What types of certification or credentials are required for a Professional Teaching Profile?

A person who is certified to teach or is already teaching a language professionally may qualify for a professional teaching profile on italki.

If you apply for a professional teaching profile on italki, we will ask for documentation that proves your training or experience in:

• Education
• Language expertise

Since different countries offer different certification for education and languages, we review each application personally and make our decisions based on all of the information you provide.

Professional teaching profiles on italki must be able to demonstrate both skills.

• If you have teaching certification in non-language subjects, then you must also provide documentation that shows your expertise or training in languages.
• If you have certification as an expert in some aspect of language (linguist, translator, etc), then you must also provide documentation that shows your ability or training as an educator.

This way, we can confidently recommend you to new students who want professional assistance with their language learning.

 

How to provide documents

Please scan and upload a copy of your relevant degrees, certificates, work documents, or other proof of training, experience, or special expertise.

Do not edit your documents after scanning them. They will not be published on your profile. italki will keep your information only for internal reference, so be sure that your name and other identifying information is clearly visible.

 

Examples of acceptable documents and certificates

1. Language teaching certification from an accredited institution

An accredited language teaching certification qualifies you for a professional teaching profile.

• Acceptable for teaching component: YES
• Acceptable for language expertise component: YES

This type of document is perfect as it shows your ability both as an educator and as a language expert at the same time. It must be from an accredited institution to show that you have achieved a certain standard of quality.

Tip: If you are looking at a certain type of certification on the internet, search for "accreditation" or information about which organizations have accredited the certificate. It should be displayed clearly on the page or in that site's FAQs.

Note: An English teaching certificate needs to contain at least 120 hours of courses or training.

For example:

• Bachelors or Masters degree in Teaching [X] as a Foreign Language
• CELTA, accredited TESOL or TEFL courses (English teaching)
• DELE (Spanish teaching)
• DITALS (Italian teaching)
• Other accredited foreign language teaching certification

 

 

2.  University or higher education degree in Education

For example: A Bachelor's, Master's or Doctoral Degree in Education

If you have this, you may also need to upload a document showing your expertise in language.

• Acceptable for teaching component: YES
• Acceptable for language expertise component: Other certification/documentation is still needed.

This type of document is excellent for showing your training as an educator, but depending on the situation, italki will also need evidence of your expertise specifically in languages, for example:

• Degree in Linguistics
• Degree or experience as an interpreter or translator

 

 

3. Teaching license

For example: State Teaching License

If you have this, you may also need to upload a document showing your expertise in language.

• Acceptable for teaching component: YES
• Acceptable for language expertise component: Acceptable if the license is for language teaching.

This type of document is excellent for showing your qualification as an educator, but depending on the situation, italki will also need evidence of your expertise specifically in languages, for example:

• Degree in Linguistics
• Degree or experience as an interpreter or translator

 

4. Proof of employment at language training or teaching institution

• Acceptable for teaching component: Dependent on the institution and position
• Acceptable for language expertise component: Dependent on the institution and position.

This type of document is excellent for showing your experience as a language teacher. Depending on the situation, italki may also require certification showing your training in teaching theory in addition to your practical experience.

Examples:

• Reference Letter from a School Director or reputable Teaching Institution.
• Copy of a work contract showing your employment as a professional teacher.

All documents:

• Must be signed and dated
• Must have clearly visible contact information
• Must show the dates of your employment
• Must briefly describe your responsibilities

Other work experience may also be acceptable if it is from an institution that demonstrates excellent standards for language teaching or other similar services.

 

5. Degree as student of Linguistics or Languages

• Acceptable for teaching component: Acceptable if the degree contains a teaching component. A transcript may be required to show this.
• Acceptable for language expertise component: YES

These degrees are excellent for showing your expertise in the language, but you will also need to upload documents showing your training or experience as an educator.

Note: If your degree contained a teaching component or required lessons in how to teach a language, please include a transcript so that italki can verify your training both as a language expert and as a teacher.

Examples of acceptable degrees:

• Linguistics
• Literature
• Translation
• Interpretation
• Foreign language

 

Examples of Other Documents and Certificates

Additional documents can be used to verify your other skills and interests.

• Acceptable for teaching component: unlikely
• Acceptable for language expertise component: unlikely

The following documents will not count towards your status as a professional teacher, but can be uploaded to your profile to demonstrate your interest, special talents, or language proficiency to students.

1. Certificate from an unaccredited institution

There are many free online courses available for people to gain skills and knowledge in interesting subjects, but most are not accredited (meaning that they are not held to a certain standard), and so they cannot be used to prove your ability.

However, they can be used to show students that you are serious about learning and continued self-improvement. These documents are often called names like "Certificate of Achievement", "Certificate of Participation", or "Certificate of Accomplishment".

For example, the following free courses are usually not accredited:

• Unaccredited courses from Open2Study.
• Unaccredited courses from Udemy, Coursera, or other MOOCs.
• Unaccredited courses from ALISON online courses.
• Community-organized workshops.

Image from FreeOnlineCourses.com

 

2. Language degree or proficiency certificate

• Acceptable for teaching component: No
• Acceptable for language expertise component: Dependent on test and score.

This type of certification is very important for proving your language level, but does not directly tell us if you are also able to teach the language. We recommend adding this certification to your profile as proof of your abilities (especially if you are not a native speaker of the language), but it will not count toward your status as a professional teacher.

For example:

• IELTS, TOEFL, etc. (English proficiency exams)
• HSK (Chinese proficiency exam)
• DALF, DELF, etc. (French proficiency exams)
• Other language proficiency exams

Image from ielts.org

 

3. Casual work or volunteer experience (may depend on the situation)

This type of experience is very good and helpful to your personally, but most types of freelance or casual work experience cannot be accepted towards your professional teaching profile unless there is a way of showing that a certain standard of quality was required. 

Even if your work experience can be accepted, it will have to be accompanied by documentation showing your training as either an educator or a language expert.

 

How your credentials will appear on your profile

Your uploaded scanned diplomas and certificates are not published on your teaching profile. 

italki needs these scanned documents for verification purposes during the Professional Teacher application process and keeps this information on file for internal reference.

Professional Teachers who submit scanned diplomas and certificates will have "Diploma Uploaded" or "Certificate Uploaded" displayed next to their Education and Certification as proof.  The actual scanned diplomas and certificates cannot be viewed by students. 

If you have any quesitons, you can contact us at support@italki.com or wait for feedback on your application. We personally review every application and will follow up with an email after making a decision on your application.