Europe, for TEFL teachers, can be divided into several distinct areas. These sometimes overlap. For a list of individual countries and the TEFL situation in each of them, see below.
English-Speaking Countries
In other words, the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is a demand for English teachers here, mainly dealing with short-term groups of foreign students who come for a short course to learn English. Usually jobs are filled by experienced and well qualified teachers.
The European Union
One of the most important areas is the European Union. This is a most of Western Europe (excluding Switzerland) and increasingly countries in Eastern Europe. For teachers the most important implication is that, to all extents and purposes, you need to be a citizen of the EU to work in the EU. This means that most of the native English speaking teachers here are from Britain or Ireland and it is very difficult for non-EU citizens to get a job here unless they are very well qualified and experienced or are married to a local.
See the main articles, Teaching English in the European Union and Teaching in the EU for Non-Europeans.
Southern Europe
This has been the traditional starting ground for new teachers for decades. Spain and Greece, and to a lesser extent Portugal and Italy, have provided the first teaching experience for thousands of teachers.
With the recent economic crisis these countries have suffered greatly and it is becoming increasingly harder for teachers to find work here; while Turkey is still going strong here, many are now looking to Asia for a first teaching experience or, if they are staying closer to home, Eastern Europe.
Northern Europe
In Scandinavia there is very little demand for teachers while in Germany and France, Austria and so on there is demand but it tends to be very business oriented and also looking at experienced and well qualified teachers. This is not to say newcomers can’t work there but competition tends to be a lot higher for work.
Eastern Europe
This is the new start up in terms of English teaching. Since the collapse of Soviet Russia countries here have begun to look to the West in terms of business and friendship and this means an increasing demand for English teachers. It is becoming increasingly popular and the general feeling is that this need for teachers will grow.
English Teaching Countries in Europe
The following countries are usually accepted as being part of Europe.
- Albania
- Andorra
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – FYROM
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
Kosovo - Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
Note that politically often Cyprus and Turkey are regarded as being part of the Middle East; for the purposes of this list we regard them as part of Europe, especially as they are part of the European Union.
Did you know that if you subscribe to our website, you will receive email notifications whenever content changes or new content is added.
1. Enter your e-mail address below and click the Sign Me Up button.
2. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your intention of subscribing to our site.
3. Click the link in the email to confirm. That’s all there is to it! Note: if you wish to unsubscribe from our site, click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email you received.
Then indicate you no longer wish to receive our emails.
Thank You
IWeb TEFL Team