Which Course for Qualified Teacher?

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Kidsnstuff
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: 28 May 2016, 18:02
Status: Prospective Teacher

Which Course for Qualified Teacher?

Unread post by Kidsnstuff »

Hi folks,

I am a qualified Maths teacher (Maths degree, PGCE, QTS) with 10 years experience in secondary schools. I have done some TEFL in my gap year after university and speak some German (C1) and Polish (B1). There are a lot of EFl students where I live so I would really like to switch to TEFL full-time, and I'm pretty certain I can get a job if/when qualified.

So my question is...which course should I choose? The CELTA looks good but seems to repeat some parts of my PGCE (e.g. classroom management). Or what do you think of the courses offered by tefl.org.uk?

Thank you so much for any help you can provide.
Awalls86
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Posts: 48
Joined: 06 Feb 2015, 03:07
Status: Teacher

Re: Which Course for Qualified Teacher?

Unread post by Awalls86 »

Hi.
With your PGCE, experience of teaching in secondary school and gap year experience, you are probably already more qualified than any of these certifications will make you.
What they might be useful for is to update you on changes in TEFL since your experiences, and also to provide some ideas on teaching English specifically. The other reason it would seem you have to do it is to have a recognised TEFL certification to satisfy an employer.
CELTA and the Trinity CertTesol tend to be the 2 standard ones and I would recommend them as they tend to be most recognised. As for the content, there will be overlap such as classroom management but anything you have done in your PGCE and in your professional experience is likely to eclipse the superficial depth of the CELTA or CertTesol. I would expect you to walk them.
Other courses are typically considered to be inferior and are not accepted in many places, thus I wouldn't recommend them.
But, I would say your best bet is look for the kind of job you want and see what they ask for.
Hope that helps
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