Wondering where to get your teaching certificate or master’s degree? Read on for all you need to know

In recent years, the only teacher qualifications the Gazette has provided information on have been at master’s level. In this issue we’ve decided to go right back to the beginning and start with cert courses.

In the midst of a pandemic, initial teacher training courses appear to be booming, as locked-down undergraduates and furloughed employees sign on for an ever-growing selection of online training courses. Even Cambridge Assessment has allowed online teaching practice at least for the duration.

As always in a recession, the Gazette has been receiving frantic emails from would-be trainees asking us whether the Bloggins certificate course is worth doing, not to mention the endless offers of articles from Bloggins Certificates Ltd, anxious to persuade our readership how wonderful they are.

So, on the pages overleaf, we’ve set out to explain the system of regulated qualifications, at least as it operates in Europe, while on page 50 our friends at Bridge in Denver explain the accreditation system for training courses as it operates in the USA.

If you’re reading this in the Antipodes and feel we haven’t explained how things work Down Under, feel free to let us know. Though, in our defence, we have listed every training centre for the Cambridge CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL in the English-speaking world – and even managed to squeeze in a mention of the certificates from TESOL International, TESOL Asia and the Scottish Qualification Authority on page 29.

“We’ve set out to explain the system of regulated qualifications”

Of course, we haven’t forgotten the master’s courses – after all, many teachers start with a master’s, because that’s the teaching qualification they need in their home country. Rather weirdly, however, in the UK, the British Council inspectors still won’t accept a master’s as a teaching qualification to work in an accredited language school, although they seem happy to wave through non- graduates with a certificate from our friends at Bloggings.

For our full listing of master’s courses in the UK and Ireland – plus our handy guide to understanding what their names actually mean and why the Scots schools all offer MScs – turn to page 34. We’re not promising our list is comprehensive, but we think it’s the most comprehensive one available, though do let us know if you run a course that we left out.

Finally, for those teachers who already have a certificate but aren’t yet ready for a master’s, on page 32 Ben Beaumont of Trinity College London, introduces its new certificates for practising teachers. They look to us like the answer to our non-graduate Bloggings teachers’ prayers: a degree-level qualification on the qualification register for England and open to experienced teachers. It’s definitely worth more than the paper it’s written on.