Job Discussion Forums

[Gosta]

Thanks for all of your replies, there seems to be a lot of disagreement on this topic. However, I do take my job seriously and I know there's a career path in the industry if you have the qualifications and work for the right schools.

I guess the main point of confusion is which qualifications are needed. A local CELTA tutor sent me this message re. the difference between CELTA and ICELT which I thought I'd share with you:

"ICELT is NOT equivalent to CELT in terms of training (Celta is taining, ICELT is development). CELTA people do things because they are trained to do it, just the same way dogs are trained tricks. ICELT people do things because thy are meant to understand the rationale behind doings what hey do in their classes" (any spelling mistakes are from the original message).

I'm really not happy being compared to a dog, any thoughts on this?

[SahanRiddhi]

You know how middle class people or up-and-comers often try to emulate the trappings of the rich? Ostentatious jewelry and cars and clothes and such? They envy what the perceive the rich to have and be. They are wannabes.

Sometimes EFL people get the same way, in that they envy academia and "real" teaching. So they get uppity about EFL "credentials" and "quals" and "certs," and that's when the acronyms start flying.

Doesn't it strike you as odd that someone who can't even construct a proper English sentence feels entitled to compare certain types of training to a dog learning tricks?

[Gosta]

Well I'm hoping that maybe he just wrote the message quickly and that was the reason for all the errors, as this guy is a CELTA trainer and is about to become a DELTA trainer. I was just a little taken aback at the tone of the message, he seemed truly offended at the suggestion that CELTA and ICELT were equivalent. Maybe you're right and he was just being defensive.

[Kofola]

For one take on the difference between them:

http://www.tefl.net/tefl-courses/faq-cambridge-icelt.htm

For what it's worth, I've never come across a native speaker with ICELT. I do, however, know many native speaker teachers who did their CELTAs once they already had experience teaching (some quite substantial).

[LH123]

I did my DELTA in 2004, and at that time I had just a CELTA and 3 years' experience. While I suppose the requirements might have changed since then, I doubt they would have drastically.

In terms of longer-term career progression, where can one go 'up' to from an entry level teaching position?

Well... In small-ish language academies, pretty much all there is is the Senior Teacher>Assistant DOS>DOS route. That's a pretty short ladder to climb, with not much glamour or many riches to look forward to, but once there at least your CV will boast some sort of leadership/managerial experience, which could be useful for future career changes and decisions.

In larger language institutions (say...EF, International House, The British Council, Kaplan, Berlitz, you know....) then there are a whole bunch of psuedo-academic and corporate positions that teachers can potentially rise to - my old DOS from years back became an HR director for EF a few years ago, for example. (Okay, so no-one wants to be caught working for EF, but you get the idea )

With experience, qualifications, luck, and (probably) a couple of contacts there is always ELT publishing - another old DOS of mine now works for Pearson Longman ELT. He dislikes the white-collar dullness of it all, but likes the professionalism and dependable salary.

In the sturdier academic realm of Higher Education, there is EAP - which (admittedly) normally wants a DELTA and a Masters for entry level positions, and is not constantly hiring everywhere all year round like TEFL is. From there, you are free to publish; although most EAP teachers do not, there is nothing stopping them. Should your nerdiness know no bounds, doctorates await along with potential faculty positions - not many TEFLers end up down that path, but it can be and has been done. I work for one of the colleges at the University of London, and almost everyone in the 60 strong EAP department was once an EFL teacher.

So, TEFL does have career prospects of sorts - but almost all of those involve transcending the language-academy-TEFL-roots and moving to other, related, fields; be they educational management, corporate [stuff], publishing, academia, or whatever.

[Zero]

So the only way to advance in EFL, is to advance out of EFL.

[denise]

[Gosta]

Thanks, this has been very helpful. I think I'd like to take the University path, so I'll start looking for my MA

[Glenski]

Advancement is in the eye of the beholder.

Become a FT university professor (up the ranks from assistant to associate to full prof).

Become a trainer.

Become your conversation school manager/director.

Start and own your own school.

Get a teaching license and teach in an international school.

Teach business English, whether as a farmed out dispatch teacher or an in-house corporate instructor.

Lots of ways to go "up".

[ancient_dweller]