No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?

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No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« on: September 12, 2014, 02:50:59 PM »
I'm in Anhui Province and three new teachers had their papers sent off for Residency permits. One was OK - has a degree in English, the others were knocked back as despite good degrees they do not have a TEFL/CELTA or equivalent qualification.

It seems the government is beginning to crack down and demand "proper" qualifications.  The teachers go to Beijing next week for a one week course to "qualify"!

Anyone else seeing this tightening up of qualifications for FT's?
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Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2014, 03:36:15 PM »
Not at our school. As I mentioned in another post, most of our foreign teachers do not teach English, so a TEFL cert would be pointless.

Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2014, 07:45:24 PM »
It seems the government is beginning to crack down and demand "proper" qualifications.  The teachers go to Beijing next week for a one week course to "qualify"!

Anyone else seeing this tightening up of qualifications for FT's?

This is a money spinner nothing more - incidentally it's the last year this "qualifying course" will be running for those with less than two years of experience, so a little bird has told me.

How many years of experience are listed on their CVs?  That's more likely to be the issue, rather than a lack of a TEFL qual.

Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2014, 01:26:39 AM »
OK that explains things a bit better, they have less than one years teaching. The FOA here is not good at explaining these things so the poor guys have been left wondering what the real reason is. Thanks for that update


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Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2014, 11:23:40 AM »
Not at our school. As I mentioned in another post, most of our foreign teachers do not teach English, so a TEFL cert would be pointless.


Aside from the fact that most of these certificates are worthless anyway, anyone teaching in English is an English teacher, like it or not!

Although not compulsory, all teachers here in South Australia are encouraged to complete a certificate in teaching ESL students in mainstream classes, be it Maths, Science, History............
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Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2014, 12:15:21 AM »
Not at our school. As I mentioned in another post, most of our foreign teachers do not teach English, so a TEFL cert would be pointless.


Aside from the fact that most of these certificates are worthless anyway, anyone teaching in English is an English teacher, like it or not!

Although not compulsory, all teachers here in South Australia are encouraged to complete a certificate in teaching ESL students in mainstream classes, be it Maths, Science, History............

I'd argue though, that a certificate or course in teaching ESL students in mainstream classes would address quite a different set of skills and strategies. When I did my teaching certificate (for my home state), I had to do a module on "meeting the needs of a diverse group of students" which dealt with ESL, among other things. But it wasn't the same thing as what you would learn in a full on TEFL course. Yes, of course, when you are dealing with language learners, there is language learning involved in everything that they do. But I maintain that our calculus teacher doesn't need an actual TEFL cert in order to meet his student's needs.

Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2014, 07:03:35 PM »
It seems the government is beginning to crack down and demand "proper" qualifications.  The teachers go to Beijing next week for a one week course to "qualify"!

Anyone else seeing this tightening up of qualifications for FT's?

This is a money spinner nothing more - incidentally it's the last year this "qualifying course" will be running for those with less than two years of experience, so a little bird has told me.

How many years of experience are listed on their CVs?  That's more likely to be the issue, rather than a lack of a TEFL qual.

Have to agree with Bob on this one. One of my friends just graduated with her masters degree and was offered an English teaching job here in Kunming. Upon my recommendation, she also got a TEFL certificate. However her school applied for her work visa twice and she was denied twice. Based on this and other things I've heard, I tend to think the experience is more important. Though that seems silly to me, since it's so easy to fake an extra year of experience on one's CV.

She is also not from an English speaking country (she speaks standard American English but is from Ukraine) so that might also have been part of the problem. Who knows, really.
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Re: No TEFL/TOEFL/CELTA No Residence Permit?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2014, 12:34:00 PM »
I don‘t have one, none of the US undergraduate teachers hired by my Uni has one。 I honestly do not think a single one of my colleagues has a teaching certificate。 I think this is just like any other rule in China, complete and utter  bqbqbqbqbq I also agree with TLD。 Today I am teaching a lesson on the history of law enforcement in Britain from the the Hundred and the plights of the shire reeve to the Conventions of Oxford, establishing the Posse Commitatus rule, the Charleys of urban London, the establishing of the first constabulary in 1823, the McNaghten rule and the end of the Bloody Code and much, much more。。。。I don’t think a poxy certificate means bugger all for my classes。
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