ACTDEC was founded in 1993 for the benefit of the public. It is a non-profit making body governed by officers and Council. It was established to advance professionalism by maintaining and improving on standards of online TESOL/TEFL programmes.

The Chair of ACTDEC, Secretary and Treasurer are elected annually from accredited members. All funds generated by ACTDEC are used solely to further promote ACTDEC, its work in general and in developing and advancing its accreditation aims, professional standards and excellence in TESOL distance learning.

ACTDEC has now been around for 30 years (see Our Story). We are recognised within the profession, have well-qualified, named A&A Panel members and a list of accredited members who can all be easily contacted.

ACTDEC is an accrediting body for online/distance TESOL/TEFL training course providers. Accreditation, in simple terms, involves ensuring that a product or organisation meets and maintains certain established quality standards.

Applicant providers first send us documentation and evidence that they have certain administrative, logistical and communication systems and procedures in place. We review the documentation against our Code of Practice to ensure that the provider is able to deliver quality service and support to their trainees.

We then look in detail at the course or courses that the provider wishes to accredit. The course is reviewed against our Code of Practice as well as the Standards and Learning Outcomes we have established for that level.

For each part of the accreditation process, our Audit & Accreditation Panel furnishes the provider with detailed reports, explicitly commenting on what we like, suggestions for areas we think could be improved, and aspects that must be improved in order to meet our standards. The provider then has two months from the date of the report to implement any required changes and/or respond to our recommendations.

Once a provider has been accredited (both the course they are offering and the organisation itself, they become full partner members of ACTDEC and are listed on our website. Students who wish to train as teachers (teacher trainees) can buy an ACTDEC-accredited course from one of our partner providers with confidence, knowing that both the course and the organisation itself meet our high standards.

We also ensure that these initial high standards are maintained and improved on. We believe strongly that creativity and innovation are key aspects in education, so we expect our providers to stay on top of latest research and technology and to refine and enhance their courses on an ongoing basis. Our partners commit to providing us with an annual report on any changes or innovations they have implemented since their accreditation to be reviewed by our A&A Panel. Additionally, another full audit is carried out every 3 years.