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Below is a list of our most frequently asked questions around our work in English Language teaching. |
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If you have a question around our work in English Language teaching that isn't answered below, please email us or join our "teaching opportunities" group on Linked In.
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We advertise our TEFL vacancies online at https://jobs.britishcouncil.org From the front screen you can use the search filters to limit what you see – for example if you only wanted to see teaching vacancies, you could select “teacher” from the job category drop down and then click on search. You complete an online application form, which you can save and come back to at any time up to the closing date. |
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You will be assessed against the criteria listed in the role profile that you download from our jobs website. If you are shortlisted for the post you will be interviewed. Interviews are often conducted over telephone or Skype. |
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I’d like to hear about your new vacancies without having to keep going back to your website |
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You can create a vacancy alert on our job site – you’ll receive an email every time we post a new job that matches your search criteria. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed – click on the orange RSS button in the bottom right-hand corner of our jobs portal. |
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What do I need on my CV in order to work for you as an EFL teacher? |
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There’s a basic set of qualifications, skills and experience that we need EFL teachers to have. These are spelt out in the ‘person specification’ which is written for every job.
The minimum qualification is a Cambridge CELTA or Trinity Cert. TESOL (or the Young Learner equivalents of these qualifications) and you also need at least two years experience of doing the job for a different employer.
On top of these, some jobs require other qualifications such as a degree, or specialist experience with a particular age group, or in some cases a UK passport. Different jobs require different things, and you can find the specifications listed with the job adverts at https://jobs.britishcouncil.org
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Do I have to have two years experience before I can apply for a job working for the British Council? |
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You can apply for jobs at any time, but each advert will state the minimum requirements for the job and virtually all of them will ask for two years post certificate experience. In some cases, if competition is weak, or if we need a lot of teachers in a hurry, managers will interview candidates who fall short in some areas. |
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I’ve only had 8 months experience since my training but I taught for two years beforehand. Can I apply? |
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Our ideal candidate would have two years experience after training (certificate level) but there are times when we have to be more flexible, for example if we have very few applications or if we need a lot of teachers in a hurry. Managers may be recruiting for a particular course – e.g. English for students at business school – and if you have experience of teaching this specialist area, you have an edge over the competition. |
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What TEFL qualifications do you accept? |
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We employ teachers with a Cambridge CELTA or the Trinity Cert. TESOL, as a minimum at entry level (or the young learner equivalnets of these courses). It’s important to us that the training comes with some quality assurance so we look for qualifications which are owned and awarded by a recognised examinations board, with authority to award qualifications. |
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Do I have to have an undergraduate degree to work for the British Council? |
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Possibly. An undergraduate degree isn't always an essential requirement, but in the centres where it is, this is because either we would be unable to obtain the correct work permit/visa without an undergraduate degree or it is a student expectation.
We do have teachers working for us who do not have an undergraduate degree, but their opportunities to move around our teaching network are limited by the two factors above. We are finding that more countries are insisting on our staff being undergraduate degree qualified. As an example, Vietnam has recently changed their requirements and now insist on all English Language teachers being undergraduate degree qualified.
If an undergraduate degree is an essential requirement, it will be listed as such in the role profile on our jobs website.
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Do you have to be under/over a certain age? |
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The British Council doesn't have any age restrictions for our teachers, but we do sometimes have restrictions imposed on us by the countries that we work in. We sometimes can't get work visas issued for people over (or under) a certain age. If this is the case it will be clearly stated in the "local restrictions on employment" section of the vacancy information sheet that you download from our website. |
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Do I have to be British to work for the British Council? |
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No, although there are some countries where we can only get the necessary visas or work permits for teachers with a UK passport. This is imposed by the host country, rather than the British Council. The job adverts state clearly whether a UK passport is required. We employ people of many different nationalities as English teachers as long as their use of English is good enough. |
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I’m already in the country that I want to work in. Can I still apply? |
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Yes, but we may not be able to offer you all of the relocation benefits that our globally mobile staff receive. We may also have a need for hourly paid teachers – contact your local British Council office to see if there are any upcoming vacancies: |
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My first language is not English. Will you employ me? |
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On top of the qualifications and experience we look for, one of the skills we need is a high proficiency in the use of English. It doesn’t matter what your native language is if your English is good enough in all four skills. |
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Why don’t you advertise TEFL jobs in the UK? |
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We don’t employ any EFL teachers in the UK. We do however accredit language schools in the UK and if you’re looking for work in the UK an accredited school would be a good place to look. |
