Trinity College, London is an examinations board, which offers a range of qualifications in Drama, Music, Language and Language Teaching. The Trinity College CertTESOL was first introduced around 30 years ago. It is an equivalent qualification to the Cambridge CELTA. These qualifications, and no other, are fully recognised by the British Council. Many employers and some countries will insist on one of these certificates to accredit you as an EFL teacher.

What is Trinity's role in the Oxford Tefl course?
As the body that issues the qualification and validates our course, Trinity are responsible for defining the syllabus and monitoring the quality of our courses, including the teaching, the resources and materials and the overall support given to trainees. Trinity also participates in the assessment of candidates

Moderation
At the end of each course a Moderator from Trinity visits the centre. He or she will sample the work produced by candidates and in an individual interview with each candidate assess one of the course projects (the Materials Assignment). The moderator also talks to candidates in small groups and to the Course Director to get feedback on the quality of the course and ensure it is being run to Trinity standards.

Why Trinity validation?
Firstly, we think it is important that our trainees have a credible qualification to show for all the hard work (and money) they have invested in training to become a teacher. Secondly, we think the Trinity validation and moderation process guarantees a level of quality, which we feel is reassuring for our trainees.

Why Trinity and not CELTA?
All the above is true of the Cambridge CELTA qualification too and, in fact, there is little difference between them in terms of course structure and content. We prefer Trinity because the course includes reference to teaching children (something which many of our graduates will go on to do). The Trinity philosophy is a little more attractive in our view; there is a strong emphasis on the importance of teaching spoken English and an emphasis on practical application in the course assignments. Trinity centres have more scope to interpret and adapt the course within the Trinity framework.