CELTA centre FAQs
FAQs about becoming a CELTA centre
- What is CELTA?
- Who is CELTA for?
- Who accredits the course?
- How many approved CELTA centres are there worldwide?
- What do I need to do to apply to become a CELTA centre?
- What are the key features of a CELTA course?
- What resources are required for delivering CELTA?
- What are the requirements for staffing a CELTA course?
- How can I get approved trainers?
- Can anybody train to become a trainer for Cambridge Teaching Awards?
- How do we design a CELTA course programme and when should this be submitted?
- How is the teaching practice provision in CELTA set up?
- What other support would our institution need to provide to run CELTA?
- What costs should I budget for when planning to run a CELTA course?
- What costs may be involved with regards to training my tutors?
- What resources may I need in addition to our centre resources?
- What marketing costs may be involved?
- What costs should I bear in mind when our centre starts running the CELTA course?
- What happens when there are a number of CELTA providers in my area?
- What is Cambridge ESOL's Equal Opportunity statement?
What is CELTA?
The Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) is an initial training course in English Language teaching. It is one of the range of Cambridge ESOL certificates and diplomas provided for teachers.
Who is CELTA for?
CELTA is designed as an initial teacher training course for applicants with no previous experience. It may also be suitable for applicants with some experience but little formal training in the field of ELT.
Who accredits the course?
The Cambridge ESOL Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) is an initial qualification for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, which is accepted throughout the world by organisations which employ English Language teachers.
The QCA in England, ACCAC in Wales and CCEA in Northern Ireland accredit CELTA as a Level 4 qualification in the UK's National Qualifications Framework. The accredited title is the Cambridge ESOL Level 4 Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA). Level 4 establishes CELTA as a degree level course. CELTA graduates receive credits towards undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in the UK, the US and other countries worldwide.
CELTA is also accredited as Module One of an integrated programme leading to the Cambridge ESOL Level 4 Certificate in Further Education Teaching Stage 3 and the Cambridge ESOL Level 4 Certificate for ESOL Subject Specialists.
How many approved CELTA centres are there worldwide?
There are currently over 286 approved centres worldwide providing CELTA courses for 12,000 trainees annually. Find approved CELTA providers.
What do I need to do to apply to become a CELTA centre?
We welcome applications from new centres with a commitment to providing quality teacher training based on best practice in language teaching. Institutions applying to run courses need to have been operating as a language centre for at least two years and must have local accreditation.
The first stage of the application process is a review of your institution in relation to the key features of approved CELTA courses. Before proceeding with your application we strongly advise you to read through the questions and answers provided in this section to ensure that your institution is able to meet our requirements.
Once you have considered the key features and the information provided in the following questions, you should complete the online enquiry form in order to request further information.
What are the key features of a CELTA course?
Courses can be flexible in order to meet different local needs and conditions but all:
- integrate theory and practice
- provide a minimum of 120 contact hours including: input, supervised lesson planning, teaching practice, feedback on teaching, peer observation, observation of experienced teachers and consultation time
- include 6 hours of assessed teaching practice per trainee
- include 6 hours' directed observation of live lessons taught by experienced ELT professionals or 4 hours' observation of live lessons plus 2 hours' observation of lessons on video
- include a minimum of 80 additional learning hours for reading, research, assignment writing and lesson preparation
- require the submission by each candidate of a portfolio of work including materials related to teaching practice and written assignments.
What resources are required for delivering CELTA?
You must be able to provide:
- An appropriate room which can serve as the CELTA base room for input. The room should be able to accommodate, with ease, 12 trainees, 2—3 tutors and an assessor.
- (At least) two appropriate rooms for teaching practice — one of these could be the base room. The rooms used for teaching practice will need to be large enough to accommodate the students, the teaching practice group, the trainer and assessor(s). Please note on CELTA courses, the trainees are assigned to teaching practice groups, which usually consist of 4—6 trainees. Trainees plan and prepare in groups and observe each other teach.
All the rooms mentioned above should be in a reasonable condition and be in an acceptable state of decoration. They should be suitably furnished and equipped for educational purposes.
You must also be able to provide:
- a study room/area for trainees' preparation
- a relaxation/refreshment area
- a private room for tutor discussion/tutorials with trainees
- class sets of coursebooks for trainees to use to prepare for teaching practice
- supplementary materials for trainees to use in teaching practice
- a suitable number of reference books for a dedicated CELTA course library (a list of suitable titles is available from the Cambridge ESOL Centre Approvals Administrator)
- photocopying facilities for tutors and trainees
- cassette recorders and other resources (e.g. overhead projector, video recorder, computer facilities).
What are the requirements for staffing a CELTA course?
Each CELTA course must have at least two Cambridge ESOL approved teacher trainers who are involved in all aspects of the course.
How can I get approved trainers?
- You can employ permanent trainers who already have experience of delivering CELTA.
- You can invest in the training of existing staff by sending them to an approved centre to follow a trainer-in-training programme.
You can employ freelance trainers to set up the course for you and possibly train teachers on your staff. These arrangements need to be set up in consultation with Cambridge ESOL. If you already employ experienced teacher trainers with experience of practice-based teacher training, Cambridge ESOL can provide induction programmes to familiarise your trainers with the administration and standards of the Cambridge awards.
Can anybody train to become a trainer for Cambridge Teaching Awards?
No, there are entry requirements for those interested in becoming trainers on Cambridge-approved teacher-training courses.
