I did the CELTA, worked in Europe for a few years, and then came back to Canada, got a B.Ed, got certified and entered the public school system. A friend of mine from the B.Ed program did a year of teaching in the public system here, then decided to move to Spain and teach EFL. Her qualifications are mostly similar to mine- a four-year undergraduate degree, a two-year Bachelor of Education degree (including a six-month overseas practicum in a Spanish-speaking country teaching full-time EFL), Canadian teaching certification and public school experience. Oh, and unlike me she's 100% fluent in Spanish. She is currently in Spain with the legal right to work... and she's finding schools are turning her down because she doesn't have a TEFL certificate!

I totally understand how the CELTA is useful for someone with no prior teaching experience (like me, at age twenty)... but for someone fluent in the local language, with a DEGREE in Education, coursework in ESL/EFL and a six-month EFL practicum supervised by the university, why would a four-week certificate be a job requirement? The only thing I can imagine is that most of the schools she's applied at offer a four-week certificate, and it's a good business decision to demand their teachers have the same qualification they sell. Any administrators care to chime in?

[spiral78]

My guess:

Job market jammed with applicants. CELTA is the name brand and requires no further thought on the part of a DOS.
They're simply not reading her CV carefully - presumably because they have millions to choose from.....

[Sadebugo]

[80daze]

Clearly the management of the schools she applied to either did not read her CV (as previous poster said) or are completely incompetent (ignorant of higher qualifications).

It's ridiculous!

[bdbarnett1]

[naturegirl321]

Sigh, I guess in the future I'll haev to do a DELTA then.

[tttompatz]

[Sashadroogie]

While what Spiral has said about the CV not being read properly is most likely the case, it is also possible that the employers didn't have much faith in her higher quals. Unless the CV really stresses the practical nature of the degree, most employers will assume it is 'only theoretical' and opt for the candidate with a CELTA who 'can do the job'. Experience in teaching in public schools won't be much good if you are teaching EFL to adults. A degree in education may not train you in EFL at all. Next CV from the pile please!

Ridiculous, true. But safer. Why risk recruiting someone with 'unknown' quals when there is another applicant whose training you fully recognise?

[Justin Trullinger]

You asked for administrators to chime in- I'm not one, thank heaven, but I have been in the past.

A lot of responses here seem to be going with the conclusion that administrators are turning the OP's friend down because they (the administrators) are idiots.

Not exactly rocket science- if you've been in the field a few years, you probably know a few idiotic administrators. Seems plausible.

I wonder, though, if there may be more to it.

My experience with entry level work in Spain is that it's pretty rare for them to tell you why they didn't hire you. In fact, pretty rare to tell you THAT they didn't hire you. They want you, they call you. They don't want you, you're unlikely to hear from them.

So, are they telling the OP's friend that it's because she has no CELTA? Or did she hear that once, think it was a likely case, and assume other schools had the same reason?

If they're telling her, that's weird. (Cause they don't, usually.) Is she following up and asking them all? Even if they ARE saying this, that doesn't mean it's the real reason- no reason to give long, complicated, honest answers to someone you aren't hiring.

A possible scenario is that they're not hiring her for some other reason (wrong time of year, wrong availability, wrong nationality, whatever) and the CELTA thing is just a convenient excuse?

Cause I know idiotic administrators aren't as scarce as hen's teeth- but it's hard to believe that in a market as big as most cities in Spain, ALL the DOSes are equally stupid and in the same way.

Best,
Justin

[Big Poppa Pump]

[Big Poppa Pump]

Actually, after reading my post I just realized I don't even have a point and I was just ranting more or less incoherently.

Tell your friend to get work in Mexico. They speak Spanish, have a raging drug war, and is home to the 7 layer quesadilla.

[Isla Guapa]

[mozzar]

[Sashadroogie]

Justin's post makes a lot of sense. Hadn't thought of that at all, myself.

[spiral78]

Not that all with teaching degrees are horrible egomaniacs, I've been working with one lately who is quite good. However, on a whole they tend to walk around the place with huge chips on their shoulders and take criticism very poorly.

One in particular, a Canadian teacher, actually resented having me doing class observations and refused to have me in her class until I refused to have her in my building.

I'm a trained teacher ...but my door's always open, and I'm always interested in what observers might have to say about what's going on in my classrooms. Training hasn't made me perfect, sadly
and in any case, collaboration is useful!

Still, I hope I won't end up in a private language centre anytime soon...I like the challenges of teaching across university faculties and in businesses as well - gives me a chance to learn as much as I teach!