The domestic route to teaching in Canada's publicly funded schools: an undergraduate degree, an initial teacher education program, and certification by the regulator in the province or territory where you will teach, with Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec in detail.
Applies in: across Canada
This guide covers one route only: a person who completes a degree and an initial teacher education program in Canada and then seeks certification to teach in a publicly funded kindergarten to Grade 12 school in the province or territory where they will work. It is not the route for a teacher who trained outside Canada, and it is not the route to becoming an early childhood educator. Those are separate processes with separate regulators, and the foreign-credentials and early childhood educator guides linked below describe them. Do not mix the steps: an early childhood credential does not license you to teach in a public school, and a foreign teaching credential does not become a Canadian certificate by completing the domestic steps in this guide alone.
There is no Canadian teaching licence. Each province and territory issues its own certificate through its own regulator, and the regulator in the province where you will teach decides whether you are certified. The certificate names differ — Certificate of Qualification and Registration in Ontario, Certificate of Qualification in British Columbia, Interim Professional Certificate and then Permanent Professional Certificate in Alberta, teaching licence (brevet d'enseignement) in Quebec — and the coursework, practicum, language, and character requirements differ with them. This guide works the shared spine first, then the four provinces verified in detail, then the honest limit for the rest: the regulator list, the Pathways boundary, and labour mobility, with no invented per-province steps.
Every regulator in this guide starts from postsecondary education, but the counting rules differ, so choose your undergraduate courses with the destination province's requirements in hand, not with a generic degree plan. Ontario requires, in most cases, an undergraduate degree for general education, or for technological education an acceptable certificate, diploma, or advanced diploma and work experience, plus a completed initial teacher education program. British Columbia requires four years (120 credits) of postsecondary studies and a degree (or equivalent), plus British Columbia Grade 12 (or equivalent), and then measures the coursework against its academic studies rules: elementary teachers need 30 credits of general coursework related to the British Columbia elementary curriculum, including six credits of English or French literature and composition, three credits of Canadian studies, three credits of mathematics, and three credits of science; secondary teachers need 30 credits of academic coursework including six credits of English or French literature and composition and 24 credits in one listed subject area. Alberta requires four years of university education and a recognized degree that includes 48 semester-hour credits in teacher education coursework, with a minimum of 10 weeks of supervised student teaching. Quebec's standard method is a four-year Bachelor of Education program leading to a teaching diploma for preschool, elementary, secondary, or vocational training, with master's degree programs in education that lead to a teaching diploma available for career changers. If your degree is already complete and its coursework does not match the destination province's pattern, the regulator may require additional coursework before certification; British Columbia's Conditional Certificate of Qualification exists for exactly that situation, as described below. Check the academic requirements on the regulator's page before your final undergraduate year, while you can still add the missing credits.
The teacher education program is the professional half of the qualification, and it must be a program the regulator recognizes. In Ontario, you apply to a faculty of education through the Teacher Education Application Service (TEAS), complete an initial teacher education program, and then apply to the Ontario College of Teachers. The College's registration guide states that an acceptable program of teacher education must be at least four semesters of postsecondary study. The program includes practice teaching, and the College's transitional certificate rules measure practicum progress in days, but this guide states no total practicum-day figure for the Ontario program, because no College page states a total; confirm the practicum length with the faculty of education you apply to. In British Columbia, a program completed in British Columbia must be offered at a postsecondary institution in the province and approved by the British Columbia Teachers' Council under the Teacher Education Program Approval Standards. A program completed outside British Columbia must have been completed at an accredited postsecondary institution, included at least 18 credits of professional education coursework, included an acceptable practicum of 10 weeks in a kindergarten to Grade 12 school, observed, reviewed, and assessed by mentor teachers and by faculty members or supervisors, and must authorize the applicant to teach in the kindergarten to Grade 12 system where the institution is located. Teaching experience or additional practicum experience may be used to meet the practicum criteria. In Alberta, the teacher preparation program must include the 48 semester-hour credits and 10 weeks of supervised student teaching described above, and the program must lead to teacher certification in the jurisdiction where it was completed. In Quebec, the program must be a teacher education program leading to a teaching diploma, listed by the ministry; accelerated paths exist for teaching staff who are not legally qualified but are employed in the school system, described on the ministry's French-only page for the brevet d'enseignement for non-legally-qualified teaching staff.
