OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Irma.

The OISE TEFL course was designed by OISE University of Toronto TEFL and is delivered by Teach Away. It’s a weird relationship from my point of view. I mean, why not just have OISE TEFL at the university deliver it? But, Teach Away does an excellent job and it is also the employment arm of the course. This means that when you have finished the course, Teach Away can help you with job placement or job assistance. They have a very good reputation compared with the other TEFL programs located in and around Toronto. I would describe this course as being the Canadian CELTA because of its affiliation with the university and because of the difficulty level of the course. If you want to learn TEFL properly and you live in or around Toronto, this is your course to take.

Teach Away has an office in downtown Toronto, but they prefer to liaison with students online. The course was conducted online anyway so that makes sense.

Teach Away focuses more on the job assistance side rather than the job placement side and this is the preferred way of finding a job. I’ve read to avoid programs that offer job placements because once you pay them, they very often place you in a job completely different than the one you signed up for and some programs take a slice of your salary for the hard work of finding you that job.

It’s easy to find work, but you need assistance.

I was working a few months after graduating from Teach Away and that was at a really good school in Mongolia.

I’d recommend the program and the job assistance support.

Teach Away Review – Irma.

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TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101

TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101.

This article has been updated on December 21, 2025.

TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101.

(A list of institutions providing Online TEFL programs ‘Fully Accredited’ status appears towards the bottom of this article.)

This is quite a long article. It is an honest, factual, serious look at the question of Online TEFL/TESOL/TESL accreditation.

If you are researching which Online TEFL/TESOL/TESL course to take, this article should be essential reading for you.

For sake of convenience, and to avoid repetition, we will use the generic term ‘TEFL’ instead of mentioning ‘TEFL/TESOL/TESL’ each time these terms require a mention. These terms do have their differences in meaning, but for all intents and purposes, they essentially refer to the same type of training and this is why most teacher-training programs advertise their courses with one or more of these acronyms listed.

One of the most common misconceptions about Online TEFL courses, and one of the main areas that permit room for the peddling of misinformation, is the heated topic of accreditation.

Over the past few years, Online TEFL programs have discovered that it is much easier to sell their courses if they claim that their courses are accredited.

The result of this ‘accreditation fever’ has been the mushrooming creation of “accreditation bodies” that have been created by savvy business people with little or no background in education.

Some TEFL schools have also jumped on the bandwagon; creating fictitious accreditation websites, in order to make their courses seem more credible – all the while deceiving their customers and perpetuating the ‘accreditationspiracy’.

In addition to the above, some Online TEFL programs try to convince consumers that their programs are more credible because they are “accredited and regulated” by AQC, Ofqual, QUALIFI. These are not accreditation bodies, they are regulatory bodies. There is, a major difference, and the “Level 5” TEFL course brand (which was only recently created) is just another marketing gimmick to try to convince the consumer that you should take their Online TEFL program.

The truth of the matter is that there isn’t one international accreditation body for Online TEFL courses.

Therefore, we begin this article with the plain unadorned fact that the Online TEFL industry is completely unregulated, and the term ‘accredited’, when applied to Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs, is purely a marketing gimmick. This, in turn, has created a snowball effect, whereby most people who are looking to take an Online TEFL course now place accreditation status high on their tick box list that a TEFL program must include.

Some government visa agencies, and some language schools, have also bought into the accreditation fallacy; stipulating that their teachers must hold an accredited TEFL certificate if they want to work for them and if they want to be able to legally teach in their country.

I have been teaching for over ten years now, and I have not once been asked whether my TEFL certificate is accredited or not. I have also never been asked whether my TEFL certification was taken online or in-person. I live and work in Austria, where the authorities are sticklers for correct documentation.

So if accreditation means relatively very little, is it completely worthless?

And which accreditation bodies are more trustworthy than others?

Accreditation is important when it provides the customer with an extra layer of consumer protection.

