What Obligations Do TEFL Course Providers Have?

Aside from presenting the certificate they offer honestly – how much do they have a responsibility to tell potential applicants about the job market?

Specifically – if they are advertising their certificate as a means to teach English anywhere in the world to a wide audience, including people without degrees, do they have a responsibility to mention that, above and beyond their certificate, a degree is usually required to work legally in most countries? Or for courses in the EU open to candidates outside the EU – that it will be exceedingly difficult for those from outside the EU to work legally there?

I’m torn. A course provider is a course provider, and I feel strongly that they don’t need to offer job placement assistance to be good (and in fact I’m wary of those who use it as a selling point or charge extra for it). People going off to work abroad need to take responsibility for finding out what’s involved in that, and just as at home should keep their “buyer beware” hat on. It’s also simply not practical for each course provider to have expert knowledge of the changing job market in a variety of countries.

It also occurs to me that I do not specify these things every time I post here – I certainly have mentioned that you tend to need a degree and that it’s very difficult for those not from EU countries to work in the EU, but someone looking at one post only might not see that. But of course I do not personally benefit from that omission, whereas it seems that TEFL course providers do (or at least stand to).

These are all topics that potential TEFL trainees can ask and should look for answers to before committing hundreds of dollars to a course in a specific location. But when the course provider is also presenting information about the field – and they do this in order to show how useful their certificate is – is it okay to leave this information out?