CELTA Requirements and Eligibility

There are certain conditions prospective candidates must fulfill to be eligible for the CELTA training program in Australia. These are the official entry requirements of the Cambridge CELTA.

English Proficiency

You must be a proficient English language user. A minimum overall academic level of IELTS 7.5, a CEFR C1 level or TOEFL iBT 102 and above will be sufficient.

Note: Candidates should note that these proficiency level does not require any official test (such as the IETLS, TOEFL or CAE) to be taken. We will determine if your level of English is acceptable during the application process.

Age

You must be at least 18 years old with strong English language skills to take the CELTA. While some centers accept applicants who are 20 years old.

Level of Education

You must have an educational qualification that meets the standard entry requirement to enter for a university degree. This means you should have completer a high school or secondary school education.

Language Awareness

You must have a knowledge of language and a competence in English, both written and spoken, that enables the course to be undertaken successfully.

Skills Development

You must have the potential ability and desire to develop the essential skills needed to become an effective teacher and to complete the written assignments and teaching practice successfully.

All decisions about selection and recruitment are at the discretion of the respective training centres.

You do NOT need the following to take a CELTA in Australia

No university degree required

Officially, getting entry to study the CELTA does not require having a university degree. Because Cambridge allows centres to choose their candidates based on their discretion, some centres tend to include such in their requirement. By deciding to take your CELTA in Australia, you will enjoy eligibility to take the course without any university degree.

No teaching experience required

CELTA is a preliminary English teaching qualification. It is specially designed for individuals with little or no teaching experience, although it might also be taken by experienced teachers who require a formal qualification.

Soft skills needed to complete the CELTA course successfully

Eligibility isn't just about meeting the official Cambridge CELTA requirements as stated above. There are certain qualities candidates must have or be prepared to develop to complete the CELTA course in Australia successfully. You may refer to these as "soft skills":

Passion for teaching

You need to have the zeal to teach English to be successful at the CELTA. At some point, the course may get tougher, and only your passion for becoming a successful ESL teacher will keep you going. Be prepared for four weeks of hard work where you may have little or no time for fun.

Time management qualities

Besides the 120 hours of input sessions, candidates will be required to set aside a minimum of 100 hours out of classroom study. This time is needed to complete written assignments and engage in lesson planning. For this reason, you have to be able to manage your time well to meet up with all tasks. Time management is also an essential aspect of classroom teaching and lesson delivery.

Be a team player

The CELTA course involves a lot of teamwork. You may be paired with colleagues to prepare lessons, classroom materials or manage a classroom. You need adequate team playing ability to be able to work together with your team members successfully.

Evaluation and feedback skills

The CELTA requires that you can observe and identify your strengths and weaknesses and that of others. This way, you can easily find out which areas need improvements while you are on the course. You will also be able to observe others and help them grow too.