About us

Much of the centre and many of our courses are accredited by external bodies such as the British Council and BALEAP. The centre is authorised by Cambridge Assessment English as an exam centre and for teaching awards.

With over 100 teachers and 20 administrative and support staff, the ELTC teaches and supports several thousand students a year on a range of general, pre-sessional and in-sessional programmes.

Our staff have experience of teaching international students in a wide range of locations and situations, both in the UK and overseas.

The ELTC is housed in a purpose-built facility which includes modern classrooms and well-equipped computer suites, as well as advanced audio-visual equipment and learning resources.

Our courses also take advantage of classrooms and facilities across the University of Sheffield campus.

Accreditation and memberships

The British Council

Many courses at the ELTC, the University of Sheffield are accredited through Accreditation UK.  This means that we meet agreed quality standards guaranteed by the British Council. Courses not accredited include Teacher Training (Cambridge accredited) and Dyslexia support (BDA accredited).

The British Council have assessed the standards of management, resources and premises, teaching and welfare, and have accredited the ELTC with meeting the overall standard in each area inspected.

The British Council inspected and accredited the University of Sheffield English Language Teaching Centre in November 2019.

Sheffield ELTC British Council Accreditation Report - November 2019 (.pdf, 239kb)

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The large English language teaching department of this university offers courses in general, academic and professional English for adults (18+) and young people (17+), and for closed groups of adults (18+).

Strengths were noted in the areas of strategic and quality management, staff management, student administration, publicity, learning resources, academic staff profile, academic management, course design, learner management, teaching, care of students, and leisure opportunities.

The inspection report stated that the organisation met the standards of the Scheme.

The British Council

ELTC 2019 inspection report

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Cambridge Assessment English

The ELTC is a University of Cambridge Assessment English authorised centre for both teaching awards and exams.

Teaching Qualifications:

• CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
• TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test)

Cambridge Exams:

• B1 Preliminary (formerly Cambridge PET)
• B2 First (formerly Cambridge FCE)
• C1 Advanced (formerly Cambridge CAE)
• C2 Proficiency (formerly Cambridge CPE)

Cambridge Assessment English is a not-for-profit department of the University of Cambridge and Europe's largest educational assessment organisation.

English UK

English UK is the national association of accredited English language centres.

Formed in 2004 from two previous associations (the Association of Recognised English Language Services and the British Association of State English Language Teaching), there are around 450 member centres in private schools, educational trusts and charities, further education colleges and universities.

All the members are accredited under the Accreditation UK scheme, which are managed in partnership with the British Council.

Other memberships

Professional memberships include:

• BALEAP: the global forum for EAP professionals
• BDA: British Dyslexia Association
• English UK North
• IATEFL: International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language
• NATESOL: Northern Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
• PATOSS: Professional Association of Teachers of Students With Specific Learning Difficulties.

IATEFL 'Special Interest Group' membership includes:

• Business English
• English for Specific Purposes
• Learner Autonomy
• Leadership and Management
• Literature, Media and Cultural Studies
• Learning Technologies
• Research
• Teacher Development
• Testing, Evaluation and Assessment
• Teacher Training and Education