Accreditation can be divided into four main camps:

1. An Online TEFL program simply chooses not to capitulate to the pressure of being accredited and remains an Unaccredited provider.
2. An Online TEFL program creates an accreditation website itself, for the sole purpose of convincing consumers that they are a credible institution. This is usually a short-term fix because no amount of convincing can hide a subpar product and poor customer service. Trusted TEFL Reviews classes these Online TEFL programs ‘Unaccredited‘ and such programs should be avoided. They should be avoided because the training will be poor, you will have very little (if any) consumer rights, and you could become a victim of fraud.
3. An Online TEFL program capitulates to the pressure of being accredited and pays an annual fee to an accreditation body, and in return, they can claim that they are an accredited Online TEFL program. The accreditation body may, or may not, follow through on their promises that they maintain high levels of accountability regarding the Online TEFL programs that they accredit. Trusted TEFL Reviews classes these Online TEFL programs ‘Accredited‘ and such programs should be chosen after due diligence is carried out regarding their (verified) customer reviews on trustedteflreviews.com.
4. An Online TEFL program capitulates to the pressure of being accredited and pays an annual fee to an accreditation body, and in return, they can claim that they are an accredited Online TEFL program. The accreditation body ensures high standards of culpability and follows through on their promises that they maintain high levels of accountability regarding the Online TEFL programs that they accredit. Trusted TEFL Reviews classes these Online TEFL programs ‘Fully Accredited‘ and such programs tend anyway to receive consistently positive student feedback. This is not always the rule, though, so always check the (verified) customer reviews on trustedteflreviews.com.

Institutions providing Online TEFL programs Fully Accredited status include:

ACCET – Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training | https://accet.org/

ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses | https://www.acteflc.com/

OISE – University of the Toronto Faculty of Education | https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/

TESL Canada | https://tesl.ca/

University of Cambridge’s English Language Assessment | https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/

Online TEFL courses that are directly accredited by a Ministry of Education also enjoy Fully Accredited status.

The following Online TEFL/TESOL programs (in alphabetical order) are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized:

Bridge TEFL | https://bridge.edu/tefl/ | Bridge TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

CIEE TEFL | https://www.ciee.org/ | CIEE TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

Maximo Nivel TEFL | https://maximonivel.com/ | Maximo Nivel verified trusted TEFL reviews.

ontesol | https://ontesol.com/ | ontesol verified trusted TEFL reviews.

OISE University of Toronto TEFL | https://teflonline.teachaway.com/ | OISE TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

Oxford Seminars | https://www.oxfordseminars.com/ | Oxford Seminars verified trusted TEFL reviews.

TEFL Iberia | https://tefl-iberia.com/ | TEFL Iberia verified trusted TEFL reviews.

TEFL Online Pro (Teachers’ Choice Award winner, 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025) | https://teflonlinepro.com/ | TEFL Online Pro verified trusted TEFL reviews.

TEFL/TESOL online programs that win the Teachers’ Choice Award are granted the ability to enjoy a whole year’s free exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews, where they may post, for example, any current course discounts or promotions on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.

You can check to see whether an Online TEFL/TESOL Program is Unaccredited, Accredited, or Fully Accredited by clicking on their category in the sidebar. The mention of which accreditation status they hold is clearly stated at the top of their category page, above the program’s review(s).

Unaccredited courses are identified with the statement, ‘Is [Online TEFL Program] accredited? No.‘

Accredited courses are identified with the statement, ‘Is [Online TEFL Program] accredited? Yes. The certification awarded is Accredited.’

Fully Accredited courses are identified with the statement, ‘Is [Online TEFL Program] accredited? Yes. The certification awarded is Fully Accredited and internationally recognized.‘

If you are having difficulties locating a program’s category page, you can easily locate it by clicking on their live link in the TEFL Course Directory: https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

Important information about Ofqual and TQUK-regulated courses:

Ofqual and TQUK are often (incorrectly) claimed to accredit Online TEFL programs offering a ‘Level 5’ certificate. Some Level 5 programs even go as far as to claim that the Level 5 TEFL certificate is the same as the CELTA certificate. ‘Level 5’ refers to one of the levels on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In other words, it’s a United Kingdom qualification that means very little to anyone outside of the UK. Furthermore, a qualification assessed at Level 5 doesn’t mean that it is “equivalent to the CELTA qualification”. Instead, it means that the level of education, knowledge, and skills required to complete the course is the same as that required to complete the CELTA, i.e., to be over 18, and to have a level of English and education that is equivalent to the average UK high school graduate.

Ofqual and TQUK are regulatory bodies, not accreditation bodies.

Ofqual and TQUK are regulatory bodies, not accreditation bodies.