Potential CELTA trainers are required to:
- have the Cambridge ESOL DELTA or equivalent ELT qualification at Diploma level (MAs in ELT with a strong practical focus may also be acceptable provided the following two conditions are also met)
- have substantial, recent and varied ELT experience
- be able to demonstrate professional involvement in ELT.
Please note that it is important that the trainers you propose have sufficient and current experience of teaching English to speakers of other languages. CELTA trainers have to be familiar with the kinds of classes that trainees will teach and the materials trainees will be using.
You may have tutors who have very good academic qualifications but they may not be ideal for CELTA training purposes. CELTA is classroom based and trainers need to be able to bring a practical focus to their teacher training.
CVs for all proposed trainers and trainers-in-training must be submitted to the Cambridge ESOL Centre Approvals Administrator for approval.
How do we design a CELTA course programme and when should this be submitted?
Centres applying to run CELTA should use the CELTA course timetable for at least the first three courses that they run. If the centre wishes to use a different CELTA programme, this should be discussed with the Centre Registration Unit and this programme should follow the specifications outlined in the CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines (PDF 78Kb).
How is the teaching practice provision in CELTA set up?
Each candidate needs to teach for 6 hours (usually broken down into shorter slots leading to longer lessons as the course progresses). You must be able to provide students for teaching practice classes. Trainees are required to teach at a minimum of two different levels, one of which must be lower than intermediate and the other intermediate level or higher. 50% of teaching practice classes should consist of an average of eight students and classes can never fall below five students if they are to remain valid for assessment purposes.
If you only have a small number of English Language students in your institution, it will be difficult to provide enough teaching practice for your candidates. Recruiting additional learners from outside the school/college requires careful planning, so check that you will have enough ELT students available.
You must also be able to organise observations of experienced ELT professionals who can provide beneficial observation experience for CELTA candidates. Six hours' classroom observation of experienced ELT professionals is required.
What other support would our institution need to provide to run CELTA?
Your institution must be able to provide appropriate administrative resources and support for CELTA courses. A member of staff will need to deal with applications and a member/members of the teacher training team to supervise the selection procedure for applicants to CELTA courses and to interview prospective candidates.
What costs should I budget for when planning to run a CELTA course?
Acting as a Cambridge ESOL centre entails specific financial responsibilities. These responsibilities, and the associated procedures, are specified in the documentation which is provided by Cambridge ESOL once a centre is approved. The start-up costs for CELTA will vary depending on how much your centre needs to do, but possible costs may include the following:
- an advisory visit
- Centre Approval Fee (details of this available on request from ESOLHelpdesk@CambridgeESOL.org)
- induction for experienced ELT teacher trainers
- tutor training costs for less experienced or inexperienced trainers
- acquisition of resources
- marketing costs.
What costs may be involved with regards to training my tutors?
The cost of training tutors for CELTA will vary depending on whether you need to train one or two trainers. You will either need to include the cost of bringing in two freelance tutors to run two courses (the requirements for training two tutors), or alternatively, it may be possible for your tutors to be trained at an approved centre. Please note centres set their own trainer training fees which are usually at least equivalent to a candidate fee.
If your centre has been advised that one or more of your tutors could be inducted for CELTA, then induction costs will be involved which includes a fee and expenses (which may vary from case to case). An induction is a minimum of two days.
What resources may I need in addition to our centre resources?
The advisor will check the resources available at your centre and will ensure you have a good range of resources from the list and multiple copies of core books readily available for candidates. A copy of the recommended list for CELTA is available from Cambridge ESOL and you may need to include the cost of providing additional resources when you plan your course.
What marketing costs may be involved?
The cost of marketing the course to potential candidates may include designing a web page on your centre website (please note, once approved, we will detail your centre on our website), advertising in local papers and changing centre brochures to include information on the course.
Please note before final approval is issued, we do ask centres to ensure that all advertisements include the statement 'Subject to final approval by Cambridge ESOL Teaching Awards'.
What costs should I bear in mind when our centre starts running the CELTA course?
In addition to the start-up costs detailed above, there will also be operational costs. There is an entry fee, which is currently set at a minimum entry for 10 candidates.Centres are also asked to contribute to assessor travel, which is currently only applicable where flight costs are involved.
What happens when there are a number of CELTA providers in my area?
Where other centres in your area already offer the CELTA, you will be asked to consider the local market and provide statistical evidence in support of your application. The local centres will also be asked for their views on the demand for CELTA in the area. You should also consider offering the course in a different format i.e. part-time over several months if nearby centres are offering full-time intensive courses.
Please note that where there is extensive CELTA provision in a particular area, additional centres offering the course may not be approved.
What is Cambridge ESOL's Equal Opportunity statement?
The Cambridge ESOL Teaching Awards are based on the principal of open and equal opportunity for all, irrespective of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, creed, colour, race, ethnic origin, age or disability.
This principle is promoted in all aspects of course provision including:
- statements of eligibility for entry to all courses that are based solely on professionally relevant criteria
- the methods of recruitment, selection, briefing and training of all those working for or on behalf of Cambridge ESOL Teaching Awards
- language/assessment criteria based on the use of English in ELT classrooms worldwide.
All Cambridge ESOL Teaching Awards centres are required to have a clear commitment to equal opportunities and should have an equal opportunities policy, a copy of which should be enclosed with your application for approval.
All centres also need to have a procedure set out for handling complaints.
Details of your complaints procedure should be enclosed with your application for approval.
