I’m looking into getting my TEFL certification and I’m wanting to live and work in Europe, specifically a Scandinavian country. I love teaching and I have a BA degree in education. I’m looking to improve my quality of life, experience new cultures, and generally want to be somewhere I can feel safe.
How likely is it that I could get an ESL job as an American? I heard it’s difficult if you aren’t from the EU. I do have 2 years of full time teaching experience in public schools.
There’s zero chance. TEFL certificates are meaningless in real schools, they’re for working in language academies and teaching privately, neither of which you’ll get a visa for in Europe. You need a teaching license and experience in your own country in order to get a job at an international school (an MA in TESOL is helpful), or you need to meet the requirements to work as a teacher in your target country (which is often a profession restricted to citizens, as teaching in some countries is a civil service position).
There are some teaching exchange programs if you just want a change in scenery for a year or two, where you’d just be working as a classroom assistant. The Spanish ministry of education runs one (I’ve worked in it for years), and there’s TAPIF in France. There’s also the Fulbright ELA program, which is highly competitive, and an extremely small program in Italy called SITE, though it’s very limited. You can also apply for a freelance visa and teach in academies and as a private tutor in Germany, though that option requires some commitment due to how much work it is getting set up, finding clients, taking care of taxes, etc. But lots of people do it, so it’s definitely an option.