How to Become a Teacher in Nova Scotia

Written November 13, 2026

The short answer

To teach in Nova Scotia public schools you need a teacher's certificate from the Office of Teacher Certification in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The standard entry point is the Initial Teacher's Certificate, built on five years of undergraduate study: 150 Canadian credit hours split between at least 90 credit hours of academic studies and at least 60 credit hours of pre-service teacher education with a practicum, capped by a bachelor's degree from an accredited university. The initial certificate fee is $106.15. Nova Scotia has no college of teachers; the department's Registrar certifies.

Step 1: Complete the education

Section 37 of the Teacher Certification Regulations sets the requirements for an Initial Teacher's Certificate:

• Completion of 5 years (150 Canadian credit hours) of undergraduate study, including
• At least 3 years (90 Canadian credit hours) of approved undergraduate academic studies
• At least 2 years (60 Canadian credit hours) of approved undergraduate pre-service teacher education that includes a practicum
• A bachelor's degree from an accredited university

In practice that means an undergraduate degree in teachable subject areas followed by a two-year Bachelor of Education, or an integrated route that reaches the same totals. The practicum is part of the requirement, not an add-on: teacher education without a practicum does not meet the section 37 wording.

Section 44 of Nova Scotia's Education Act is the reason the certificate matters. A teacher must be certified or hold a teaching permit to teach in the province's public schools, and teaching permits are granted only where attempts to hire certified teachers have not worked out. Plan on being certified before you expect a Regional Centre for Education or the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial to hire you.

Step 2: Know the conditional route before you need it

Not every applicant lands exactly on 150 credit hours. Section 37A of the Regulations sets out the Conditional Initial Teacher's Certificate:

• Completion of 4 years (120 Canadian credit hours) of undergraduate study, including
• At least 1 year (30 Canadian credit hours) of approved undergraduate pre-service teacher education that includes a practicum
• A bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited university

The conditional certificate is the bridge for applicants who meet most of the requirement and can finish the rest. It is not a shortcut around teacher education: the 30 credit hours of pre-service study and the practicum are still in the requirement.

Under the post-July 31, 2000 certification system, teachers start with an Initial Teacher's Certificate and can progress to higher classifications with approved upgrading. The Office publishes the deadlines for applying for an increase in classification; the next deadline listed is February 28, 2027, and incomplete applications for increases are not processed.

Step 3: Apply and pay the fee

The Office of Teacher Certification processes initial teacher certification applications, applications for increases in classification, and the recording of teaching service. Nova Scotia-trained applicants and teachers certified elsewhere in Canada apply through the Teacher Certification System online portal, and you monitor your application status through the same portal.

The fee table published by the Office is short:

• Initial certificate: $106.15
• Renewal of certificate: $46.45
• Duplicate certificate: $46.45
• Higher class of certificate: $35.00

Expect to support the application with official transcripts of your undergraduate and teacher education studies, proof of age and of your status in Canada, and a statement of professional standing from any jurisdiction where you completed your teacher education or held a certificate. Keep the statement current: the Office's guidance for applicants coming through Pathways notes that a statement of professional standing more than one year old has to be replaced with an updated official copy.

Step 4: Coming from another province or another country

Teachers already certified in another Canadian province or territory apply directly through the Teacher Certification System online portal. No Pathways assessment is required for that group, because their Canadian certification is the credential being assessed.

Internationally educated teachers start with Pathways to Teach Canada, and it is a required service, not an optional one, when all four of these are true:

1. You completed a pre-service teacher education program outside Canada
2. Your program focused on teaching students aged 5 to 18 in the public school system
3. Your program authorized you to teach in the country where you completed it
4. You are not certified in any other Canadian jurisdiction

The sequence is: request a Pathways assessment and select Nova Scotia to receive the results, monitor your Pathways account, then submit the remaining required documentation to the Office of Teacher Certification once the results exist. Your Pathways results must be available before you apply for the Nova Scotia certificate. You do not need to submit new original transcripts with the Nova Scotia application, because Pathways carries the assessed documents, but an out-of-date statement of professional standing still has to be refreshed.

If your teacher education program was completed in a language other than English or French, you must also complete the Language Competency Assessment for the Teaching Profession.

Two internationally trained groups bypass the general Pathways route and apply through the portal under their own headings: internationally trained school psychologists, social workers, and speech-language pathologists who have registered in Nova Scotia in one of those specialties apply for Teacher Certification – Special, and internationally trained skilled tradespeople with journeyperson status who have completed an approved pre-service teacher education program apply for Teacher Certification – Vocational.

Questions about which stream you fall into go to the Office of Teacher Certification at certification@novascotia.ca.

What the opened pages do not state

The Office of Teacher Certification pages opened for this guide state the $106.15 initial certificate fee, the section 37 and 37A credit-hour requirements, and the February 28, 2027 deadline for increases in classification. They do not state a processing time for an initial application, a tuition figure for Nova Scotia Bachelor of Education programs, or a starting salary, so this guide gives none of those. Salary in Nova Scotia is set under the Teachers' Provincial Agreement, not by the Office of Teacher Certification.

Related guides:

• How to Become a Teacher in Canada — the national picture: every province certifies its own teachers, and the certificates do not automatically transfer.
• How to Become a Teacher in Ontario — certification through the Ontario College of Teachers, with its own degree and practice-teaching minimums.
• How to Become a Teacher in British Columbia — the west coast route, through the Teacher Regulation Branch.
• How to Start Getting Your Foreign Teaching Credentials Recognized in Canada — the credential assessment mechanics for teachers trained outside Canada.

Sources

• Nova Scotia Office of Teacher Certification, Office of Teacher Certification — the Office's responsibilities for initial certification and classification increases, the fee table ($106.15 initial certificate, $46.45 renewal and duplicate, $35.00 higher class), and the February 28, 2027 deadline for increases in classification.
• Nova Scotia Office of Teacher Certification, Internationally educated teachers — Pathways to Teach Canada as a required first step and its four criteria, the direct portal route for teachers certified elsewhere in Canada, the section 37 Initial Teacher's Certificate requirements (150 credit hours: 90 academic, 60 teacher education with practicum), the section 37A conditional requirements (120 credit hours), and the language assessment rule.
• Nova Scotia Office of Teacher Certification, Initial Teacher Certification — section 44 of the Education Act requiring certification or a teaching permit to teach in Nova Scotia public schools, and permits being granted only where hiring a certified teacher has proven unsuccessful.