INTRODUCTION

The aim of this chapter is to describe the skills and knowledge that can be gained from second language teacher qualifications around the world and what level of expertise is valued by employing and institutions and accrediting bodies. The content is derived from current literature and from the experience, knowledge, and contacts of the authors, who have more than 60 years of experience in English language teaching and teacher training between them. Both public sector and private sector institutions are considered in these areas:

• • the processes of getting certification

• • an exploration of ways in which some countries have attempted to establish standards and criteria to describe both competency and excellence

• • the issues around these areas

In addition to considering the skills and expertise that training programs seek to inculcate, we will consider what it is that needs improvement in teacher-education programs. We include those programs that award an initial certificate to teach to be followed by a more substantial qualification after extended professional experience. We also discuss which qualifications, beyond the minimum, teachers may opt to study for, and what may motivate teachers to acquire these extra qualifications.

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

The four principal areas involved in professional recognition for ELT (English Language Teaching) work suggested by Martha Pennington are career structure, accountability, power base, and qualification (Pennington 1992). Regarding qualification, she advocates that:

Qualifications abound. In fact, the latest directory of professional preparation programs in TESOL (Garshick 2002) lists 400 programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the United States and Canada alone. There are many more offered in the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and around the world.