IELTS: Different career paths within TEFL

TEFL teaching is a wonderful job, but sometimes we need a change from general English teaching.  There are numerous different paths a TEFL teacher can take within the TEFL world.  Here we interview an Australian teacher who has worked all over the world as an IELTS examiner.

1.  What is IELTS?

IELTS stands for the 'International English Language Testing System'.  It is a high profile test of English language proficiency that is widely accepted by educational institutions and certain governments.

2.  What drew you to IELTS examining?

Two of my first three jobs in ESL included a large amount of teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and this teaching included preparing candidates to sit the IELTS exam.  As a result, I became familiar with the requirements and content of the four parts of the exam - Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.  After working for a number of years in the EAP area, I successfully applied to be an examiner in the Speaking and Writing modules.

3.   Are there any prerequisites for being an IELTS examiner?

There appear to be three basic requirements: holding a recognised degree; having a recognised teaching qualification, and having substantial relevant teaching experience.  There seems to be a bit of flexibility in the interpretation of these three criteria.  Successful applicants need to fill out application forms and demonstrate their suitability at an interview.

4.   Was it easy to find a job in IELTS?

It seems that demand varies from country to country, centre to centre.  I responded to a specific job advertisement.  Recruitment advertisements for IELTS examiners appear fairly regularly on websites associated with the exam - such as IELTS, British Council and IDP - as well as various EFL recruitment websites.

5.  What are the challenges of being an IELTS examiner?

In the speaking module, examiners are face-to-face with candidates.  It is therefore incredibly important that examiners conduct themselves professionally.  Examiners need to concentrate on each speaking candidate as they have to conduct, record and assess the exam concurrently - there is only very limited time to listen to part of an exam again, if desired.  In both listening and writing modules, examiners' performance is regularly monitored which puts pressure on examiners to 'get things right'.  In some countries, there are also logistical challenges involving travel, fairly early starts and long days of examining.

6.  What are the benefits of working as an IELTS examiner?

By the standards of the EFL industry generally, IELTS examiners are fairly well paid.  At the moment, however, certain IELTS assessment functions are moving either offshore and/or online, and this looks set to adversely affect remuneration.  One benefit of IELTS examining over teaching is that there is no unpaid preparation or marking work!  The job can be particularly interesting if working in a centre with candidates from a wide range of national and linguistic backgrounds who have varying degrees of speaking and writing proficiency.  Conversely, the job can sometimes feel repetitive if all candidates fit very similar profiles in terms of age, ethnicity, life experience and English level.

7.   Were there any transferable skills from teaching that helped you with your IELTS position?

Definitely!  That is why, I suspect, IELTS look for appropriate recent experience for would-be examiners.  

Marking writing scripts requires the same detail as, say, marking essays as a teacher.  So, one is looking at how well the candidate has addressed the task, organisational issues, use of language and grammar.   Unlike a teacher, though, the examiner has to only grade, not correct, writing scripts.  And, of course, unlike a teacher, the examiner is not charged with trying to improve the writing level of a candidate!  

Turning to speaking, in many ways being a good speaking examiner is akin to being a good speaking teacher.  One has to give a candidate every opportunity to produce language to the best of their ability.  The challenge here as an examiner is to keep one's own contributions to a minimum.  It is easier as a teacher to encourage students to speak than it is as an examiner because of the formal setting of an exam and the lack of familiarity between examiner and candidate.

8.   Would you go back to being a TEFL teacher?

Yes, definitely!  Although I enjoy being an IELTS examiner, there is often more job satisfaction in teaching - depending of course on the particular school and class!  Basically, with examining one is simply indicating one's views as to the level of a candidate based on a sample of speaking and writing according to the stipulated criteria.  However, teaching can of course be a lot of fun, challenging and stimulating - and hopefully teachers can feel a sense of achievement in seeing real improvements in their students' performance over time.