Two traps sit inside this step. First, a graduate degree in education is not automatically a teacher education program. British Columbia expressly lists programs that may not qualify, including programs completed at British Columbia universities that are not approved by the British Columbia Teachers' Council, such as a master of education, a master of arts in education, and a master of arts in leadership, as well as language-teaching programs that do not lead to teaching in a kindergarten to Grade 12 system, very short programs, and on-the-job or employment-based programs. Confirm the program's approval status with the regulator before you enrol, not after you graduate. Second, the program must match the divisions or subjects you intend to teach. Ontario's certificate records Basic Qualifications by division — Primary (Grades K-3), Junior (Grades 4-6), Intermediate (Grades 7-10), and Senior (Grades 11-12), or Technological Education — and requires qualification in at least two consecutive divisions, with Junior/Intermediate teachers qualified in at least one teaching subject at the Intermediate level and Intermediate/Senior teachers qualified in two teaching subjects, one Intermediate and one Senior. Choose the divisions and subjects when you choose the program, because adding a division later means an Additional Qualification course, not a conversation.
Apply to the regulator in the province or territory where you will teach, not to a national body. The application pattern is consistent even where the forms differ: transcripts sent directly by your institutions, proof of identity, a criminal record check, a statement of professional standing where you hold or held certification elsewhere, and proof of language proficiency where the regulator requires it. Ontario's registration guide lists, among the documents, proof of identity, an original Canadian criminal record check report, transcripts for the teacher education program and for postsecondary studies sent by the institutions, verification letters where applicable, proof of language proficiency where required, and a statement of professional standing, with translation of any document not in English or French. British Columbia requires everyone applying for a teaching certificate or letter of permission to authorize a criminal record check, with a signed consent form, and requires criminal record checks every five years once certified; its documents page lists transcripts, language proficiency tests, statements of professional standing, practicum verification, and character references among the documents it may require, submitted only after the branch provides the document list for the application. Alberta applications run through the Teacher Workforce Information System (TWINS) account, with identity documents, a criminal record check with a vulnerable sector search, and official transcripts among the supporting documents described by the province's occupation profile. Quebec requires an application for, or renewal of, a teaching licence through the ministry's form, regardless of whether the applicant is enrolled in a program, has completed one, or received teacher education outside Quebec or Canada, with the documents listed in the Regulation respecting teaching licences, including a judicial record declaration.
Language proficiency is a regulator requirement, not a single national test. Ontario requires applicants to be able to communicate effectively in English or French, with proof required where the applicant completed the teacher education program in a country not on the College's list or was certified in another Canadian jurisdiction without a language assessment at certification. British Columbia requires all applicants to demonstrate language proficiency in line with the Certification Standards, and lists the ways to show it, including completion of secondary school in Canada in the language, completion of an approved British Columbia teacher education program in the language with a recommendation for certification, four years of postsecondary education in the language including an acceptable teacher education program, verified kindergarten to Grade 12 teaching experience in the language, test results, or a passing score on the Language Competency Assessment for the Teaching Profession (LCATP). The test scores British Columbia lists include, for tests taken before January 21, 2026, a TOEFL iBT total of 95 with minimums of 25 on speaking and 23 on other subtests, and for tests taken on or after that date a total of 4.5 with minimums of 4.5 on speaking and 4.0 on other subtests, and an IELTS Academic overall band of 6.5 with no band below 6 and a minimum of 6.5 on speaking, taken at a test centre. Do not carry a British Columbia test score into another province, and do not assume a degree taught in English or French removes the requirement in every province; the regulator's list for your province governs.
Ontario certifies through the Ontario College of Teachers. Once you have completed an initial teacher education program, you apply to the College for a Certificate of Qualification and Registration (CQR), which is your licence to teach in Ontario's publicly funded schools, and you must pay an annual membership fee to keep the certificate in good standing. The certificate identifies your qualifications in four sections: degrees, program of teacher education, Basic Qualifications, and Additional Qualifications. Teachers who are certified by the College may use the Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) designation. The College's page on qualifications for teaching, published by the Government of Ontario, states the same spine: to teach in a publicly funded school you must be certified by the College, and to be certified you need, in most cases, an undergraduate degree for general education, an acceptable certificate, diploma, or advanced diploma and work experience for technological education, and a completed initial teacher education program, with other requirements such as proof of language proficiency.
