The TEFL Academy review, submitted by Carol.
The TEFL Academy (TTA TEFL) plus points:
- This company has literally thousands of positive student reviews across the board on the many TEFL review websites which TTA TEFL self-promotes.
- The payment process was quick and easy and I received my login keys almost as soon as my payment went through.
- Help is on hand when needed. You create a ticket and the idea is that someone gets back to you within 48 hours with a helpful reply.
- TTA TEFL is a company based in the UK, which I guess is where most of the more well-established TEFL companies have been located since the beginning.
- The TEFL certificate looks wonderful! A true piece of art! It’s something that I would feel proud of presenting at a job interview.
The TEFL Academy (TTA TEFL) minus points:
- I’ve come to the conclusion that the majority of positive reviews for this school, on the websites TTA TEFL self-promote, are more than probably fake reviews. There is a real disconnect between TTA TEFL’s reviews on trustedteflreviews.com and other websites, such as reviews.io, where TTA TEFL garner 10 or 20 5-star reviews a day from unverified reviewers. I’m much more inclined to believe the reviews written about TTA TEFL on trustedteflreviews.com.
- Help is on hand and when it comes it is helpful. But, but, but, it takes a long time to receive a response. I often waited a week or more for someone from TTA TEFL to get to me. By the time they had, I’d just winged the part and hoped that my guesses were correct.
- Feedback on assignments was very ambiguous. My friend and I submitted the exact same test answers and we each received a different grade for that test.
- I chose the TEFL Academy because of its impressive list of accreditation partners. They are not accredited in the slightest. They are affiliated with a few education bodies that monitor the quality of distance learning courses, but these bodies don’t provide TEFL accreditation. It’s not within their power to do so. I’ve read numerous blogs and forum threads where people write that accreditation doesn’t matter and employers just want to see you have a TEFL certificate. This is fine, but I don’t like being lied to and I don’t like paying a premium for that lie.
- Compared to CIEE TEFL, TEFL Online Pro, and Vantage TEFL, TTA TEFL is overpriced. I’d recommend going with one of these programs because you will receive the same product, except you will actually get a fully accredited TEFL+TESOL certificate at the end. It will work out cheaper too for you.
Overall, I’d give The TEFL Academy (TTA TEFL) 2.5 stars out of 10.
The course was very good, but the long waits for responses and the fact that they are dishonest when it comes to their accreditation claims have left me with a bad overall impression of this company.
In conclusion: The TEFL Academy program was on my to-do list for a long time, so when I finally got around to purchasing the course I wasn’t expecting the buyer’s remorse that immediately followed. I guess I’ll be able to use the certification in some form or another. It’s just annoying that TTA TEFL didn’t honor their refund procedure when I requested my money back; leaving me captive to the course and scrambling to find the reason behind all of the negative reviews written about this TEFL certification company.
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I came to the same conclusions, Carol, after taking their Level 5 course.
The TEFL Academy is a UK company, which meant I had to wait for GMT time to get an email reply when I really needed immediate help. Often, I never did receive a reply.
I’ve applied for jobs with the course certificate overseas but I’ve had a mixed response.
Some employers don’t even know what a Level 5 certificate is and this is evident because Level 5 is a specific qualification in the UK.
The course wasn’t cheap either.
I also agree that many reviews for this company feel fake.
I don’t recommend taking a TEFL course with The TEFL Academy.
I’m going to restart the process of becoming a trained ESL teacher with a different school.
I’ve narrowed my choice down to either TEFL Online Pro or The University of Toronto TEFL as both programs offer the Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL course that is internationally recognized. I’m going to make up my mind this week, probably choosing TEFL Online Pro because of the more affordable price of the course.
Was in exactly the same circumstances as you Ivan. Chose to take the TEFL with TOP (https://teflonlinepro.com/ – https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2024/). Chose them because they offer the same course for a third of the price of UOT. TOP is an online company and they don’t have the overheads of a brick and mortar school. I assume that is why the cost of the course is so competitive. I also think that is why it puts them in the firing line of their competitors who can’t compete with the low prices. Either way I passed the course and have been teaching online for the past few months. In February I’m off to Brazil for a full time teaching gig. Merry Christmas to you!
I personally feel that The TEFL Academy is a scam.
It’s a UK-based company that (falsely) claims it is the best TEFL company in the world.
If that doesn’t dissuade you, I don’t know what will.
And don’t get me started on the obviously fabricated customer reviews for the program.
I did look at TEFL Online Pro – it looks to be an excellent program – but, ultimately, I went with The University of Toronto program because I live in the Toronto greater area and, for me, I wanted the reassurance of knowing that I could pop in if there were any issues. Yes, it costs way more than TEFL Online Pro, but my Father was paying for the course so it was a no-brainer-choice for me. I understand that both programs are Fully Accredited. I found both programs offer the same – identical courses and services. If I wasn’t based in Toronto, I’d have probably just gone ahead with the TEFL Online Pro program. As it stands, UOT has worked out really well for me. My advice is, if you want your best bang for your buck, chose one of the Top 5 TEFL/TESOL certification courses because, as far as I can see, all five can be used for online and onsite teaching work and all five are at the pinnacle of the industry standard. I mean, you can also see how popular these five courses are because of their reviews standings. https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/