CELTA course FAQS

Life (and work!) after CELTA

• Does your school help with job guidance and placement inside and outside Spain?
• What would be my chances of finding employment?
• When is the best time to look for work?
• Will I be able to find work in January?
• From which countries do you receive inquiries from employers needing English teachers?
• Roughly how much can a CELTA qualified teacher in Barcelona expect to earn?
• How much do I need to live on for the month immediately after the course...?
• ... and long term - tell me about house prices
• Is there any form of dress code in practice in teaching in Spain?

Does your school help with job guidance and placement inside and outside Spain?

One of the input sessions on the course is precisely about finding work, with your course tutors being an additional useful source of help and advice. There are generally trainees from the previous course still around and you will also find them well worth talking to for the very latest on the jobs front.

Apart from that, we have bulletin boards on which we post information about work. The language schools in the local area, knowing we run courses, often advertise vacancies with us.

We email you all the vacancies that reach us via our trainee support group.

While not guaranteeing employment, we do as much as we possibly can to help candidates with finding a job after the course.

What would be my chances of finding employment?

Your chances of finding a teaching job depend on a number of factors, including how employable you are, both in terms of your previous experience (obviously previous teaching experience is valued, particularly where there is a large supply of teachers for schools to choose from) and in terms of how you did on the course, your future plans, your reasons for wanting to teach, your attitude, your personality and a host of other factors.

A good CV will go some way to getting you a job, and being able to say you having experience teaching young learners, or in business, is also definitely a plus, as that is where there is a lot of demand.

We do not guarantee that a course participant will get a job. Anecdotal evidence however, suggests that virtually all of our trainees that want to stay in Barcelona (by no means all of them) do in fact find work without too much difficulty.

You are also certainly much more likely to find a position if you have done a CELTA course, with CELTA being widely seen by most reputable language schools as the minimum qualification required.

With so many centres around the world now offering TEFL courses, having done your CELTA at a centre with an excellent reputation like IH Barcelona definitely increases your prospects. It will also help if you are applying to any of the over 130 International House centres around the world.

When is the best time to look for work?

For most language schools the academic year begins in late September, with many vacancies being filled then or in October. However, schools may start looking for their new teachers around April/May.

In the gap in-between, there is a lot of summer course work, either in language schools or on summer camps. The latter (talk to Tom Walton about them) can be a great way to obtain that sometimes elusive first teaching job - elusive partly because you have perhaps not yet got any experience. It's Catch-22!

Some vacancies can occur in January, when new courses also begin. At other times of the year work crops up fairly regularly as new classes and in-company contracts can start.

It is tempting to say that April to September is therefore the best time. However, at other times of the year, while there are fewer vacancies, there are also far fewer people vying for the openings that are available.

Will I be able to find work in January?

January is in fact quite a good time to pick up work. Some teachers leave in December, some new groups open, so directors are looking for extra teachers. You need to be looking during the week prior to Christmas. It's also a good idea to be around from 1st/2nd January as well, as directors are at work, realising the possible vacancies they may have, and contacting teachers. Classes don't start until after 6th January, which is a public holiday: 'Kings Day'.

From which countries do you receive inquiries from employers needing English teachers?

Most employment tends to be done locally, although some non-Spain schools, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe, do let us know about their vacancies. We put them up on the noticeboard in the trainees' workspace.

Roughly how much can a CELTA qualified teacher in Barcelona expect to earn?

Pay and conditions vary a great deal. In Barcelona you can expect between €800 and €1,200 per month for 20 to 25 hours a week contact time. Most teachers find that they can easily supplement that with private work.

With very few exceptions, almost nowhere in the world do you go into ELT to get rich! But as a rule of thumb, English teachers' salaries are in line with the average wage and do allow a reasonable standard of living, though it's not easy to save.

How much do I need to live on for the month immediately after the course...?

You probably need around a minimum of €500 a month to live on, plus your rent, which could be €350-425 a month in shared accommodation. But of course, it all depends a lot on your personal lifestyle!

... and long term - tell me about house prices.

Renting a flat on your own is expensive - we're talking €600-700 and upwards for 80m2 or so, though you can get below that if you're prepared to live in the less fashionable outskirts.

House prices in Spain have shot up in the last five years. Even something small is going to cost you 30 million, pesetas, that is. Everyone here seems to talk house prices in pesetas, rather than euros, perhaps because the peseta was the currency when they could last afford to buy property. 30 million pesetas is roughly €175,000.

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Is there any form of dress code in practice in teaching in Spain?

Casual and clean is the most important, no suits necessary, though you may be expected to wear a shirt and tie for some in-company teaching classes.

The most important consideration in any context is the students - and the fact that you will be in front of them. Will what you are wearing look clean, comfortable, neat and professional, or will students be looking at your suntan, tattoos and underwear?

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