Peace Corps is currently engaged in a 30-month pilot of the training and professional development program that will lead to Peace Corps’ first-ever Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate. The certificate consists of 120 hours of field-vetted training sessions and practice teaching, followed by 2 years of supervised teaching experience. Curriculum design, field-testing, creation of standards and learning assessments, and an online learning management system have been under way since July 2010. The certificate will prepare Volunteers to teach in a variety of English teaching contexts. The program is being piloted at one post in each of Peace Corps’ three regions beginning in spring of 2014: Armenia, Madagascar, and Nicaragua.

The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) is the external validator for the program. During the pilot period, CAL will review the content, structure, and management of all aspects of the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate program, along with the effectiveness of training delivery and Volunteer growth as teachers. Later, CAL will provide periodic reviews to ensure that training is up-to-date and rigorous.

The Need

Two factors drive the need for a Peace Corps TEFL certificate. First, many countries see high-functioning English speaking citizens as a key to accessing the global economy. As a response to this demand, host country partners have increasingly requested “certified teachers.” Peace Corps’ response has been the TEFL Certificate.

Second, as this demand for higher competency in English has grown, so has a plethora of private English teaching certificate programs, many of which are of questionable quality and value. A robust training and supervision program validated by a recognized external organization (i.e., CAL) ensures that Peace Corps Volunteers will earn a certificate with professional credibility.

TEFL Certificate Goals

• TEFL Volunteers can meet global professional English teaching standards in response to host country requests.
• TEFL Volunteers are engaged and confident in their teaching and satisfied with their technical training.
• TEFL Volunteers, at completion of service, earn a recognized English teaching credential that accurately represents the quality of their training and validates their two 2 years of teaching experience.

The Intended Value of the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate

The Peace Corps TEFL Certificate Training curriculum is designed to be equal, or superior, to any of the preservice Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages/Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TESOL/TEFL) certificates. In addition, the 2 years of supervised teaching experience attests that Volunteers are seasoned, competent English language teachers. In EFL settings where there are no established, widely recognized certificates that validate training and teaching experience, many think that the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate will be perceived as a robust credential.

The value of the Peace Corps TEFL Certificate in the United States will be determined when Volunteers in the first pilot programs return to the United States. However, some have suggested that the certificate could provide a minimum credential for entering the U.S. State Department’s English Language Fellows program, and others have suggested it could be seen as a potential credential for positions in university intensive English programs. The TEFL Certificate will bear no college credit, but some institutions may consider (as they do now for returned Volunteers) waiving practicum or student teaching experience. The certificate will be a solid credential to teach in many private English language schools.

Training is Required of All TEFL Volunteers at Pilot Posts

Participation in the training and supervised teaching experience leading to a Peace Corps TEFL Certificate is required regardless of a Volunteer’s previous credentials or experience. This is primarily because the training represents the professional development that the posts feel necessary and appropriate for TEFL Volunteers teaching in their countries; the training is, only secondarily, required to satisfy requirements for the certificate.

The TEFL Certificate curriculum provides some flexibility for those who have already done English language teaching coursework. Because Volunteer success in training is based on meeting standards in a series of learning assessments related to training and not on participating in specific training sessions, those who already have had previous coursework may be able to demonstrate competency on learning assessments without sitting for every related training session.

The Structure

Two major components: Training and Supervised Teaching Experience

A. Training is approximately 110 hours in duration and includes the following:

Predeparture Training

• Four e-learning training sessions introduce invitees to an understanding of the teacher role, lesson planning, and lesson delivery, and they provide an overview of language teaching methodology and English grammar.

Preservice Training

• Twelve to thirteen weeks of technical, cross-cultural, medical, safety and security, and language training takes place in the Volunteer’s country of service.
• Training includes a model school or practicum component where Volunteers gain teaching practice and observe others teaching.

Inservice Training

Experience shows that the content of some training is more effective after Volunteers have acquired more classroom experience. After preservice training, when Volunteers are at their sites, they may have one or more inservice trainings that could last from one day to a week.

B. Supervised Teaching Experience: Volunteers learn from each other and TEFL project staff in an ongoing, online teacher Community of Practice (six quarterly, 2-hour events)

• Volunteers and staff participate together in a teacher Community of Practice which is anchored by quarterly online events and includes discussion boards, chats, and activities to consolidate and expand Volunteers’ command of English Language Teaching (ELT) theory and practice and to problem-solve and share successes with each other.
  
  
• Volunteers are observed by trainers at key points during their training and service, and Volunteers observe other teachers (as peers) to ensure their growth as teachers and to thoroughly contextualize their teaching experience.

Implementation Timeline for the TEFL Certificate Pilot

February 2014–September 2014

• Staff training on delivering the new curriculum at the three posts (with the participation of staff representatives from eight other posts)
• Piloting begins at the three posts, with three nonpilot posts that serve as controls
• Inclusion of TEFL Certificate funding needs in Peace Corps’ budgeting process

October 2014–September 2015

• Post, headquarters, and CAL monitoring of training effectiveness at the three pilot posts through the period
• Guidance to other posts on criteria for submitting an Expression of Interest on how to enter the TEFL Certificate program

October 2015–September 2016

• Evaluation/conclusion of the pilot phase of the certificate program
• Launch of the next cohort or TEFL Certificate program posts (10 posts per year until all posts that desire have entered the program), with the first 10 posts being selected based on their Expressions of Interest

Brock Brady is currently education specialist and TEFL lead at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, DC. A past president of TESOL International, Brady taught and codirected the TESOL program at American University in Washington, DC. A former Peace Corps Volunteer himself, Brady has taught, directed, or consulted for English language teaching programs in more than 40 countries.