Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

eTEFL Online ("eTEFL Online," "we," "us," or "our") provides online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) training and certification courses to learners around the world. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect when you visit our website or enrol in a course, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights available to you.

We only collect the information that is necessary to provide our courses and services, and we do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

Because eTEFL Online serves learners globally, this policy is written to meet the requirements of the UK and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to reflect good-practice data protection standards for visitors from other regions. If a specific local law grants you additional rights, those rights apply to you as well.

2. Who We Are

If you have questions about this policy or how your data is handled, see Section 15, Contact Us.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information you provide to us

When you register for a course, create an account, sign up for a newsletter, or contact us, we may collect:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your phone number, if you provide it
• Country of residence and, where relevant, your teaching goals or interests, which you may share voluntarily to help us tailor course guidance to you
• Login credentials for your student account on our course platform
• Any information you include when you contact us for support

3.2 Payment information

If you purchase a paid course or certification, we collect your name, billing details, and payment confirmation information. Card and bank details themselves are collected and processed directly by our payment providers — Stripe, PayPal, and PayFast — or, for bank transfers, by our own team using the reference details you provide. eTEFL Online does not store your full card number or bank account details on our own systems.

3.3 Information collected automatically

Like most websites, we automatically collect certain information when you visit, including your IP address, browser type and version, device information, pages visited, and the date and time of your visit. We collect this through cookies and similar tracking technologies, described in Section 6.

3.4 Marketing information

If you opt in to receive emails from us, we collect your email address and track basic engagement (such as opens and clicks) to understand which content is useful and to improve our communications.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide access to our courses and student account features
• Communicate with you about your enrolment, course progress, and certification
• Send you educational emails about TEFL teaching, training pathways, and related opportunities, where you have agreed to receive them
• Respond to your questions and provide support
• Improve our courses, website, and user experience
• Detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraud, or misuse of our services
• Comply with our legal obligations

5. Our Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For visitors and learners in the UK and EU, we rely on the following legal bases under GDPR:

• Consent — for example, when you opt in to marketing emails or accept non-essential cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Performance of a contract — to provide the course or service you have registered for.
• Legitimate interests — for example, to provide relevant educational guidance, improve our services, and keep our site secure, balanced against your rights and expectations.
• Legal obligation — where we must retain or disclose information to comply with the law.

6. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before setting non-essential cookies via a cookie banner, and you can change your preferences at any time. You can also control cookies through your browser settings; note that blocking some cookies may affect site functionality.

7. Email & Marketing Communications

If you sign up to receive updates from us, we'll send emails about course content, teaching guidance, and training opportunities. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time without affecting your access to any course you've already enrolled in.

8. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties. We share information only with trusted service providers who help us run our courses and website, and only to the extent needed for them to perform their services. These may include:

We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect our rights, or in connection with a business transfer such as a merger or acquisition.

9. International Data Transfers

Because eTEFL Online serves learners worldwide, your information may be processed in countries other than the one you live in, including outside the UK or European Economic Area. Where we transfer personal data from the UK or EEA to a country that does not have an adequacy decision, we use appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, to protect your information.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to provide our services and fulfil the purposes described in this policy, such as maintaining your student account and certification records, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. When information is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it.

11. Your Rights

If you are in the UK or EU, GDPR gives you the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
• Restrict or object to our processing of your data
• Request a portable copy of your data
• Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent
• Lodge a complaint with a data protection authority. Because eTEFL Online Teacher Training OÜ is established in Estonia, our lead supervisory authority is the Estonian Data Protection Inspectorate (Andmekaitse Inspektsioon, aki.ee). If you are in the UK, you can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO); if you are elsewhere in the EU, you may also contact your own national supervisory authority

If you're located outside the UK or EU, we extend the same core rights — access, correction, and deletion — to you as a matter of good practice, and will honour requests consistent with applicable local law.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in Section 15. We may need to verify your identity before responding.

12. Children's Privacy

Our courses are intended for adult learners. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

13. Data Security

We use reputable third-party platforms and tools for storing and processing your information and take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal or regulatory reasons. The current version will always be available on this page, along with its last-updated date.

15. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, contact us at: