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BC TEAL is proud to present our 2025 Annual Conference: Disruptive Educational Practices: Strategies for Transformation.

Please note that the Friday evening event, the TEAL Charitable Foundation Awards & Fundraiser, requires an additional ticket purchase. Please register here to secure your spot and join us in celebrating the awardees while fundraising for a better cause in TEAL.

Educators shine in times of change to face unexpected challenges. This is when creativity flourishes by combining proven practices with fresh and innovative ideas. These times call for transformation which can be rooted in tradition or experience, or it can arise through unexplored approaches. The synthesis of old and new ideas drives meaningful progress. Join other insightful and creative educators as we flourish within the power of our community.
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Challenges in integrating professional certification and graduate education in TESOL
Friday May 2, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT
Rm 826
In the early 21st-century, the proliferation of unregulated programs purporting to offer ESL teacher training led to the development of provincial and national standards in adult ESL teacher training, most notably through TESL Canada (Thomson, 2004; Sivell, 2005; Chafe & Wang, 2008). While this led to important quality assurance improvements, the prominence of TESL Canada certification has led to some organizations requiring “their instructors to have it…as a prerequisite for employment” (TESL Canada, 2015).
 
This, combined with the loose ways in which “TESL,” “certificate,” and related terms are used in both public and private educational institutions, can make ESL teaching credentials confusing to teachers, employers, and the general public, and the commodification of TESL certification (Bernstein, 2023) continues to be a problem.
 
One area in which we have seen this is in TESL-focused graduate programs. At the program we will discuss in this presentation, faculty frequently field questions about the program’s role in future employability, whether the program’s name confers legitimacy and/or eligibility for certification (see Murray & Chrichton, 2010), which outside accreditation bodies should be sought, and whether a practicum is available or necessary. 
 
This presentation will offer perspectives from a faculty member, program assistant, and current students regarding the students’ pursuit of TESL Canada certification. There have been both internal and external challenges involving recognition of international credentials, funding for programs, availability of practicum supervisors, differences in TESL Canada standard levels, and a host of related issues. 
 
In this presentation, we each narrate our experience of the place and importance of professional accreditation in relation to masters-level teacher education in ELT and suggest changes that can make the connection between professional accreditation and graduate-level academic programs clearer and smoother in the future, particularly for international graduate students beginning new careers in Canada. 
Speakers
avatar for Carol M Suhr

Carol M Suhr

Teacher Educator (TESL); EAP Instructor; PhD Student, Simon Fraser University; Douglas College; University of the Fraser Valley
I have been working in the field of additional language teaching since 1998. I hold an MA in Curriculum and Instruction and an MEd in TESL/TEFL, both from Simon Fraser University. Currently, I am pursuing a doctoral degree in the Languages, Cultures, and Literacies (LCL) program at... Read More →
avatar for Joel Heng Hartse

Joel Heng Hartse

Senior Lecturer, Simon Fraser University
Joel Heng Hartse is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, where he oversees Foundations of Academic Literacy, SFU's first-year writing course. He is the author of four books, including, most recently, TL;DR: A Very Brief Guide to Reading & Writing... Read More →
avatar for Maria Thereza Palhares

Maria Thereza Palhares

Simon Fraser University
tba
avatar for Dorsa Alami

Dorsa Alami

Simon Fraser University
tba
TJ
Friday May 2, 2025 11:00am - 11:45am PDT
Rm 826
  Teacher Education, Teacher Education

Attendees (12)


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