One very important way any business might advertise is through showing who it is endorsed by. In the case of a TEFL business it might be through accreditations. Now, this word is used very loosely in the TEFL industry, often meaning little more than two schools are marketing together. For a school to be properly accredited it needs be done so by an official body that is properly authorised to do so. Major examples of such bodies are obviously Cambridge and Trinity College London. To be truly accredited at some point a representative from that body will be sent to observe a course. Just being a member of IATEFL, for example, has no meaning in this context.
In reality, very few of the TEFL schools currently operating have this kind of accreditation. Nevertheless, they may still provide very useful courses, but obviously trainees need to proceed with caution, as the end product is much less reliable. An excellent example of where this kind of false accreditation takes place can be seen in Island TEFL's partnership with the University of San Diego. On the face of it, it appears to be an academic liaison, but in fact Island TEFL's courses are in no way related to those of the University of San Diego. The way they work together is simply that the University of San Diego teach the main course and Island TEFL then try to place students in a Thai school together with an orientation course. In fact, even this final placement is done indirectly through a placement agency. So beware of claims of accreditation that make a school sound more than it is. In fact, we have some serious doubts as to whether the University of San Diego did their homework properly on Island TEFL, which remains unregistered in Thailand, as far as we know.
The way this affects the potential buyer of a franchise is in that it may disguise the reality of what a school is and aggrandise it falsely. This will enable the seller to push up the price, and you, the buyer, will later feel disappointed with the purchase.
So once again do be on the alert for marketing tricks like this that will ultimately put you, the buyer, out of pocket.
Jill Franklyn
