Am I qualified to teach English?

If you graduated from University with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Sciences then the answer to that question is yes, you are qualified, in certain countries. Korea, Japan and even Taiwan in certain cases are countries that are accepting of almost any degree and who pay their teachers a competitive salary. And if you have previous teaching experience then you are also qualified. But this is misleading. Many employers choose to ignore previous teaching experience because of the higher salary it entails. Schools in some countries are specific about the experience you have, i.e. If you have taught in Korea for several years, and wish to move to Taiwan, you are highly unlikely to receive additional pay for a new job because the experience wasn’t in Taiwan.

Just because a school is willing to hire you does not necessarily make you qualified to teach either. This is aggravating if you accept a new job thousands of miles from home and discover only after you arrive you are being paid less and working for a disreputable school because you lacked the proper qualifications. ESL teachers are hired for many reasons (James, article reference to experiments article)

There were many instances in 2007 where, in both in local and foreign online magazines, it was reported that English as a Second Language education was generally poor in quality. The list of complaints stretched anywhere from a lack of experience in the classroom, to the education of the teachers not pertaining to English teaching.

On one website it was reported that in Korea, “Only 3 percent [of current English teachers] have a teaching qualification, while 2 percent have a qualification that relate to the teaching of English in a foreign language setting” http://www.tesol-law.com/Vol_1_2006_rk.php

And there have been recent cases of foreign teachers illegally teaching with fake degrees. On another website it was reported “A Canadian English instructor who was arrested for using a forged bachelor's degree to get a visa and a job in Korea has been sentenced to jail.” http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200707/200707160021.html

But Korea is not the only country currently experiencing negative feedback about the quality and qualifications of its English teachers. The Thai government has had many of the country’s English language and other educational institutions investigated to ensure their teachers are adequately certified. Many EFL teachers in Thailand are now required to take special modules in Education to retain and maintain a legal teaching job.

As mentioned in a previous article in http://www.esldaily.org/, even Saudi Arabia is now questioning the qualifications of its ESL teachers. http://esldaily.blogspot.com/2007/12/speaking-english-doesnt-mean-you-can.html

“What is a qualified English teacher?” It’s a very difficult question to answer because the word “qualified” has many definitions. If you have a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature or Education, a TESOL certificate, or even a Masters degree you will be considered a qualified teacher depending upon the country in which you teach. Not all degrees are considered equal.

There are also teachers who have obtained a PhD in TESOL. These teachers should by all accounts be deemed the most qualified to teach English as a Second Language. And although this is true, over qualification actually decreases your chances of finding employment in many sectors of the ESL market. A private study published on the web last year showed that English job seekers who possessed post-graduate education and teaching experience had less opportunity for employment.
http://korean-school.blogspot.com/2007/04/korean-trends-education-vs-experience.html

In the report, a Bachelor of Education was the degree that showed the greatest potential and success in finding employment. Nonetheless, a degree in English literature had a higher chance of success than a Masters degree in TESOL. Experience was also shown to decrease the amount of job options.

Returning to the original question, are “we” qualified to teach English? One must first look at what are we being hired for. Many experienced and inexperienced teachers alike are now being regarded as unqualified because of their degrees. At the same time legitimately qualified teachers are being overlooked and denied employment because they are overqualified. On occasion they are even discriminated against because of their age, sex, race, etc.

Perhaps it is the responsibility of the educational institutes to properly train teachers. The demand is there for teachers and the teachers are willing to teach. Are the educational institutes ready to accept the responsibility to guide and train its teachers? An international job in high demand should set up programs to deal with its new teachers. I have been an ESL teacher for seven years and have been to many “professional conferences” designed to enhance teaching abilities. However, the majority of these conferences tend to focus less on improving the quality of a teacher’s abilities and more on “cultural adaptation” to the host country.

In a personal opinion, I believe there is no such thing as a REAL qualified ESL teacher. Nothing can prepare someone for the classroom more than experience itself, and if the educational institutes do not appreciate experience, they are always going to have problems with finding a “qualified teacher.”

Korea Jim