Working for the British Council

A significant part of the British Council's work is teaching English face to face in our own premises, which we call teaching centres. The British Council owns and manages teaching centres in almost 50 countries around the world. We offer our students access to great facilities and resources but they consistently tell us the best resource we provide is their teacher. For some of our students, their English lesson from a qualified specialist teacher is worth a 3 hour journey twice a week.

Most of our students are individuals who want English for their work or leisure, but our reputation also attracts large organisations & businesses who commission us to teach language and other skills through English to their staff. We offer courses for school-age children and teenagers too, including intensive summer schools in some cities. All of these students give our teachers rewarding professional challenges.

To meet these challenges, you need good professional training beforehand. We employ teachers who have passed a certificate level training course to Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Some positions require higher level qualifications such as a Diploma. We provide high quality training for our teachers and support through their time working for us and we offer grants to help you take further professional qualifications. In the last five years, we've invested £2.6 million training our teaching staff. Our strong commitment to professional development has allowed them to pursue TEFL careers in various directions, and many choose our management development programme to become the next generation of managers and senior managers.

Whether they choose to specialise in teaching centre management or focus on teaching, the real rewards come from seeing students achieve their goals and gain confidence in their abilities. The opportunity to travel and experience other cultures as a temporary resident, making friends in several countries, is an added bonus!

We have vacancies all year round and are always keen to hear from teachers who want to work for us. The majority of our vacancies are for standard teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), but we also have vacancies for talented EFL professionals at later stages in their career. Some of the jobs we've advertised recently include teacher trainers, IT specialists, materials writers and assistant managers. All these people are employed directly by the British Council and benefit from secure employment on good terms and conditions.