Job Discussion Forums

MadK · Joined: 28 Jul 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Madagascar

Hi everyone,

Lately, I've been reading some job postings that ask for a B.A. or M.A. in TEFL or a related field *as well as* a TESOL or CELTA certificate. I thought this a bit odd, since an M.A. in TEFL is a lot more involved than a certificate course.

I was wondering: has anyone found that not having a TESOL certificate or CELTA--*in spite of having an M.A. in TEFL*--is a problem when seeking ESL employment in the Gulf (Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia)? Of course, the reason I'm asking the question is that I'm getting my M.A. in TEFL now, and I haven't taken a separate TESOL course--though I have 2.5 years of TEFL/TESL experience (two of those years in an international setting).

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Kevin

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

As far as I have seen, it is a BA + cert or an MA. I haven't seen any ads that required both (not that I read every ad). It appears to me that the employers in the Gulf are having enough trouble without going to this extreme.

If an applicant is early 20s with the ink still fresh on the MA, they might want to see where any supervised teaching had been done... and possibly want to also see something like the CELTA to show practical experience.

VS

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:44 pm Post subject:

Like VS, I've never known of a Gulf institution which requires a Cert. in addition to an MA. In fact, most of the better employers in the region have little respect for CELTAs, even assuming they know such a qualification exists.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I'd have to disagree with Cleo on this. It may be true in Saudi where she is, but in the rest of the Gulf I found that employers were overly reliant on their perception of the quality of a CELTA... especially the 'better employers' since most of them lean towards the British education systems.

VS

Cleopatra · Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:56 pm Post subject:

So which employers regard the CELTA (or DELTA) more highly than an MA, in the manner which IH (who run some of the above courses) and possibly the British Council do?

From what I've seen in job ads from around the Gulf (granted I haven't studied them particularly closely) all the better places - which are usually third level institutions or military establishments - specify a relevant MA among their requirements. I don't recall the CELTA or even DELTA being listed as an adequate substitute, though I could be wrong on this.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

First off I never said that any employer considered a CELTA or any other TEFL cert more highly than an MA. duh...

Here is a new ad from yesterday:

http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=16148

Another is SQU.

And, of course, they are paid less than those with an MA unless they have many years of directly related experience.

VS