Two requirements sit on top of the degree and program. All applicants and Ontario Certified Teachers must successfully complete the online Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (SAPP). The Math Proficiency Test (MPT) applies more narrowly: the College's registration guide states that if you submitted a complete application on or after February 1, 2025, you may be required to pass the MPT, and its fulfilling-conditions page lists a condition to successfully pass the MPT, registered at mathproficiencytest.ca. Treat the MPT as a question to resolve on the College's pages for your application, not as a universal step and not as a step you can ignore. No fee, pass mark, or sitting schedule for either program is stated in this guide, because none was verified on a College page.
Transitional certificates let candidates teach before the program is complete, within strict limits. The TCQR requires at least 30 credits (or the equivalent) and 40 practicum days, a completed application with all documents and fees including a report from the faculty of education, and is valid for 18 months with a one-time six-month extension; up to 20 days of teaching with a TCQR can count towards the program's practicum requirements. The MTCQR requires completion of the first session of a multi-session program including at least 10 days of practice teaching, plus 12 postsecondary credits, with the same application and faculty-report requirement, and is valid for six years with a one-time one-year extension. After the initial program, Additional Qualification (AQ) courses add qualifications to the certificate. AQ courses are taken after the initial teacher education program, the faculty of education or AQ provider notifies the College automatically when a course is completed, and the AQ appears on the public register profile and printable certificate, and on the Certificate of Qualification and Registration the calendar year after completion. Use the College's AQ search tool to find an approved provider; a course from an unapproved provider does not add a qualification.
In British Columbia, certification runs through the Teacher Regulation Branch of the Ministry of Education and Child Care, with standards set by the British Columbia Teachers' Council. The Professional Certificate of Qualification requires the academic studies and teacher education program requirements above, plus, for a program completed outside Canada, a familiarization course approved by the British Columbia Teachers' Council, and at least 24 credits of professional education coursework including curriculum and instruction, assessment and reporting, educational psychology, foundations of education, Indigenous education within Canada, anti-racism and anti-oppression education, diversity, equity, and social justice in education within Canada, ethics and standards, and inclusive education for students with disabilities or diverse abilities within Canada. Applicants who have not completed all academic and teacher education requirements may be issued a Conditional Certificate of Qualification, a temporary certificate valid for up to 60 months, on condition that the remaining requirements are completed within that period; the conditional route requires the acceptable teacher education program requirements and at least 24 professional education credits in curriculum and instruction and assessment and reporting, and applicants who completed an acceptable program outside Canada and qualify for a conditional certificate must complete a familiarization course while the conditional certificate is valid. Trades teachers follow a separate track: a Trades Certificate restricted to teaching a specific trade subject area requires a Red Seal or SkilledTradesBC Certificate of Qualification with a minimum of three levels in a trades subject area offered in British Columbia's kindergarten to Grade 12 system, a minimum of five years of journeyperson work or teaching experience in the trade area, six credits of English or French literature and composition, and completion of an acceptable teacher education program, with an upgrade path to a Professional Certificate of Qualification. Fitness to teach is a distinct requirement: applicants must be of good and moral character and fit and proper to teach.
In Alberta, certification runs through the Registrar at Alberta Education, the only body that can assess credentials for teaching authority in the province. The Interim Professional Certificate (IPC) is the first certificate: four years of university education and a recognized degree including 48 semester-hour credits in teacher education coursework with a minimum of 10 weeks of supervised student teaching, a criminal record check with a vulnerable sector search, and, for elementary preparation, at least 24 credits including Canadian studies (3), mathematics (3), science (3), and English or French literature and composition (6), or for secondary preparation at least 24 credits in the teachable subject area and six credits in English or French literature and composition. The IPC is valid for up to three years. The Permanent Professional Certificate (PPC) requires two years of full-time teaching experience, approximately 400 days equivalent, in an Alberta accredited school while holding a valid interim certificate, recommended through the schooling authority to the Registrar. Alberta has also introduced expedited certificates, including conditional and specialized routes, for final-year bachelor of education students, internationally trained teachers, tradespeople, and other skilled professionals, with required teacher preparation training before entering the classroom, supervision by a designated teacher leader, and completion of the full preparation requirements before permanent certification. Those routes are recent and their conditions are set in the Certification of Teachers and Teacher Leaders Regulation as amended; confirm the current certificate types and conditions on Alberta Education's teacher certification pages before planning around an expedited route, and do not present an expedited certificate as equivalent to the IPC without checking its conditions and term.
