TESOL courses

A TESOL course prepares you to teach English to speakers of other languages. Most TESOL qualifications are designed to build on an existing teaching qualification, which is why you may require a Bachelor of Education or Bachelor of Teaching before you can enrol. At a minimum, you will need a bachelor degree in any discipline from a recognised tertiary institution to study these courses. 

You should study TESOL if you’d like to transform people’s lives. Your course will prepare you to support people from all sorts of backgrounds, including migrants and refugees who need help navigating Australian life. Under your guidance, they’ll learn how to become more fluid English speakers so they can apply for jobs, build new relationships and settle more comfortably into their local community. That can be an incredibly rewarding experience. 

A TESOL qualification will also allow you to teach English abroad in private language colleges, government schools and universities, where roles are competitive. While there are overseas English teaching positions that don’t require a formal degree, you will have access to more higher paying opportunities with a qualification. In fact, many countries like Japan and South Korea require their English language teachers to have a degree before they will grant a relevant work visa.

It’s worth studying your TESOL course online if you already work full-time as a teacher, tutor or other educational professional. You can complete your coursework when it suits you, instead of taking time off to attend lectures and tutorials. You also have the flexibility to study your course a subject at a time, which makes your workload more manageable.

There are a lot of reasons to study your course online through us.

• You have total control over how you study
  Upskill without committing to a whole degree upfront. Or enrol in a full degree, but take it a subject at a time. We help you access flexible study options you didn’t even know about, so you can fit uni around what matters to you.
• You’ll graduate with the same qualification as an on-campus student
  While you enrol through us, you will study online with the university that provides your degree. So you can rest assured that you’ll graduate with the same qualification as an on-campus student. In fact, your certificate won't even mention our name. We're just here to make all that tricky uni administration easier.
• We’ll help you navigate the university world
  Our friendly student advisors will be your guide every step of the enrolment journey. They'll help you compare universities, choose a course, provide documentation and understand your finance options.

It depends on what your goals are. If you’d like to upskill quickly for a position at an English language teaching centre, then a Graduate Certificate in TESOL could be a good choice for you. You only need to complete 4 subjects to earn this qualification, and you can graduate within 6 months if you take on a full-time study load.

On the other hand, if you'd like to teach TESOL at a government school or university, work in language education policy, or pursue a leadership position at a language school, you may want to consider a Master of TESOL. This more advanced qualification dives deeper into the theory behind teaching English and can be more appealing to certain employers.   

You can also enrol in a short online TESOL course if you'd prefer to upskill in a single area only. 

A TESOL qualification can lead to job opportunities both here in Australia and overseas. Graduates typically end up working at English language centres, private colleges, TAFEs, universities and government schools in roles such as: 

• TESOL teacher 
• ESL/EFL language instructor
• ESL/EFL curriculum developer
• Academic advisor
• Tutor
• Researcher in language learning/teaching
• Language education policy adviser

Some graduates even go on to work in international business, international relations or diplomacy.

Before starting an enrolment, it’s important to read the entry requirements for your chosen course to ensure that you’re eligible to apply. If you don’t quite meet the requirements, we may be able to help you gain entry through prior study or work experience. Chat with us to find out more.

Here at Open Universities Australia, we make enrolling online as straightforward as possible. To get started, find the course for you by browsing the options on this page. You can also compare different qualifications using our handy comparison tool, or request help from one of our student advisors.

When you’ve made your choice, click ‘Apply now’ on the relevant course page and follow the prompts to begin your enrolment. We’ll ask you to supply some supporting documentation, including proof of your identity, your tax file number, and a unique student identifier (USI) during this process.

Your university will get in touch with you via email to confirm whether or not your application has been successful.

Please note that enquiries and applications for some courses are handled directly by the university. If this is the case, it will be indicated on the course listing page.  

For more information about enrolment, read our online self-service enrolling instructions. If you get stuck at any time, contact us and we’ll talk you through it.