EFL permit refused on a technicality

I recently applied for a permit to teach English as a foreign language (EFL) during the summer months. After I presented my certificates to the officers in charge I was told that unfortunately my TEFL course was not valid because it was of 30 hours duration while a 60-hour course was needed.

The 30-hour course, taken prior to 1998, in conjunction with a minimum of five years’ teaching experience, was considered valid until just some months ago, it seems.

Many others who applied for the EFL permit with just the 30-hour course were given their permit and have it renewed automatically every year.

The only reason I had never applied for a permit was because I had never been asked for it. Since my employers had always accepted my qualifications as perfectly valid and I was employed every summer, I did not even know of the permit’s existence until a very few months ago.

It is hard to understand how an EFL permit would be refused to a person holding a BA with a major in English and a B.Ed. to teach English together with over 20 years’ experience teaching English at secondary level, as well as over 15 years’ experience teaching English as a foreign language in accredited language schools.

I find it difficult to accept that a permit would be issued to an 18-year-old, straight out of school, with just an A-level in English and the 60-hour TEFL course but no teaching experience whatsoever, and yet be refused to the former.

I would ask how people can possibly feel they are justified in holding fast to rules which are clearly ridiculous in some cases. Every employer seeking to hire someone to do a skilled job always asks for and takes into major consideration the experience of his prospective employee. It seems that the EFL Permit Board, however, feel they should completely disregard experience as it is ‘intangible’. They also feel that issuing such a permit to an experienced person who holds a 30-hour rather than a 60-hour TEFL course, would set a precedent. Would it, in fact, be such a terrible precedent to set?

I would ask readers whether they would prefer to be taught English by a fully qualified teacher of long-standing EFL experience or by a newly qualified, 60-hour TEFL permit holder with an A-level in English but no experience whatsoever.

It would be interesting to see where, given the choice, people would prefer to invest their hard-earned cash and time to obtain a certificate in an important language needed for their future career or studies.