Teaching in Greece

[Eltheza]

This is for anyone wanting to teach in Greece. You do not require a TEFL qualification, although obviously it would help you in a practical and personal way if you have no teaching experience. Legally, you need a degree (any subject) from a recognised institution; recognised, that is, by DIKATSA, which is the section of the Greek Ministry of Education responsible for validating degrees from foreign universities. They are a bit behind the times and you may find that while degrees from, say, Southampton University are recognised, degrees from what used to be Portsmouth Polytechnic are not.

What IS now required is an "Ellinomatheia" (Knowledge of the Greek Language) diploma. This new law was introduced in 2007 and foreign teachers without this diploma were deemed illegal. Schools employing such teachers could be fined and even lose their licence to operate as a foreign language school. The law has been challenged in Brussels but the ruling was that Greece has the right to govern its own internal affairs.

In the provinces, this may not be strictly enforced. In Athens, spot checks were carried out in schools in 2007/8 to see whether foreign teachers were suitably qualified according to the new legal requirement.

You may still find a teaching post but may find yourself legally employed as a gardener or window cleaner! This also used to be the case if you didn't have a degree recognised by DIKATSA. My main point is that you don't legally need a TEFL qualification.

[ikonographics]

Do you mean that one doesn't need a TEFL qualification to get a teaching licence (άδεια διδασκαλίας)? Do you perhaps know what papers are required?

I'm a doctoral student from South Africa at the University of Athens and I have a degree and masters from the same university. I'm a native speaker and would like to teach English, but (unsurprisingly ) I'm finding it very difficult to find out what qualifications are actually needed. I was under the impression that I would have to have CELTA which I simply can't afford and I'm looking into doing an online course.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

[ICAL_Pete]

My understanding is that the requirement to have the Ellinomatheia has not been settled by the EU Court of Justice. The most recent information I can find says that it is illegal for Greece to make all teachers take the exam and they will be fined something like 60,000 euro per day if they continue to impose this rule.

The schools there generally ask for a degree and TEFL certificate in my experience.