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Where can I teach with you? |
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We employ teachers in a lot of different countries, but not every single one. You’ll find a map showing the places where we employ teachers on our website |
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I know you have teachers working in Portugal, Italy and the Czech Republic, but I never see these jobs advertised. Why not? |
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Vacancies in the EU are advertised separately because they are a different kind of contract. Teachers working for us in the EU are all hired on local contracts and therefore they are recruited locally. Contact your local British Council office to see if there are any upcoming vacancies: |
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I know you have teachers working in Ukraine, Mexico and Japan, but I never see these jobs advertised. Why not? |
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Not all vacancies are advertised externally to people outside the organisation. The most popular jobs outside the EU (such as. Mexico, Japan and Ukraine) are generally filled by teachers already working for the British Council, so we usually don’t need to look any further. Once you are working for the British Council you have access to these vacancies. |
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I did a Trinity Cert. TESOL 10 years ago and taught for a few years, but haven’t taught for 5 years now. Can I apply? |
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You can apply at any time, but managers are looking for teachers who are up to speed and ready to deliver high quality lessons as soon as induction is finished. If you are invited for an interview and your application shows you haven’t been teaching for several years, you will need to convince the interview panel that you have been keeping up to date and won’t need retraining. |
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I teach yoga. Does that count? |
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There will be some skills in common – such as classroom management, understanding your learners and flexibility, but we really do need teachers who have an expert knowledge of TEFL across a wide range. Our students pay high fees and expect to be taught by an experienced TEFL specialist. We promise them that’s what they will get. |
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I did a PGCE and have been teaching Modern Foreign Languages for 9 years. Do I really need to start all over again? |
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Teachers with PGCE training and classroom experience are very useful to us. More and more of our students are school-age children coming for English lessons with us, and a lot of our teacher training involves working in state schools with local EFL teachers. But hardly any of our jobs are for teachers who exclusively teach Young Learners. We need TEFL specialists who can teach adults at all levels as well as children, and who are familiar with the course books and common TEFL exams such as FCE, CAE and IELTS. Unless you have a PGCE (or similar) in TEFL, you will need to do a CELTA or similar training course to qualify for most of our vacancies.
In Hong Kong we employ teachers who only teach Young Learners or Very Young Learners. For these posts we consider teachers with a PGCE in primary or a PGCE in MFL, and we don’t insist on a TEFL qualification. You would need experience of teaching EFL to children, though.
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I have a BA in English and an MA in Philology and English and have been teaching English in my country for 10 years. Will you employ me to teach in your centres? |
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As above, we need teachers who have specialised TEFL training, but the methodology is important too. Students can often choose between several language schools, and one of the reasons they choose to come to ours is because we use ‘communicative’ teaching methods which are student centred. If your teacher training didn’t train you to teach English with ‘communicative’ methods, then we would consider that you haven’t had the training you need to work for us. We are also looking for teachers who have experience of teaching similar kinds of courses and similar kinds of students. |
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Do I need to speak the local language in the place where I’m going? |
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No, except in some Western European countries (France, Italy, Spain) where you will need to speak to our young learners’ parents in their native language. In some countries we offer language training (especially Arabic) but you aren’t obliged to take it and you are not assessed. |
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Are all your contracts for two years? |
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Most of them are, because we invest a lot of time and money in recruiting you and getting you relocated. We also advertise short contracts from time to time, especially over the summer. In some countries managers will hire teachers for 12 months instead of 24, but 24 months is the standard. |
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What happens if I get there and I really don’t like it? |
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Our managers understand that some people take a while to settle in and if you have problems at any time the local team will give you a lot of support in sorting them out. Having spent time and money in recruiting you they won’t want to lose you if they can avoid it. If you decide you want to leave, the terms of your contract ask you to give three months notice. If we’ve paid out additional allowances to you, you may need to repay some of them. |
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The salaries are determined by the individual centres and are on a 10 point scale. Your place on the scale depends on your qualifications and experience, but almost everyone will begin at point 1. If you calculate what the equivalent salary would be in £ sterling and it looks less than you thought, remember you have to take account of the local cost of living and the other elements of the package on offer. In some countries, e.g. Saudi Arabia, you live in free or subsidised accommodation.
Some of our teaching centres don’t use a 10-point scale, but pay a flat rate according to your qualifications, not your experience. With this arrangement you don’t automatically step up the scale year after year.
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Can I choose where I go or do you just send me somewhere? |
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Yes, it is entirely up to you which centres you apply to |
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Can I apply for more than one vacancy? |
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Yes, but we do ask that if you are offered and accept a position with us in one centre, you withdraw your application for any other British Council teaching posts that are still in progress. |
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