Qualifications Vs. Certifications – What’s the Difference?

In this blog, Distance Cert director and Cert IBET learning mentor Ben Dobbs reflects on a question that we often receive as a learning and development provider.

Let’s start by looking at qualifications. A qualification is an official, accredited award that confirms someone has completed a recognised programme of study and met externally set standards. A qualification is wide and covers a field or discipline. A qualification is regulated in some way and is awarded by, for example, an Ofqual-regulated bodies or university. Qualifications may take years to complete. A qualification can also be mapped to a framework such as the UK’s qualification levels. Examples of qualifications in our field being CELTA, DELTA, BA TESOL and so on.

Now, let’s turn to certifications. A certification is a proof of competence in a specific skill, method, body of knowledge or tool. As such, the focus is narrow, specific and specialised. It is usually awarded by an organisation (not always an accredited body) after an assessment; this assessment may be an examination or, in our case, an assignment detailing application of learning. It is awarded by any organisation with some form of “authority” in that domain. This may be a professional body, company or training provider. A certification is often short and may take hours, weeks or months to complete. Examples of famous certifications including PMP, Six Sigma and others that are based on an established body of knowledge that is trained and tested. A body of knowledge (BOK) in certification terms is an authoritative or agreed‑upon set of concepts, skills, methods and competencies that a certification is built on. It defines what candidates must know and be able to do to earn (and often maintain) the credential. For example, the PMI’s PMBOK that forms the basis for the PMP examination. Relevant examples of certifications in our industry are short TEFL certificates and the specialised and highly specific certifications that we provide.

Based on the above thoughts, I suggest that a simple way of looking at this differentiation is that a qualification says “you have completed a recognised programme and met national standards” while a certification states “you can competently perform this specific skill or method.”

Why, then, does this distinction actually matter? Your qualifications help determine baseline teaching ability, pedagogical knowledge and professional level while your certifications help determine specialist skills (such as coaching, technology use or an ESP specialism).

As a provider of certifications, what do we do? We design training and development courses which, in our case, are self-directed distance learning programmes based around a body of knowledge and subsequently assessed. Our participants gain insights into the subject area, growth of competence and confidence, new ideas and, perhaps most importantly, proof that they have not only studied a specific competence but have also been assessed on it.

What are your thoughts on this differentiation?

What qualifications and certifications do you hold?