Associateship in TESOL with Teaching Practice and Associateship in TESOL

(The single asterisked items indicate the criteria for a Teaching Practice element.)This is considered a guide and course providers are encouraged to exceed the minimum requirements when submitting courses for accreditation.

A: Entry profile

Successful applicants:
•    will have a standard of education which would allow entry to higher education.
•    will be a minimum age of 18 at the time of registration.
•    will have an awareness of, and an interest in, language.
•    will demonstrate enthusiasm and an aptitude for teaching.
•    will have a competence in English, both written and spoken, that enables them to follow the course as appropriate to a teacher of the language**

**IELTS band 6 or above

B: Exit profile

A successful candidate at this level will be eligible for TESOL initial teaching qualified status. Specifically the objectives of the course should enable a teacher at this level to demonstrate:

1.    an awareness of language and an understanding of the systems of English commonly taught in low and high level TESOL classes.
2.    an understanding of the needs, background and motivation of the students.
3.    an ability to create and maintain students’ interest and establish rapport.
4.    a knowledge of commonly used teaching approaches, and an ability to use a range of effective teaching techniques.
5.    an ability to employ effective classroom management techniques. *
6.    an ability to plan and teach a class over a series of lessons. *
7.    an ability to evaluate his/her own effectiveness as a teacher. *
8.    an ability to foster learning in the students.
9.    an ability to use appropriate evaluation and assessment techniques.
10.   an awareness that this is an initial training process.
11.   the potential to continue his/her development as an English teacher.

C: Length of course

Timetabled course hours: a minimum of 115 hours - the minimum length of an intensive course should be 4 weeks. There should be a time tabled minimum period of 30 hours for reading/research, completing assignments and preparing lessons. Some of this time may be scheduled before and/or after the time tabled course e.g. pre course reading and tasks.

Number of trainer contact hours:
•    a minimum of 100 hours where a candidate is interacting with a trainer, either in input sessions, tutorials, counselling or feedback sessions.
•    such interaction may be face to face or at a distance providing the tutor is engaged actively with the trainee/trainees work/giving feedback.
•    Guided purposeful observation of qualified and experienced teachers: a minimum of 8 hours of which 4 should be live lessons while the rest can be videoed lessons or lessons in which the trainees themselves are foreign language learners in which case there must be structured observation tasks.

D: Curriculum

The course will provide coverage of at least the following areas, with associated minimum percentage of the overall input. The number of hours spent on these and additional areas will depend on the needs and interests of the groups. These areas will often be integrated.

A minimum of 20% language: knowledge/awareness of language commonly taught in beginner to upper intermediate syllabuses, in these areas:
•    grammar.
•    vocabulary/lexis.
•    phonology.
•    discourse.

A minimum 20% methodology: commonly used techniques for:
•    teaching English language systems (grammar, vocabulary/lexis, phonology, discourse).
•    teaching language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
•    establishing rapport.
•    effective classroom management.
•    conducting a range of activity types.
•    monitoring and evaluation of students.
•    methods of giving appropriate feedback.
•    lesson and unit planning.

A minimum of 10% on resources: use of classroom facilities and teaching resources to facilitate learning.

A minimum 10% on learners: commonly used techniques for:
•    assessing learners needs.
•    raising learner’s awareness and facilitating effective learning strategies.

E: Assessment

The knowledge and skills specified in Curriculum will have been demonstrated. Specifications to be made clear: the format, scope, course components assessed, and grading criteria:

1. a minimum of 6 hours on teaching practice and lesson planning. *
2. the practical teaching assessment to include execution and reflection on the lesson. *
3. guidelines for judging a lesson of sufficient standard to be available to assessors. *
4. in assessing the quality of performance, weighting given to the practical teaching element must be no less than that given to the written element.
5. written work that demonstrates practical knowledge of those areas specified in Curriculum and which is externally moderated.
6. practical assignments/exercises which between them should cover the following:
•    the language systems of English (grammatical, lexical, and phonological) e.g. exercises; descriptions of why a particular grammar point might be difficult for certain learners etc.
•    learners and their needs, e.g. a learner profile etc.
•    classroom teaching, e.g. lesson plans and/or reflection activities.
•    use of resources, e.g. evaluation of a course book, adaptation/development of materials for use in a lesson(s) etc.
7. internally assessed work to be assessed by more than one person.
8. written work to meet standards of spelling, style and presentation appropriate for a teacher of English.
9. the candidate must gain an overall pass in both the written (and practical teaching elements) * in order to gain an overall pass on the course.

F: Quality Assurance

1. the qualification will be validated by The College of Teachers.
2. the external validating /examining scheme must be independent of the course providers.
3. the standardisation and moderation procedures will follow The College’s procedure for the Associateship which follow HE practice.
4. the names, experience and qualifications of all chief examiners, moderators and external examiners will be approved by the Awards Committee.
5. complaints and disagreements about the awarding or non awarding of qualifications will be handled by The College’s appeal procedures.
6. statistics on current and past examination results and number of candidates entered must be made available to the Awards Committee from time to time.
7. to be eligible for accreditation, a qualification will have been in existence for at least two years, or evidence of at least two years’ piloting and evaluation will be available.
8. course trainers will be approved by the Awards Committee and they and their Centre must become Members or Institutional Members of The College thereby accepting its Code of Professional Practice which means that there is an ongoing programme of training and standardisation for all a Centre’s trainers.
9. the minimum requirements for main trainers on the course will normally be a TESOL Diploma qualification or its equivalent and three years recent and relevant teaching and training experience.
10. new trainers will undertake an appropriate induction programme, approved and monitored by The College of Teachers, and which includes one or more of the following:
•    the observation of all or part of a course.
•    briefing/training/mentoring by a trainer who has considerable experience of the course.
•    handbooks, guides and manuals.
12. The College reserves the right to make visits to ensure that the full programme is being delivered and that teaching and learning standards are being maintained.
13. course entry requirements will be clearly specified in the pre-course publicity.
14. there will be clear specifications of the academic resources available to trainers and candidates:
•    a range of resource books for teachers which cover the areas specified in the curriculum.
•    a range of up-to-date teaching materials covering all relevant language areas and skills at the levels covered by the curriculum.
15. there will be suitable and sufficient premises for the delivery of the course, including provision for private study where appropriate.
16. there will be effective measures for the evaluation of the course by participants and evidence that action is taken on areas where dissatisfaction is expressed and the results must be communicated to The College such as:
•    Use of mid- and post course questionnaires, focus groups etc.
•    An opportunity for participants to meet the assessor/examiner in order to give opinions on the course.
•    Checking by assessors /examiners that feedback from participants is acted upon by course providers where appropriate.

G: Standardisation Procedures

The minimum requirements for all external assessors/moderators:
•    A TESOL Diploma Level qualification or its equivalent.
•    a minimum of three years’ experience as a teacher of English.
•    recent/current experience as a trainer on courses at Certificate (Associateship) Level.
•    a record of professional development, e.g. attendance on INSET courses and professional conferences.

All examiners/assessors will be required to be up-to-date in developments and standards of the course.
•    examiners/assessors to undergo appropriate briefing/training on at least an annual basis
•    evidence of the evaluation by examiners/assessors of the relevance and usefulness of training to be provided.

Effective induction procedures for new examiners/assessors successful completion of a training programme and/or guidelines which cover all relevant areas:
•    course content.
•    management.
•    administration.
•    assessment procedures.

The performance of examiners/ assessors will be monitored. Examiners/assessors whose work or attendance at briefing/training events is unsatisfactory or infrequent will be removed from the panel.
•    performance records to be kept.
•    satisfactory feedback received from course trainers.
•    random course assessments to be double checked by a chief assessor/ examiner.