Job Discussion Forums

[Susie]

Struelle, as you said, your TEFL Training School was externally audited, maintained high standards, and was professional, so customer feedback, even though subjective, was important.

However, when a school is not externally audited, and when there aren't any external examiners to mark a percentage of TEFL trainees' papers, then, subjective customer feedback may not be welcome, and customers who voice such feedback could find themselves up against some intimidation both from the TEFL trainers and the school administration. (I am not even dealing here with the question of what gets put on the curriculum of such non-externally assessed TEFL Training schools nor am I dealing with the question of whether what's on the curriculum even gets taught.

If intimidation tactics do not successfully gag customer feedback, then threats that certain customers could find themselves having paid a lot of money for their TEFL training course and without a certificate (even if those customers were Ph.D. qualified) just because the school decided to fail them. (Of course, without such an external element we would have been unable to apply an independent measure in order to be satisfied that the Ph.D. fellows deserved to fail and go without a certificate). This is a hypothetical scenario that I outline, but it could happen at a TEFL Training School that is not externally audited and is without external examiners.

What could stop intimidation and threats from happening to customers who offer unwanted feedback to a TEFL Training School that's not externally audited and doesn't have external examiners? Especially when, over time, that school has gradually slipped in its standards of professionalism (which I think likely to be inevitable in the absence of the external element) and doesn't know how to pull itself up. Perhaps the only reason for self-restraint by the school administration is the threat by its customers of bad press/of getting a bad reputation/of reading about itself on forums like Daves' ESL Cafe, etc.

The aim here is not to give anyone a bad name. I am simply making the point that, in my view (and what would I know) I wouldn't have paid my hard-earned money to a TEFL Training School that isn't externally audited with external examiners if I had known then what I know now. But for those of you who want to get TEFL qualified and who happen to choose the school that I went to, your experience at (or view of) that non-externally-assessed-school that I went to might (or might not) be different from mine. Let the buyer beware.

[naturegirl321]

I just got this from the Boland School. Looks like things are good there!

Greetings from the Boland TEFL Training Center in Brno, Czech Rep. The past year has been a time of great change and development for us here at Boland. We have started operations in China, and our TEFL Training Center there, (located in Haimen, near Shanghai), is up and operating successfully . Lots of schools in China are interested in offering our program, and we hope to have two to three more locations there by the end of the year. The new Asian location allows us to offer you select teaching opportunities in China, and acrosss Asia, in a market where jobs are abundant, but good EFL jobs are scarce. Our goal in this area is to ensure that Boland networking in the region will give you, as an International TEFL Diploma holder, ever improving jobs prospects, benefits and salary packages as more and more schools realize the extent of the preparation work you have done to become TEFL-Diploma qualified. Additionally, we have been expanding cooperation with lots of European schools, and have a growing number of schools calling the International TEFL Diploma their qualification of choice.

The Boland School has been working with several universities to gain credit transfer for International TEFL Diploma graduates who are interested in continuing their education at the Masters level. The first school on board is Anaheim University (California, USA).
Anaheim's Graduate School of Education will offer credit transfer for Boland grads. They will accept the work you did in the International TEFL Diploma program, and transfer 4 credit units from Boland towards your Masters.This will save you 8 weeks of course work out of the two year program at Anaheim. This is a two-year MS in TESOL program, and involves a combination of online courses attended in real time online and two four-day residential sessions over the two-year period. Ask Katie ([email protected]) if you are interested in curriculum details and application requirements.