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Lotteloes
Joined: 03 May 2015
Posts: 20
Location: Spain
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 Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 4:18 pm Post subject: Are there too many TEFL-teachers |
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Last week, when I was on a party with TEFL-teachers, we made some calculations and came to the conclusion that in Spain alone, every year aorund 2000 students graduate from TEFL-academies as TEFL-teachers.
(15 students per class, 25 academies in the country, 6 courses per year).
So globally the amount should exceed the 10,000 per year.
That let us to the questions if the demand for TEFL-teachers was that high to rectify these numbers or if the TELF job market has reached it's saturation?
Especially as more people in the countries itself have now learned English at a level that is good enough to do the teaching themselves.
I am really interested in your opinion, also because a lot of the academies who offer these TELF teacher training for their survival depend on it for their survival. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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It depends on the job market. They can't churn new teachers out fast enough to satisfy demand across Asia (why standards for teachers in that region are relatively low). However, the European market is near saturation IMO, as evidenced by the need for related qualifications to compete on the job market and flat salaries.
Also keep in mind that many people 'do' EFL for a couple of years, then move on to other types of work, usually in their home countries. Not many people really want to be expatriated long-term, though we do exist out here 
Last edited by spiral78 on Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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| OP: I'm assuming (hoping) you're not an English teacher (n)or a native speaker (as your post contains quite a few errors). Why then are you that concerned about saturation, competition etc? |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:14 pm Post subject: Re: Are there too many TEFL-teachers |
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| Lotteloes wrote: |
That let us to the questions if the demand for TEFL-teachers was that high to rectify these numbers or if the TELF job market has reached it's saturation? Especially as more people in the countries itself have now learned English at a level that is good enough to do the teaching themselves.
I am really interested in your opinion, also because a lot of the academies who offer these TELF teacher training for their survival depend on it for their survival. |
Supply and demand with the largest need for teachers in China.
If these TEFL course providers find the market drying up, they'll need to do something else for a living. That's typical of any other business that forecasts rough seas ahead. Businesses close and/or reinvent themselves the world over. |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Lotteloes wrote: |
Last week, when I was on a party with TEFL-teachers, we made some calculations and came to the conclusion that in Spain alone, every year aorund 2000 students graduate from TEFL-academies as TEFL-teachers.
(15 students per class, 25 academies in the country, 6 courses per year).
So globally the amount should exceed the 10,000 per year. |
Right, but how many teachers quit TEFLing each year?
Also, as nomad soul indicated, there's still great demand in China. It's a huge country with an enormous population and a developing economy (and, thus, an increasing need to communicate with people from other countries), but with pollution concerns and salaries that, while good for local living, don't translate to much back home (keeping some teachers away, and creating even more demand). I wouldn't quite agree with spiral78's sweeping statement about demand "across Asia," as demand and salaries in Japan have decreased substantially over the last 10+ years, while qualifications have begun rising. Korea seems to be starting to approach that point as well.
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| I am really interested in your opinion, also because a lot of the academies who offer these TELF teacher training for their survival depend on it for their survival. |
To a degree, it might not affect TEFL 'teacher' training academies as much as you think, for the same reasons that universities still churn out English literature and history graduates. |
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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| Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I wouldn't quite agree with spiral78's sweeping statement about demand "across Asia," as demand and salaries in Japan have decreased substantially over the last 10+ years, while qualifications have begun rising. Korea seems to be starting to approach that point as well. |
Fair enough  I admit to going a bit overboard (and off my personally-known territory). |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652
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| Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:34 am Post subject: |
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| The answer is Yes. TEFLers can thank Dick Fuld and the others that started the economic crash in 2007 in the US and subsequent spread to Europe for that. With a flood of TEFLers fleeing to teach English in Asia, it changed the TEFL structure permanently including a pickiness for young teachers, and an awareness on the part of the schools hiring that they could pay less. The 2007 crash was particularly devastating on TEFLers going to the cash cow South Korea and possibly Saudi Arabia as well. |
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