The WTEFLAC’s code of practice guided its accreditation process and was intended to raise overall standards in the TEFL and TESOL sectors.
The WTEFLAC was founded with the main aim of raising overall standards in the TEFL and TESOL sectors. To do that it created an accreditation process that could guide students looking for courses, to ensure all providers met a minimum standard of quality. However, in a variable market, the WTEFLAC first had to define what those minimum standards were. To do this they drew up a code of practice which included a set of criteria each provider had to be judged against.
Designing the code of practice
The code of practice aimed to be inclusive of the varied range of courses available, while ensuring a clear definition of what a reputable provider could do. At the time the TEFL and TESOL sectors were becoming much more diverse with a growing range of companies coming into the environment.
These offered a variety of courses, in different formats at varying price points. From the top-grade comprehensive courses offering 160 hours or more of dedicated tuition, to lower-cost beginner courses or refresher courses for people on a budget each had their place. The challenge was to design criteria that accounted for that diversity, but still imposed standards.
To do that they looked at the key problems facing the TEFL sectors at that time which included:
- A rise of low-quality providers promising the world, but delivering little.
- A rise in fraudulent providers offering no real services.
- The use of marketing material which bore little relation to the content of the courses.
- A lack of oversight to ensure continual development.
- Courses that did little to prepare students for their future careers.
This led to a code of practice with the following criteria:
- Transparency: The marketing material was assessed against the actual course content to ensure it represented a clear and accurate description of what customers could expect.
- Tutor experience: All tutors had to be highly qualified with at least three years of practical experience teaching English as a foreign language.
- Course structure: Courses had to be laid out with a substantial element of peer-to-peer tuition.
- Assessment: Students should be allowed to complete the course within a reasonable space of time and given clear expectations of what was expected of them. Assuming they met those expectations, they should expect to receive a recognized qualification at the end of the course.
- Company culture: Each provider had to demonstrate a commitment to equal opportunities with all staff given clear opportunities for future career progression.
The providers were also assessed in detail which could include on-site visits to verify that they were legitimate companies operating legally in the US.
This code of practice therefore established what all providers – regardless of their size or nature – should be expected to deliver. As such any student looking for a new course could feel comfortable that all providers listed on the WTEFLAC website would be able to help them progress their career in any way they wished.