The TEFL Academy Pros and Cons.
The TEFL Academy (TTA) review, submitted by Jenny.
The TEFL Academy Pros and Cons (from my experience as a student on its 168-hour Level 5 course).
Pros:
- The course was arranged and organized very well and had a user-friendly CMS learner system. I have studied some online courses before this one that had poor Content Management systems.
- When you complete the course, you receive a substantial list of job offers that are online and also ones located in specific countries.
- You are not completely alone in the course. Whenever you have a question, you email the school, a ticket is assigned to you, and I tended to get a response back within a few business days to a week. Overall, communication with the school was fairly good.
- I have a teaching job (online) and my TEFL Academy certificate helped a lot in this process.
Cons:
- As I soon discovered, every school I applied to for work asked whether I had the 120-hour TEFL certificate. When I answered that I had a 168-hour Level 5 certificate, they said it would do but the extra hours of tuition are meaningless.
- After completing the course, I received an email from the TEFL Academy that asked if I would leave a review for them on (fill in the blank) websites, and that in return for my writing a review they would offer me a free Teaching Young Learners or Teaching Business English course. I think they mentioned Facebook, Reviews.io, Trust Pilot, and a few others. I wrote back that I might, but I wanted to see how my certification was working for me in my new job (and future job applications) before I committed to writing a review. I receive that same email each end of the week and I wonder how many of this company’s reviews are written by people who just want the free course.
If I were to take a TEFL course again, I would take a 120-hour course because that strongly appears to be the gold standard for what online and abroad employers are looking for.
I wouldn’t pay for a TEFL/TESOL certification course offering more than 120 hours, unless there are 10-20 teaching practice hours included. The 168-hour TEFL Academy course, in my opinion, is marketed to make it appear that you are getting more bang for your buck – you are not.
The TEFL Academy’s 168-hour Level 5 TEFL course was good, but it did raise many red flags.
Trusted TEFL Reviews notice: Jenny asked (January 7, 2026) that her The TEFL Academy Pros and Cons review be updated due to additional content requested to be included.
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