BACKGROUND
In March & April of 2021, International TEFL Academy (ITA) conducted a TEFL Job Market survey. Our TEFL-certified alumni made up the pool of respondents. Findings showed that 43% of our alumni are currently teaching English online from their home country while the other 57% are teaching either in-person or online from abroad.
Let's explore the current TEFL job landscape during this time of COVID-19 by breaking down each market...
WHAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING:
EUROPE
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American tourists who have been fully vaccinated will be able to visit the European Union over the summer.
Countries within the EU are looking to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors.
Those that are vaccinated with vaccines being used in the United States will be allowed entry; namely Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson shots.
Our survey found that 7.11% of our TEFL-certified alumni are currently teaching English in Spain - one of our most popular European TEFL job markets.
A majority of them remained there throughout the pandemic, while some have been recently arriving there on student visas through one of the several Spain Government Programs available.
SOUTH KOREA
ASIA
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South Korea has been our most popular TEFL job market during COVID-19 as teachers with a secured job and visa have been allowed to enter. Each entrant is required to complete a 2-week mandatory hotel quarantine upon arrival.
From our recent survey, we found that 11.57% of our alumni are currently teaching English in-person in South Korea, with many of them having arrived over there within the last five months.
CHINA
ASIA
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The Chinese Embassy in the USA issued a notice on April 21 stating that it will start allowing vaccinated US visitors to enter the Chinese mainland. Accepted vaccines include Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. All required doses must be obtained before their trip to China and all passengers will also be required to provide positive IgM antibody test results as well as negative nucleic acid test results.
2.64% of our alumni are teaching English in China, most of which have remained in China throughout the pandemic.
Schools are back to in-person teaching in China and have been for quite some time.
TAIWAN
ASIA
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As of May 19, 2021, schools in Taiwan will be closed through May 28 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Classes will shift to online learning until the two weeks is up and the situation is reassessed.
Taiwan reacted promptly to the first signs of COVID-19 back in 2020 by shutting its borders off from the world - a move that has seen it maintain some of the lowest case numbers in the world.
Prior to this most recent shut down, a small handful of our alumni were able to travel to Taiwan within the earlier months of 2021 to teach there. They all had a job/visa secured before arrival.
Our survey results show that 2.48% of our TEFL-certified alumni are currently teaching English there.
THAILAND
ASIA
WHAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING:
Parts of Thailand are back in lockdown after a surge of COVID-19 cases recently.
Before this most recent waive, we had successfully seen some of our TEFL-certified alumni travel there to teach English over the last few months - all had a job secured in advance of their arrival.
A 2-week mandatory hotel quarantine is required upon arrival.
Our survey results show that 3.14% of our alumni are living and teaching English in Thailand.
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WHAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING:
LATIN AMERICA
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Many countries in Latin America still have complete border closures and heavy restrictions in place due to extremely high COVID-19 case numbers.
Mexico and Costa Rica are two of the few countries allowing Americans entry without vaccination or quarantine.
2.64% of our alumni are currently in Mexico and 1.82% in Costa Rica - most of which are teaching English online or securing employment with a brick and mortar school and teaching online classes for that school, as many schools in both countries still remain closed.
WHAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING:
MIDDLE EAST
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Some countries within the Middle East & North Africa (like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey) are allowing Americans entry with a provided negative COVID-19 test result and quarantine upon arrival.
Many of the schools in these countries are still closed with classes running online.
A majority of this region still remains closed off to travel and we have seen close to none of our alumni receiving TEFL jobs or making the move over there so far in 2021 for that reason.
TEACHING ENGLISH ONLINE
WHAT'S CURRENTLY HAPPENING:
Teaching English online saw great growth pre-pandemic, but during COVID-19, this growth intensified. A whopping 50.25% of our alumni began teaching online during this time (March 2020 - May 2021).
43% of ITA alumni are currently teaching English online from their home country with 34.88% of them being based in the USA - many of which are waiting for borders to re-open so they can travel abroad to teach English in-person at schools.
While this increase in the market caused some concern regarding oversaturation, 42.15% of survey participants said their online class bookings did not go down during this time, with only 12.07% saying they did. Of those, 9.59% are starting to see their bookings pick back up.
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As we see borders start to reopen in some regions of the world, teaching English online will remain a popular option post-COVID-19, with many people still considering it the best way to travel around the world while still earning an income.
OUTLOOK
Of those surveyed, 34.88% said they feel like the TEFL job market is improving in the country they are located in while 22.98% said they don't feel there has been any improvement.
Similarly, 41.60% said they are seeing schools in their country start to hire again, with 14.88% saying they have yet to see any hiring progress.