WHY STUDYTEFL'S CHEAP TEFL COURSE IS BETTER THAN TEACHER RECORD

While free TEFL courses like the one from Teacher Record can seem tempting (who doesn’t love “free”?), there are a few important reasons why they might not be the best choice if you’re serious about landing quality teaching jobs abroad or online - especially compared to an internationally accredited course from a provider like studyTEFL, which is not only affordable but also has a reputation of being professional and useful in terms of the TEFL training it provides.

1. Recognition by Employers Teacher Record’s free TEFL is not accredited by a major international body. Many schools and language programs want to see a TEFL certificate from an accredited provider. studyTEFL’s certificate is accredited by OTCAC and The CPD Group, which is recognized by schools worldwide, making your application more competitive and widely accepted.

2. Course Quality & Depth
Free courses like the Teacher record 120-hour TEFL course usually cut corners: they are usually shorter, less comprehensive, lack video lessons, or lack real-world focus (sometimes only taking a few hours to complete, especially when the assessment questions never change).

Accredited courses (like studyTEFL’s 120-hour TEFL certificate option) cover teaching methods, lesson planning, classroom management, and include assessments that both vary and change over time - forcing you to pay attention to the quality content, and giving you practical, job-ready skills.

3. Employer Perception Some employers do not accept free TEFL certificates or know that “free” can mean “low effort,” so they may question your training’s seriousness or quality. An accredited course certificate TEFL or TESOL-based shows you invested time, effort, and (yes) some money in your professional development.

4. Certificate Verification With the studyTEFL paid, accredited TEFL course, you get a verifiable certificate number and employer verification service. Free courses almost always lack this, or make you pay much more, which can be a red flag for schools.

The Teacher Record free TEFL certificate is not actually free - you pay over $100 for the hardcopy TEFL certificate. With studyTEFL, our certificate TEFL-TESOL is included in our low course fee and can also be self-printed and verified on our website. Our QR-code system means that you save money while employers save time.

5. Support & Extras StudyTEFL and other accredited providers offer tutor support, feedback, and resources. Free courses rarely, if ever, provide any guidance, feedback, or after-course help. You might argue that Teacher Record TEFL jobs service is helpful, but some in the industry believe they offer their free TEFL simply to make commission from placing new, naive teachers in lower paid or less-desirable TEFL jobs online. We are not going to speculate, but you should definitely do your research. When a TEFL provider is offering TEFL courses purely to get you passed and into their employment to make commission from your job application, you need to ask yourself how good the actual TEFL course is and whether they are indeed accredited by accreditors with expertise in education and teaching English.

6. Long-Term Value
If you want to move up to higher-paying jobs, work in stricter countries, or just have more options, a recognized, accredited TEFL course is a much better investment. With that said, if you are happy with the Teacher Record TEFL certification course and it does work out for you then we would love to hear from you so that we can update our article.In short, a free TEFL can be fine for casual online tutoring or as an introduction, but if you’re serious about teaching English abroad or want to compete for the best jobs, invest in an internationally accredited 120-hour TEFL course like studyTEFL's. It’s a small price for a big boost in your English teaching abroad career and even teaching English online. To check out all the countries that require an English teaching certificate (TEFL certification), have a look below.