A TEFL program can be regulated by Ofqual and be accredited or fully accredited by an external accreditation body, but this is not always the case.

A number of Ofqual-regulated TEFL programs blatantly lie to their customers by claiming that they are Ofqual accredited, or lie and claim that they are Ofqual regulated and fully accredited by another body that only regulates courses.

Ofqual and TQUK-regulated courses should provide you with a high level of TEFL training (although this is by no means guaranteed) but Ofqual and TQUK are by no means of the stretch of the imagination accreditation bodies.

One final point is that the accreditation industry in itself is highly competitive.

An argument that we often see is that a certain accreditation body should be taken more seriously than another simply because they have been in operation for longer.
This is absolute hogwash.
It doesn’t matter if an accreditation body has been in operation for one month or ten years.
What matters is whether the main accreditation members of the body are master’s-degree educated (in the field of Education), have years of credible experience in the field of TEFL and whether the accreditation body honors the rights of consumers.
Too many self-proclaimed “established” accreditation bodies have been set up by private individuals, with no university education and little to no experience in TEFL, and with just one mission: to make money and to hell with standards.

And our last (important) point:

When you apply for an English teacher job, online or abroad, IF your employer does ask whether your certificate is accredited, they sure as hell won’t ask WHICH company accredited your certificate.

What DOES matter, and what is ESSENTIAL, is that the Online TEFL course that you took actually taught you how to teach English.

Help with finding teaching work after the course should also be a priority, but NEVER pay any company to help find you a job. And NEVER accept a job placement agreement. There is so much work available and an Online TEFL program that will help you find work, as a free service when you pay for the course, is the preferential route.

Yes, you can save your money and buy a 120-Hour Online TEFL course for under $100 US, and you can enjoy the short-term-lived, feel-good emotion that you “got TEFL certified”, but the real proof of the pudding comes when you are sat in front of an experienced interviewer or stood in front of an actual class of students, and when you will very quickly realize that the course you completed in under a day has, in no way, whatsoever, prepared you for any of this. And then, inevitably, you won’t hear back from the school and you will, inevitably, have to begin a new search for another Online TEFL course to take – one that will properly prepare you for the job you want to train for.

Therefore, in conclusion to this TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101 article, always aim for a fully accredited Online TEFL program.

Quality 120-Hour Online TEFL courses begin from around $150 US. Pay anything less and you will be selling yourself and your future students short.

This ‘TEFL TESOL Accreditation 101’ article was written by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

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Toronto TEFL OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Finn.

Toronto TEFL.

Very good course. Good variety of information and clearly presented. There is an emphasis on engaging the student via detailed text and audio and video. The audio is clear and the videos are up to date. I was also impressed with the access given to their alumni network because I was able to make use of this in asking questions about which aspects of the course mattered the most for when I would begin teaching. A good example was the module on Phonics. I understood the importance of learning the different sounds. However, the feedback I received from graduates of the course-related back to me that they hardly ever made use of phonics in class.

The grading system is meticulous and fair and notes were added to my assignments when mistakes were made. There were also notes of encouragement when I excelled

Toronto TEFL OISE has partnered up with Teach Away and it’s with this company that you receive help with finding work. They have a wide range of job offers in any given week- online and overseas job positions.

I recommend this program for quality TESL training with great support and access to a wide network of past student feedback. With a certificate from this company, it shouldn’t be difficult to find well-paid quality teaching work either online or abroad.

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OISE Course OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Daniel.

I thought this course was great, and I’m glad I chose it over the other options because it was a good fit for me. I like how it was completely online and self-paced so I could work on it whenever I had time in my schedule. You have a full year to complete the course, so that worked well for me because I was also a full-time student at the time. There was no teaching practicum included in this course, but I still believe it provided me with enough knowledge to confidently teach and create lesson plans. Be careful not to press “Start Over” on the modules if you want to review them. I did this once on a journal entry submission and lost my grade for the journals. Thankfully, the team was very helpful and quickly helped me resolve the issue.

Both the OISE course and Teach Away platforms were very user-friendly and easy to navigate. Using both platforms, I found so much information about the course and about finding teaching jobs. I never felt lost or confused. I also applied to a “teach abroad” job in Spain through the Teach Away job board, and I’m excited about that adventure!

I’m recommending OISE and Teach Away for TEFL training and teaching abroad options.

