# Qualifications needed to teach in spain



## matt4068 (Jan 1, 2013)

Hi everyone! I have read the main page about teaching in Spain and it mentioned needing qualifications such as TEFL or CELTA. I was wandering what my possibilities of teaching in Spain were (i would be looking for a decent dependable income so i can live happily and possible save a little).

I have 4 years experience teaching English in Peru, two years in an English institute and two years in a bilingual school. I don't know if it would be worth mentioning to a school in spain, but i have been a tutor of 4th and 5th year of secondary.

I have a TEFL Qualification (but personally think they are useless) and a honors degree in something completely unrelated to teaching  (computer games design).

If i were to move to Spain would there be decent job opportunities with my experience? or should i look at getting a CELTA or PGCE? Also are online CELTA or PGCE courses recommended, or not worth the paper they are written on?

regards,
Matt


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

matt4068 said:


> Hi everyone! I have read the main page about teaching in Spain and it mentioned needing qualifications such as TEFL or CELTA. I was wandering what my possibilities of teaching in Spain were (i would be looking for a decent dependable income so i can live happily and possible save a little).
> 
> I have 4 years experience teaching English in Peru, two years in an English institute and two years in a bilingual school. I don't know if it would be worth mentioning to a school in spain, but i have been a tutor of 4th and 5th year of secondary.
> 
> ...


hi

if you're wanting to work privately or in a language academy then you already have the qualifications you'd need

to work in a state school you'd need a degree in education & then get it recognised (homologado) by Spain - then you'd have to sit _oposiciones _in order to actually get get a job

you might want to check out the British Council - there's a scheme for English teachers to work as language assistants in Spanish schools

to work in a British/International school you'd need a PGCE


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

matt4068 said:


> Hi everyone! I have read the main page about teaching in Spain and it mentioned needing qualifications such as TEFL or CELTA. I was wandering what my possibilities of teaching in Spain were (i would be looking for a decent dependable income so i can live happily and possible save a little).
> 
> I have 4 years experience teaching English in Peru, two years in an English institute and two years in a bilingual school. I don't know if it would be worth mentioning to a school in spain, but i have been a tutor of 4th and 5th year of secondary.
> 
> ...




CELTA is sometimes said to be the most favoured qualification for language teaching, but wouldn't give you any real advantage as you already have TEFAL. Many people seem able to find work in Spanish language academies, but it's not well paid. I doubt you would find it enough to live comfortably and save. Of course, you could supplement your income by building a business in language teaching but that would take a few years.

As Zab has already explained, you would need proper teaching qualifications to teach in a Spanish state school, so that's pretty much out of the question.

With your TEFAL and experience, you could perhaps get a teaching assistant job in an International School, but again it's not particularly well paid.

Teaching in a reputable International School would earn you better money, but you would need your PGCE. I do not believe it is possible to achieve this qualification online. You would need to be accepted by a UK university and study full time (some part time courses are available) while being available for placements in the UK and your probationary teaching period to achieve full registration. There is one course available from a UK institute which can be undertaken by distance learning but, I believe, you have to complete your probation in the UK if you are to gain full registration.


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

We have recently filled a full time vacancy to teach English at the academy where i work. The wage was 1200 euro a month + social security. Where we live you can rent a 3 bed house for 200 euro a month excluding bills.


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

Cazzy said:


> We have recently filled a full time vacancy to teach English at the academy where i work. The wage was 1200 euro a month + social security. Where we live you can rent a 3 bed house for 200 euro a month excluding bills.


Glad you got the vacancy filled, Cazzy. 

Just to present a balanced picture though, city life, where much of the work and academies are, is much more expensive. A room in a shared flat could be around 300 euros a month, and the pay from an Academy contract, usually part time hours, maybe around 600 - 800 euros.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

I would look at jobs that are advertised and see what they are asking for and what they pay. If you want a dependable salary, then you'll need a private school (state school is not a possibility atm unless you do civil exams competing with Spaniards) or an academy.
Look here
tefl.com
or
infojobs.net
Most ask for a _*recognised *_TEFL qualification , which IMHO is very useful, and some experience...


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## goingtobcn (Sep 9, 2012)

Argh just lost long reply... basically there are loads of TEFL qualifications out there but these are mostly not the recognised ones as PW says - recognised are Cambridge CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL. You do however have lots of experience so as PW says, see what schools are looking for to see whether you'd really need to obtain one of these. Best of luck and let us know how you get on


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## goingtobcn (Sep 9, 2012)

P.s. my post refers to teaching English as a foreign language in an academy/language school


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## dstarkey (Jan 4, 2013)

Back to the PGCE, after the application form procedure you need a degree to get an interview, some will not accept you if, say your degree is in history and you wish to study an IT PGCE.

It would be difficult to do part-time from a distance due to the amount of work, research, assignments and presentations the course involves, and as mentioned earlier there are two school placements which last about 2-3 months each, again with assignments on top of your teaching preparation, lesson plans, schemes of work etc.

Then following the completion of the course you'd need to gain employment in a UK school as an NQT, newly qualified teacher, and then successfully complete all the tasks that go with the documentation to survive your first year, to gain the full qualification.

Even then, employment in Spain is not guaranteed! Most TEFL website advertised posts look for two years experience. From what I understand, you need to be doing some leg work seeking out the smaller private schools in the suburbs.


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## Cabanillas (Feb 2, 2013)

You can work in a state school in La Comunidad de Madrid as an auxiliar de conversación with just a degree. The pay is €1000 per month for 16 hours per week (usually 4 days per week). This would leave time for a second teaching job to supplement your earnings.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Cabanillas said:


> You can work in a state school in La Comunidad de Madrid as an auxiliar de conversación with just a degree. The pay is €1000 per month for 16 hours per week (usually 4 days per week). This would leave time for a second teaching job to supplement your earnings.


I don't know what scheme this refers to, but in the places offered by the Ministry of education the figure quoted is 700€
- Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte
I don't know why, but i can only find it in Spanish.


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## karen evans (May 31, 2011)

*Teaching in Spain*

Hi Matt,

I have been doing private English classes here for the last 2 years. You cannot expect to earn the same hourly rate as you would for one-to-one in England but the language schools and academies pay really badly (although personally have never been down that route). I have the CELTA but none of the students/parents have ever asked what qualifications I have as all my new classes come from recommendations. I also find that most of my classes are from 3.30-9 in the evening as I teach a lot of children. Also all classes get cancelled every time there is a holiday and most stop from end of June to beginning of october for the summer holidays. But you can pick up a lot of work from students who need to retake their English exams in September (if students here fail more than 2 subjects they get held back a year), you also get students wanting to just practice speaking.

Just remember you have a massive advantage being a native speaker as all English teachers in the schools here are Spanish and most of their pronunciation is appalling! Also they do very little speaking in class.

Hope that helps.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I don't know what scheme this refers to, but in the places offered by the Ministry of education the figure quoted is 700€
> - Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte
> I don't know why, but i can only find it in Spanish.


More info here
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-english-language-assistants.html#post1044724


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## NathanInSpain (Sep 23, 2012)

currently work as a language assistant in a public school in Madrid. I can confirm that I get paid 1000 euros a month, which works out at 15 euros an hour. Maybe this is only in Madrid though? It's worth noting that the 1000 euros is also tax free as it is treated as a grant rather than a wage.

As for doing a PGCE, I would say the best way to do it would be to do the equivalent masters in Spain. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist from primary education but does for secondary. You would then have to do the oposicion exam to work in a state school. I would think you'd probably get a grant for the masters that would cover your tuitions fees plus give you some money to support yourself (up to 3000 and something a year) - depending on your income for the previous year.


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