In Quebec, you must hold a teaching licence issued under the Regulation respecting teaching licences to teach in general education or vocational training. The standard method is the four-year Bachelor of Education program leading to a teaching diploma, with master's programs in education that lead to a teaching diploma for career changers, and accelerated paths for teaching staff who are not legally qualified but are employed in the school system. You obtain a teaching licence once you have completed your studies, and you apply or renew through the ministry's form. The regulation sets the documents every applicant must provide, including identity and birth documents, diplomas and transcripts, any licence to teach outside Quebec, proof of citizenship or authorization to work in Canada where born outside Canada, and the judicial record declaration required by the Education Act. Quebec also requires a language examination under the regulation; this guide states the existence of that examination and the judicial record declaration, but no examination name, pass mark, or fee, because none was verified on a ministry page. Start with the Government of Quebec "Becoming a teacher" page, complete the eligibility form it directs applicants to, and follow the ministry's instructions for the program list and the language examination.
For Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, this guide states no province-specific coursework, practicum, or certificate-step detail beyond what follows, because it could not be verified on an official page. What is verified is the structure. Each jurisdiction has its own regulator and its own certificate, and Pathways to Teach Canada provides credential and language assessment services for ten participating regulators — British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan — and does not provide assessment services for Alberta, Quebec, Yukon, or Ontario, where applicants begin directly with the regulator. Pathways to Teach Canada supports internationally educated teachers through the first step of the process and does not grant certification; the participating regulators retain exclusive jurisdiction to grant or deny certification. For a domestic applicant, the practical consequence is simple: identify the regulator for the province or territory where you will teach, confirm on that regulator's own pages whether it uses Pathways for any assessment, and apply there. The Saskatchewan regulator is the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board (SPTRB); university guidance for Saskatchewan graduates describes the Professional 'A' Teacher's Certificate and the 48 semester hours of professional education coursework including a practicum, but this guide does not present Saskatchewan certificate types as verified regulator text, because the regulator's own pages do not state them. For the territories, confirm on the territorial education department's pages which certificate applies and whether a certificate from a province is recognized, rather than assuming a provincial route transfers unchanged.
Labour mobility is the bridge between provinces for teachers already certified in Canada. British Columbia states that teachers moving from another province or territory may be eligible for a certificate without additional coursework if they hold a current, valid, unrestricted certificate from another Canadian province or territory and meet British Columbia's fitness-to-teach standards, with language proficiency possibly required where the certifying jurisdiction had none. Ontario assesses applicants with certification in another Canadian province or territory as labour mobility applicants. The Canadian Free Trade Agreement underlies that treatment, but the regulator's current page is the authority for the documents and any conditions. If you are certified in one province and plan to teach in another, apply before you move, obtain a statement of professional standing from your current regulator, and keep your current certificate in good standing until the new certificate issues.
Certification licenses you to teach; it does not hire you. Apply to school boards or districts, independent schools, and other employers with the certificate type that matches the position, and confirm the employer's requirements for the divisions, subjects, and any Additional Qualifications the posting names. Keep the certificate in good standing under the regulator's rules: Ontario requires an annual membership fee; British Columbia requires a criminal record check every five years once certified; Saskatchewan requires annual registration with the SPTRB according to university guidance, to be confirmed on the Board's pages. In Ontario, add qualifications only through approved AQ providers, and expect the AQ to appear on the certificate the calendar year after completion. If you let a certificate lapse, move provinces, or take extended leave, confirm the reinstatement, renewal, and standing requirements on the regulator's page before you accept a teaching assignment. A certificate that has expired, been suspended, or been issued with unfulfilled conditions does not authorize teaching until the regulator restores it.
This guide states no application, assessment, membership, examination, or program fee for any province or territory, because no regulator page states a fee figure. It states no processing time for any certification application, no salary or wage figure for teachers in any province, and no count of teacher education programs, seats, or vacancies. It states no total practicum-day figure for the Ontario initial teacher education program, no MPT pass mark or sitting schedule, no SAPP deadline, and no Quebec language examination name, pass mark, or fee, for the reasons given in the steps above. It states no coursework, practicum, or certificate-step detail for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut beyond the regulator structure, the Pathways membership list, and labour mobility, because it could not be verified on an official page. Where no figure is stated here, the guide points to the regulator page that owns it instead of carrying a secondary source's number. Confirm every fee, deadline, test requirement, and coursework rule on the regulator's own pages on the day you apply or pay.
No, not as your main route. This guide covers the domestic route: a degree and teacher education completed in Canada, followed by certification in the province or territory where you will teach. If you completed your teacher education outside Canada, follow the foreign-teaching-credentials guide linked in the Related guides section, which covers Pathways to Teach Canada credential and language assessments, the regulators that do not use Pathways, and the additional steps provinces impose on internationally educated teachers, such as British Columbia's familiarization course. Pathways to Teach Canada does not grant certification in any province; the provincial or territorial regulator retains exclusive jurisdiction to grant or deny certification. Do not plan a domestic application around international-graduate steps, or an international application around the domestic steps in this guide.
