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Qualifications

Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

TEFL is one of the best known and most academically recognised qualifications and gives its students the opportunity to become certified teachers of English as a second language. Whether you want to use your newfound qualification for volunteering or paid employment later in life, there is a wide range of TEFL projects and jobs out there.

However, as anyone who has searched 'TEFL' online and been overwhelmed by the unnecessarily confusing mass of information will know, choosing the right course can be a somewhat daunting task, but it really needn't be.

The TEFL course itself comes in various forms and various names that are all essentially the same thing but often just run by different organisations:

It is tempting to opt for the cheapest option when searching for your course, usually the Online TEFL, but before booking it's worth knowing the other options.

Online

Completing the course online is a great idea if you are planning on going travelling straight after you finish college or university since you can study in your own time, make your own timetable and do it wherever you want whether it's from the comfort of your own home or when you're already on the road. The online courses tend to focus on grammar and, while this is very important, often neglect the more practical side of teaching, instead relying on video tutorials which may not be enough for those who are less experienced in teaching or less confident! Also, it is worth noting that the TEFL courses available online are not always accredited by CELTA/TESOL and as such, some paid jobs will not accept them as qualifications and will require you to do a longer term course. However, they are still very useful if the teaching you are doing is informal and are an ideal introduction to the rigours of grammar teaching.

Classroom

Take advantage of the multitude of language schools in the UK who offer intensive 4-6 week courses with internationally accredited organisations such as CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL. You need to be 18 but some schools require you to be 20. Native speakers sometimes require a degree or at least A-levels and non-native speakers will need to do an English proficiency test such as CAE (Cambridge Advanced English) or CFE (Certificate of Proficiency in English).

While classroom courses are the more expensive on the TEFL market, if you're interested in continuing teaching English once you're home and want to earn some money with your qualification, it's best to shell out and be confident in the fact that you can now put an internationally recognised qualification on your CV. The benefit of this type of course is that you get plenty of invaluable classroom teaching experience and face to face tuition. However, there is a reason they call these courses 'intense' and they do involve continual assessments throughout the course. You also need to be sure you can commit to the entire course since attendance of all classes is compulsory. While they do not guarantee you a job, lots of these schools will provide you with great help guiding you through the myriad of TEFL job websites.

Abroad

If the CELTA course appeals, but the thought of spending any more time in a stuffy classroom in the UK makes your head spin, there are many organisations and schools that now offer their more exotic classrooms for your course, whether it's on a beach in Phuket or up a mountain in Nepal. This way, you'll be settled in the new culture before you step out in front of your avid new audience.

So, if you are looking for informal, voluntary work while backpacking or thinking about a career change, the TEFL industry is one of the fastest growing markets amongst volunteers. With an estimated 1 billion people learning English worldwide, it looks like there is always going to be a demand for native teachers, so why not be one of them?

PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors)

With over 5,300 dive shops and schools in around 180 countries worldwide, the chances are you'll come across somewhere offering PADI courses on your travels. Many people decide to do their PADI abroad for various reasons such as cheaper costs, exciting excursions or simply the allure of looking down at a coral reef rather than an old shopping trolley in a lake in the UK.

PADI offer various courses for everyone from learning scuba as a beginner, improving your skills or qualifying as a dive instructor yourself.

If you've never dived before, you can do one of PADI's 'try dives' to get of feel of what it's like to breathe underwater and to get an introduction to the basics of scuba gear. Find your nearest PADI dive shop and pool on their website.

PADI Open Water Diver

This is the first course you'll take with PADI and will introduce you to the basic principles of scuba diving and the scuba equipment, take you on confined dives to teach you how to use your new knowledge underwater and then open water to let you practice and review your skills. You will do five confined water dives and four open water dives, all supervised by a PADI instructor.

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver

Once you're qualified to Open Water diver, you can hone your skills by completing five adventure dives including deeper water diving, underwater navigation and then choose three more dives- anything from digital underwater photography and wreck diving. It's a great way to use your skills from other courses while learning more underwater skills, clock up more dives and of course, have some incredible experiences.

There are 25 speciality courses you can choose from once you've got these basics under your belt so if you are interested in conservation or just seeing the world beneath the waves, PADI courses are the way forward. When you pass the course, you get a PADI scuba certification card that lets you dive anywhere in the world and then the fun can really begin. Once you're more experienced and perhaps thinking about using scuba for a career, you could work towards your PADI Divemaster qualification.

PADI have recently started offering Online Courses for their PADI Open Water Diver, PADI Advanced Open Water and PADI Enriched Air Nitrox qualifications so you could start your learning before you even get to the beach. The great thing about doing the course online is you can work at your own pace with the PADI eLearning system and, as long as you have access to your emails and the internet, you can work from wherever and start amassing your scuba knowledge before you hit the water.

Some conservation projects that require you to conduct marine surveys will often have a minimum requirement for your diving abilities, usually PADI Advanced Open Water, but most reputable marine conservation projects will have an on-site dive officer and provide you with all the relevant training you'll need, and include it in the price. Watch out for hidden costs when booking your project; some companies will ask you to bring your own wetsuit, flippers and other dive manuals while some might even add on the price for air and dive kit. Always double check what is included in the price of your course before you book.

Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) Qualifications

If you are doing a conservation project while travelling and are interested in kick-starting your career in conservation, a BTEC can be an ideal way to get on the right track. BTECs are recognised by Edexcel, the UK's largest awarding body and so can be put alongside the rest of your academic qualifications on your CV. And of course, they are definitely a more hands on way to learn about conservation and environmental issues than reading from a textbook!

A BTEC is taught at A/AS level standard but don't think they are only good for people who want to follow the academic route in conservation; since BTEC's are practical, vocational qualifications, they show potential employers that you have the key combination of fieldwork experience and science training and also show that you actively applied your new skills and were committed to studying, even while travelling!

Since these BTEC's are written about what happens in the field, you'll find studying for a BTEC will make your field research more focused and relevant. Here's a few of the conservation based BTECs you could work towards while volunteering.

BTEC Advanced Diploma: Tropical Habitat Conservation

The BTEC Advanced Diploma in Tropical Habitat Conservation combines scientific training and hands on fieldwork while helping you actively build your research and fieldwork skills under the close supervision of your supervisor. The kind of fieldwork you'll do obviously depends on what country you are volunteering in but you could be completing biodiversity surveys, researching new species or monitoring deforestation in at risk areas.

You'll be assessed by your daily work diary, one written submission based on data collected and one verbal presentation. The syllabus requires 270 hours of work and so is best suited for expeditions over 10 weeks. The BTEC Advanced Diploma is also the equivalent to an A level.

If you were planning a shorter volunteer project but still want to do a BTEC in Tropical Habitat Conservation, you can study for a BTEC Advanced Certificate in Tropical Habitat Conservation. The certificate requires 180 hours of work and the daily work diary and verbal presentation, but no written submission.

BTEC Advanced Certificate: Expedition Management (Biodiversity Research)

With the BTEC Advanced Certificate in Expedition Mangement, you'll learn all about expedition planning, survival, navigation, logistics and leadership skills. Your training regime will be trekking through remote regions, carrying your equipment and helping your team survive in the wild. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to put themselves up to nature's challenges or maybe just any wannabe Bear Grylls out there… You'll learn how to find a route, get supplies and ensure the safety of your team mates, all while pushing your limits of endurance and strength. You'll be continually assessed by your expedition planning document which you complete before you go, an expedition log and a written report which you'll write when you get back. The syllabus requires 130 hours of work.

Funding

While you do have to pay for your BTEC, don't let this put you off. Since it's a vocational and educational training qualification, you will be eligible to apply for a Career Development Loan (CDL) to help you out with the cost of your BTEC and expedition.

A CDL is a deferred repayment bank loan- which basically means you agree with the bank how much you need, when you'll be able to pay it back and how much you can afford to pay back each month. It means you don't have to worry about it until you come home but, CDL's are not like your student loan and you do have to pay them back when you say you will, so only get one if you are sure you'll be able to afford to pay it back!

You can apply for a CDL with Barclays, Co-Operative Bank and The Royal Bank of Scotland thanks to their agreement with the Learning and Skills Council to help fund vocational and education training.

Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE)

The Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) is a relatively new qualification from ASDAN and aims to provide more imaginative ways of assessing people's activities.

You'll get a CoPE Student Book, made up of 12 modules, each divided into three sections with each section taking about 10 hours to complete. The module titles include communication, citizenship and community, the environment, international links and several others that are designed to test your problem solving, presentation skills, team work, communication and research skills.

While a CoPE certificate might not be specifically related to conservation, the skills you'll learn are useful not only for your volunteer project but also will appeal to potential employers or university applications. Learning how to research, take part in debates and give presentations are all things you'll use at university or in future employment so doing your CoPE gives you a brilliant introduction with no classroom in sight and again lets you put everything you're learning while volunteering to good use.

Unlike the BTECs, your CoPE qualification comes with the added bonus of 70 UCAS points so if you just missed out on a university place or just want to boost your score, a CoPE certificate would be a good way to do it.

Field Guide Association of South Africa (FGASA)

For those of you travelling through South Africa, what better way to get up close and personal to the Big 5 than by training to be a Field Guide. The Field Guide Association of South Africa are the pioneers of guiding qualifications so if you are interested in a career in safari or trails guiding, you could start your training while volunteering! If you get the bug, you could branch out into more specific guiding such as nature guiding, trackers, culture guiding or even marine guiding.

The FGASA Field Guide course will train you up in flora and fauna of the area, dangerous animals knowledge, conservation management, ecology, geology as well as interpretive skills and tracking skills. The only requirement is that you have a valid drivers license.

It's definitely one of the more intense courses you'll do while volunteering, but by studying towards your FGASA qualification while volunteering at a game reserve or sanctuary, you'll have the opportunity to learn more about the animals and the country and be able to bring your own knowledge to your studying.

The course is theoretical and practical and is assessed by a final exam so you will definitely have to study- but surely Africa's last remaining wildernesses is one of the best classrooms you could hope for?