The WTEFL provided crucial guidance and reassurance for anyone looking to choose a TEFL or TESOL course. Here’s why it was set up and how it fulfilled its mission.
Whether you’re looking to open up a new source of income or finance an overseas adventure a TEFL or TESOL course can allow you to turn the page onto an exciting new chapter. However, with demand rising, it became increasingly difficult to tell the difference between high-quality providers and others offering courses that were not worth the paper they were written for.
The WTEFLAC’s mission
The World TEFL Accrediting Commission was set up with a clear mission – to raise standards in the TEFL and TESOL sectors, and to give customers the information they needed when choosing a course.
The organization was set up to counter the rise of unscrupulous operators which put potential students at risk and threatened the reputation of the entire sector. It would bring accountability and transparency into a sector that had previously lacked either.
Without any regulation, anyone was able to set up a TEFL course. Now these companies would still be able to set themselves up but it would be more difficult for them to avoid scrutiny. A company without an accreditation mark would be a clear red flag.
Providing guidance
With more people than ever looking to teach English as a foreign language, the WTEFLAC also served as a valuable information resource, giving people access to the information they needed to find the right course for them and take their TEFL careers onto the next step.
The WTEFLAC website became an information hub with guides and blogs providing users with information about the TEFL sector together with useful hints and tips that could help people build their own skills – such as advice on drawing up lesson plans and managing classes.
Supporting students and businesses
The WTEFLAC’s work benefited all reputable players in this sector. It gave businesses the tools they needed to demonstrate value to customers and provided anyone interested in starting a course with the tools they needed to make a more informed choice.
The accreditation process itself was a valuable learning exercise for companies. It enabled them to take time out and review their operations against best practices and see how they compared to the others.
Any company that failed the accreditation process, for example, would be able to see where they were failing and take remedial action accordingly. Those who did pass would still be able to identify opportunities for improvement which would help them go beyond offering the bare minimum. The result was to encourage overall improvement across the industry – in the quality of the courses, the availability of information, and protections for customers.
The WTEFLAC’s purpose, therefore, was to bring structure and transparency into the sector. It supported the positive players in the market and made life more difficult for the negative. In so doing they made life easier for anyone looking to find an exciting new career teaching English.