They are different occupations with different regulators, different credentials, and different workplaces. Early childhood educators are certified through the early childhood regulator or registry in their province, such as the College of Early Childhood Educators in Ontario or the ECE Registry in British Columbia, and work in licensed child care and early learning settings. Teachers are certified by the teaching regulator in their province or territory, such as the Ontario College of Teachers or the Teacher Regulation Branch in British Columbia, and teach in kindergarten to Grade 12 schools. An early childhood credential does not certify you to teach in a publicly funded elementary or secondary school, and a teaching certificate does not certify you as an early childhood educator. The early childhood educator guides linked below describe the other occupation; do not mix their steps, certificates, or renewal cycles into a teaching application.
Ontario imposes two program-level requirements that applicants sometimes describe as tests, and they apply differently, so read the Ontario College of Teachers registration guide for the rule that matches your application date. All applicants and Ontario Certified Teachers must successfully complete the online Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (SAPP). Separately, if you submitted a complete application on or after February 1, 2025, you may be required to pass the Math Proficiency Test (MPT), and the College's fulfilling-conditions page lists a condition to successfully pass the MPT, with registration at mathproficiencytest.ca. The registration guide states the MPT requirement with the qualifier 'may be required,' and this guide preserves that qualifier rather than presenting the test as universal. Confirm on the College's own pages whether the MPT applies to your application, what counts as meeting it, and by when, before you book or budget for it. No other Ontario licensing examination is stated in this guide, because none was verified on a College page.
Only under a transitional certificate, and only within its limits. The Ontario College of Teachers issues a Transitional Certificate of Qualification and Registration (TCQR) for teacher candidates who have completed at least 30 credits (or the equivalent) and 40 practicum days of their initial teacher education program. The TCQR is valid for 18 months, with the possibility of a one-time, six-month extension, and up to 20 days of teaching with a TCQR can be counted towards the program's practicum requirements. A Multi-Session Transitional Certificate (MTCQR) exists for multi-session programs, for candidates who have completed the first session including at least 10 days of practice teaching and have 12 postsecondary credits; it is valid for six years, with a one-time, one-year extension. In both cases you are eligible only after completing the application and submitting all required documents and fees, including a report from your faculty of education. A transitional certificate is not the general Certificate of Qualification and Registration, and holding one does not remove the requirement to complete the program and convert to the general certificate.
No, not from the beginning, but you still need the new province's certificate. Teaching certification is provincial, and every province and territory issues its own certificate; there is no Canadian teaching licence. Under labour mobility, a teacher holding a current, valid, unrestricted certificate in another Canadian province or territory is assessed as a labour mobility applicant, and British Columbia states that such teachers may be eligible for a certificate without additional coursework, subject to fitness to teach and, where the certifying jurisdiction has no language proficiency requirement, a possible language proficiency demonstration. Ontario's registration guide likewise states that applicants with certification in another Canadian province or territory will be assessed as labour mobility applicants, and notes deemed-certification changes effective January 1, 2026 for interprovincial mobility. Apply to the regulator in the province where you will teach, with a statement of professional standing from your current regulator, and confirm the current labour mobility wording on that regulator's page before you move or resign.
The rules in this guide are stated for publicly funded schools, where certification is required. Ontario's page states that to teach in a publicly funded school you must be certified by the Ontario College of Teachers, and that many private schools also require their teachers to be College members. British Columbia has a separate Independent School Teaching Certificate with its own requirements, distinct from the Certificate of Qualification. Do not assume that a private school, an independent school, a tutoring centre, or an online teaching role is exempt from certification requirements in your province. Check the regulator's pages for the certificate type that matches the school you intend to teach in, and confirm with the school what certificate it requires, before you accept a position on the assumption that certification does not apply.
Figures not stated in this guide: all application, assessment, membership, examination, and program fees; all processing times; all salary and wage figures; the total practicum-day figure for the Ontario program; Math Proficiency Test pass marks and sitting schedules; Sexual Abuse Prevention Program deadlines; Quebec language examination names, pass marks, and fees; and any coursework, practicum, or certificate-step detail for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut beyond the structure stated above. Check the regulator pages linked above for current figures and steps before you apply or pay.