Perhaps the communication gap can be the most wide yet easy to fill space between speakers of different languages. This can easily be solved by selecting a common language to interact. English, for instance, has the privilege of fulfilling this task since many decades for purposes like business and beyond. Most notably, that international students are less and less likely to use assignment help when the tasks are in English, as this language is already familiar to almost everyone.
Aside from its native speakers, there are a huge number of its non-native speakers as well. Broadly speaking, non-native English language speakers can be categorized as those who learn it as ESL and EFL.
What is ESL and EFL?
ESL stands for ‘English as a second language’. ESL refers to English learners residing in English speaking countries like USA & UK.
EFL stands for ‘English as a Foreign Language’. EFL refers to English learners residing in non-English countries like Middle East & China.
To offer the best possible English learning experience, institutions offering ESL and EFL courses hire TEFL and TESOL teachers certified from some of the finest accrediting centres in English speaking countries like UK.
Accredit Centres in UK
Accredit in education is the process of certifying and acknowledging that a certain school, college or university fulfills the minimum criteria as set by experts of a field to offer any subject course or program relating to it. Basically, accreditation acts like an external assurance to honor your professional capabilities in any specific area.
Why get accredited?
If you are planning to become an EFL/ESL instructor, getting recognition from some top accredit centre in an English speaking country can help you go a long way towards building a safe and reliable career. To help you chose the right accrediting partner for you, we have selected to review the three best accrediting centres in UK.
1 # ACTDEC Accreditation
ACTDEC is an independent and not-for-profit accreditation organization that works on providing frameworks and structures for only online long distance training programs to TESOL teacher-training institutions around the world.
Each distance training program offered for accreditation by ACTDEC comprises of 5 levels starting from level two till level six. Interested teacher-training provider willing to follow with the accreditation guidelines set by ACTDEC independent panel have 12 months to achieve recognition at any of the five levels in any approved course. Each grading level requires different number of course hours to complete.
Upon successfully getting accredited in any approved course, member institutes have the permission to display the grading symbol granted by ACTDEC next to its courses to show its affiliation and commitment towards maintaining high quality standards to prepare TEFL/TESOL teachers.
Only distance learning courses are accredited
While many other bodies offer face-to-face teaching accreditation programs, ACTDEC sees online accrediting of distance training programs as an opportunity to evade the risks associated with non-accredited TESOL/TEFL teacher-training providers.
A brief history of ACTDEC
ACTDEC was founded in 1993 by a group of TESOL distance education providers in an effort to provide a credible source of accrediting TESOL/TEFL courses. As of now, there website lists four full accredited members offering different courses at different levels. Out of these four, three members are based in UK while one is based in Canada.
2 # ACCREDITAT Accreditation
ACCREDITAT is also an independent international accreditation body for the providers and students of TEFL/TESOL engaged in face-to-face, online and distance learning programs. In addition to TEFL/TESOL, ACCREDITAT also accredits training providers and participants of other face-to-face, online and distance learning courses.
Who governs ACCREDITAT?
ACCREDITAT is a division of another international learning and training organization called Training Issues Limited. Training Issues Limited itself has an experience of more than a decade of working with some top global corporations. This vast working experience have helped Training Issues Limited and its associates like ACCREDITAT form expert and industry best set of rules and guidelines in providing reliable accreditation for TEFL/TESOL and other courses.
On its website, ACCREDITAT lists some 18 member companies whom it recognizes as accredited providers of TEFL/TESOL courses of various nature and length.
How/Why register and benefits?
To register as ACCREDITAT accredit learning partners, TEFL/TESOL and Training partners must go through a set of lengthy process mentioned on their website. Upon successfully becoming a member of ACCREDITAT, they can use its logo beside their name to show their affiliation with ACCREDITAT. To keep a check on its members, ACCREDITAT also involves in feedback and time-to-time monitoring of the practices used by them.
ACCREDITAT for students and participants
For TEFL/TESOL students and other training participants registered with any of ACCREDITAT members, ACCREDITAT provides an extra certificate mentioning ACCREDITAT as parent accrediting body. This is in addition to the certificate provided by its accredited training provider. ACCREDITAT charges separate fees for this service. This way, TEFL/TESOL students and training participants in other courses can add dual accreditation to their academic credentials.
3 # ACCRIN Accreditation
ACCRIN is another independent international accreditation body that works quite similar to ACCREDITAT. With over 10 years of experience of working with international organizations and non-native English speaking personnel’s, ACCRIN has developed a set of high standards to accredit TEFL/TESOL providers and students, as well as providers and participants of other courses.
Benefits of ACCRIN Accreditation
For TEFL/TESOL teachers and other course providers, getting an ACCRIN accreditation serves multiple benefits. These include tested competence of offered courses for risk reduction, strict adhering to a set of rules to develop participants and employers confidence in training providers, and continuously engaging members with ongoing training programs to help them stay up-to-date with latest developments in course materials and industry practices.
ACCRIN for students and participants
For students and participants enrolled with ACCRIN accredited training providers, ACCRIN also offers a separate certificate to validate their involvement in the course. This is in addition to the certificate provided by the ACCRIN accredited training provider.
Registering as an ACCRIN member
The registration process for getting ACCRIN accreditation is also quite similar to that of ACCREDITAT and is listed on its website. And much like ACCREDITAT, ACCRIN also have a rigorous way of moderating its members and their teaching practices from time-to-time.
Moderation by ACCRIN
Moderation means keeping a constant check on how the training providers accredited by ACCRIN enable sound practices to keep up with its accreditation framework. A perfectly devised moderation system serves many objectives such as checking whether course assessments are reliable, fair and credible. This gives an idea on what area of a certain course need to be discontinued or enhanced. It also helps in evaluating the performance of trainers and how well can they transmit their knowledge to the students. Getting timely feedback is also part of the moderation process.
End note
When searching for an online accrediting program, you might come across a number websites offering certifications guaranteeing a successful journey ahead. The truth is many of these websites are just fake organizations trying to rip you off your hard earned money. Make sure that you evaluating these websites through multiple ways for example like checking their facts and reading user reviews in order to select the best one for you. A right accrediting body will not only upgrade your existing professional status but will also help you to maintain and enhance it in future.