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ESL Job Exchange

Which TEFL TESOL course certification is right for you?

We want to make this article short and to the point, without keyword stuffing, because the question posed by this Trusted TEFL Reviews ESL Job Exchange article can be answered very simply.

There are literally hundreds of TEFL and TESOL courses listed online, and one of the common complaints that we receive from people searching for a TEFL and TESOL course is that they are not sure which programs are legit and which are not.

There is so much misinformation published online regarding which course programs are the best, and often this information has been clandestinely published by a TEFL program or TEFL programs that have a hidden agenda interest as to the way this information is portrayed.

Another big issue is the number of bloggers recommending TEFL and TESOL courses that they have no experience of, and which they earn an affiliate’s commission from when you purchase a “recommended” course via their website.

Finding the right TEFL and TESOL certification course is key because you want to invest your hard-earned money in a course that will issue you with a certificate that is accepted for both online and in-person teaching English jobs.

What you don’t want to find, after spending your money and time on an alleged legit course, is being turned down for interviews and work visas because your TEFL and TESOL certificate turns out not to be as legit as the program that sold it to you said it was or was not as “recommended” as an anonymous blogger claimed.

The answer to “Which TEFL TESOL course certification is right for you?” is surprisingly simple.

Choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification program.

TEFL and TESOL certification programs are categorized into three distinct groups:

1. Unaccredited
2. Accredited
3. Fully Accredited

If in doubt, check the TEFL Course Directory:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

There, you will see whether a TEFL and TESOL program is listed as Unaccredited, Accredited, or Fully Accredited.

The 4 top-rated online TEFL and TESOL international programs are all Fully Accredited:

TEFL Online Pro – https://teflonlinepro.com/

OISE University of Toronto TEFL – https://www.teachaway.com/

CIEE TEFL – https://www.ciee.org/

Maximo Nivel TEFL – https://maximonivel.com/

This ‘ESL Job Exchange | 2026’ article was written by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

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OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Cynthia.

I finished my course last week and I am so looking forward to building on my teaching and travel experience by using the certification overseas. Given the current travel restrictions for abroad travel, it is looking more likely that I’ll be able to realize this in the second or third quarter of 2021. So in the meantime, OISE TEFL UoT has put me in touch with Teach Away, their sister company, who will be helping me with a job search for online teaching work for the interim time before I can buy that flight ticket. I was very satisfied with the skills that this course taught me and I thought that the feedback on assignments provided was top-level. And all this for a reasonably priced course when you compare it with the in-class alternative. Thanks a heap, OISE TEFL UoT!

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OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Anonymous.

For the hefty price tag, these guys charge I was really expecting a whole lot more back. They don’t mark or give feedback on any of your assignments submitted so you don’t know whether the time spent on doing the work was worth it or not, or was looked at or not. Lots of time was spent by OISE UoT on marketing and lots of improvement on how the course is managed/conducted is needed. They definitely depend on their affiliation with UoT but from what I gather they aren’t actually part of the university. Contrary to what a previous review states, they do help you find work through their partnership with Teach Away (who I found to be an excellent resource.) My advice: bargain with OISE UoT hard to see if you can get a significant discount. If you can’t, go elsewhere. Overpriced at full course price.

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Review of the University of Toronto Online TEFL certification program.

OISE University of Toronto TEFL review, submitted by Sam.

PROS:

• I initially liked the fact they work together with the Teach Away program which will help find you a teaching job when you’ve finished their course.
• It thoroughly covers all the tefl 101 essentials. If you take this course, you will come out with a fully rounded knowledge of tefl.
• It’s a self-guided course and their tech is set up so that it is easy to follow.
• The course feedback support was very good. Never had to wait more than a couple of days to receive a reply to a question or a confused ask for help.

CONS:

• The course fee. They charge way more than other online tefl schools for what I can gather is a similar product and I guess the word “university” means they feel entitled to be able to do this.
• At times the course content does feel a little repetitive and a little flat.
• While it is linked to the University of Toronto, this isn’t a University of Toronto course. They just seem to be loosely affiliated with the university.
• The Teach Away program hasn’t the best of reputations as I later discovered.

If I could recommend a change that this school could make it would be to not only offer the Teach Away job support program and to offer other options too. I feel this really lets the University of Toronto Online tefl certification course experience down.

Read more OISE University of Toronto TEFL reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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