Celta syllabus and assessment guidelines

Mode of assessment
Assessment
is continuous and integrated.
Continuous
here means that assessment takes place throughout the course.
Integrated
here means that both assessed components contribute to the overall grade.
The two components of assessment
Component One: Planning and teaching
In this component, candidates are required to practice-teach for a total of six assessed hours, working with adult learners 
at a minimum of two levels in classes of the required size. (Please refer to the Administration Handbook for regulations 
regarding teaching practice.)
By the end of the six hours of assessed teaching practice, candidates should have demonstrated successful achievement of all 
the teaching practice assessment criteria, detailed on pages 15–16.
Component Two: Classroom-related written assignments
This component consists of four written assignments:
• one assignment focuses on adult learners and learning contexts
• one assignment focuses on an aspect of the language system of English
• one assignment focuses on an aspect of language skills
• one assignment requires reflection on classroom teaching and the identification of action points.
The centre is responsible for designing the written assignments, which should each be between 750 and 1,000 words. The 
assignments are internally assessed and externally moderated. Two assignments may be conflated into one larger assignment 
provided that all the assessment criteria are met.

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14
Certificate grades
The Certificate will be awarded to candidates who meet the course requirements and whose performance meets, or 
exceeds, the criteria in both assessment components. 
Candidates are ineligible for the award in cases where dishonesty or 
plagiarism is brought to the attention of Cambridge English.
The following performance descriptors are to be interpreted in the CELTA context, bearing in mind that candidates are
pre-service and undertaking initial teacher training including six hours of teaching practice.
The CELTA performance descriptors are for use by tutors and assessors 
at the end of the course 
to determine final 
recommended grades. By the end of the course, candidates’ performance must match 
ALL
of the descriptors at a particular 
passing grade in order to achieve that grade. 
Pass
Pass B
Pass A
Planning
Candidates can plan effectively with 
guidance. They can analyse target 
language adequately and generally
select appropriate resources and tasks
for successful language and language 
skills development.
Candidates can plan effectively with
some guidance. They can analyse
target language well and select 
appropriate resources and tasks for 
successful language and language
skills development.
Candidates can plan effectively with 
minimal guidance. They can analyse 
target language thoroughly and 
select appropriate resources and tasks 
for successful language and language
skills development.
Teaching
Candidates can generally deliver 
effective language and skills lessons, 
using a variety of classroom teaching 
techniques with a degree of success.
Candidates can deliver effective
language and skills lessons, using
a variety of classroom teaching
techniques successfully.
Candidates can deliver effective
language and skills lessons, using a
variety of classroom teaching
techniques successfully.
Awareness
of learners
Candidates show some awareness
of learners and some ability to 
respond so that learners benefit
from the lessons.
Candidates show good awareness 
of learners and can respond so that 
learners benefit from the lessons.
Candidates show very good 
awareness of learners and can 
respond so that learners benefit
from the lessons.
Reflection
Candidates can reflect on some 
key strengths and weaknesses and 
generally use these reflections to 
develop their teaching skills.
Candidates can reflect on key 
strengths and weaknesses and 
generally use these reflections to 
develop their teaching skills.
Candidates can reflect on key 
strengths and weaknesses and 
consistently use these reflections to 
develop their teaching skills.
Overall
Candidates’ planning and teaching 
show satisfactory understanding 
of English language learning and 
teaching processes at CELTA level.
Candidates’ planning and teaching 
show good understanding of English 
language learning and teaching 
processes at CELTA level.
Candidates’ planning and teaching 
show excellent understanding 
of English language learning and 
teaching processes at CELTA level.
All CELTA assessment criteria are achieved and requirements for written work are met.
Fail
Candidates’ performance does not match all of the Pass descriptors.
Some CELTA assessment criteria are not achieved and/or requirements for written work are not met.

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15
Component 1: Planning and teaching
Centres are responsible for including six hours’ supervised and assessed teaching practice as part of the programme. This 
teaching practice will typically involve candidates working with specially arranged groups of learners. In some colleges, 
candidates may be placed as an apprentice with a class teacher and work alongside the class teacher in a supervised role.
The teaching practice is timetabled on a continuous basis throughout the course so that opportunities are provided for 
candidates to show that they can apply theory to practice in classroom teaching. In their teaching and in their lesson plans, 
candidates should demonstrate an increasing ability in their achievement of the assessment criteria which are detailed below. 
By the end of the course, candidates should be able to plan, prepare and teach a range of lessons designed for adult learners 
of English.
The programme for the six hours’ assessed teaching practice should provide each candidate with opportunities to teach for at 
least two hours at two different levels, one of which should be below intermediate level. The number of occasions on which 
candidates should practice-teach and the length of the assessed lessons are not specified, but on a minimum of two occasions, 
opportunities to practice-teach for at least 40 minutes should be provided. Opportunities for candidates to teach a broad range 
of lesson types should also be included.
The overall scope and assessment criteria for teaching practice are described below. 
Please note that in order to show how the 
assessment criteria are linked to the syllabus, each criterion is introduced by a number that refers to a corresponding topic 
of the syllabus.