Getting a teaching license - my personal experience
Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:05 pm
Every now and then people seem to ask the same questions (myself included). I would like to share my personal experience with several of the processes that have been suggested here before while trying to get a teaching license. I learned a lot in the process, so I will share as much as possible so that this might be helpful for others in the future. If I make any glaring mistakes, please do correct me. This is all based on my personal experience from about 2 years ago. I don't think things have changed much, and I have kept up with how this works simply because I find it fascinating.
NOTE: Please let's not turn this thread into a discussion on whether the US should allow foreign nationals to apply for a teaching license or not, or for judging anyone who may want to get a license with the minimum amount of time, money or effort. Everyone will have their own reasons for being interested (or not) in getting a proper teaching qualification, and they may have their own (valid or not) reasons for how they want to do it. I am simply reporting on my own experience in case this is useful for others.
My profile in brief: I am not an EU citizen. I am not a US citizen. I did train as a teacher in my home country through a graduate degree in teaching on my field (which in my country allows me to teach). This post will hopefully be useful to people with no teacher training who want a teaching qualification, people thinking of training to get a qualification, people who trained as teachers somewhere other than the US or UK, or just anyone who is curious about this whole thing.
.......US Teaching License, PGCE (QTS), PGCEi, M.Ed., ACSI........
First things first. For the purposes of this post, a proper teaching qualification is a document (paper or electronic) where a particular governmental authority (national or local) authorizes you to work as a teacher in public schools. Generally speaking, most people posting here are trying to get qualified either in the US or the UK. In the USA, this would be a license, where in the UK it would be achieving QTS (Qualified Teacher Status). In the US, teacher licenses are not "centralized", with each state having its own regulations and such. So here are a few distinctions and such:
*Teacher Preparation Program/Teacher Training: Refers to having formally studied to be a teacher. Whether you did an undergraduate degree in education that led to a license, or whether you did a 1 year program, or whatever. Many posters that ask about licenses here have not completed this. More on that later.
* US Teaching license: refers to an actual license given by the competent state authority from the US. This is a proper qualification.
* PGCE / QTS: QTS refers to "Qualified Teacher Status" which is a proper qualification as it means you are authorized to teach in the UK. The most "common" pathway to get QTS is to do a PGCE programme (which is the UK's version of a teacher preparation program, it is a post graduate certificat in education). This, however, requires teaching in the UK in order to complete it (most if not all cases).
* PGCEi: This "mimics" a PGCE (pardon my bluntness), but does NOT lead to QTS. It shows that you have studied education/pedagogy, but it is not a proper qualification and it is NOT considered equivalent to having a license or QTS.
* M.Ed.: Refers to a Master's degree in Education. Some American M.Ed. programmes lead to getting a US Teaching license in specific states. Others not. Ultimately, this is simply a graduate study which in of itself is not a teaching qualification (except of course of specific M.Ed. in some countries like Spain).
* ACSI: This is a certificate from a Christian association which basically says they recognize you as a teacher. Although for some this may be better than nothing, it is, in the opinion of this humble poster, not much more than you yourself printing a diploma of a made-up organization stating you are a teacher. It is not a proper qualification.
*Teach Now: Teach Now is a popular online program which can be completed in under a year, and which leads to a fully functional teaching license from Washington (if you pass all required tests, of course). Most people who complete it seem happy with the investment. I didn't do this...
*Other proper qualifications: most countries have their own system for authorizing/recognizing teachers. Most posters here seem to be behind a US license or QTS. However, there are obviously more choices, even if less common. I will include a section about this later in this same post.
.............................................
Getting QTS
If you have a US Teaching license or are recognized as a teacher in the EU, you may apply for QTS through reciprocity. That being said, they are making things difficult for people who do Teach Now and the latest reports are that they want you to have done field experience in the place where you have a license from.
If you do not have a license from the US or EU, to get QTS you (generally) have to do a PGCE, which will involve teaching in the UK for a while...
Ways "around" this:
1. If you have no officially recognized teacher training from any given country: The AO (Assessment Only) route: This involves paying a good amount of money to one out of several organizations that can do this service, where you will create a portfolio of evidence and fulfill other requirements to essentially prove that you "meet the standards" of QTS. Warning, can be expensive.
2. If you are officially recognized as a teacher somewhere (but not in the EU and US): Getting registered through GTCS or GTCNI: These are the Teaching Councils from Scotland and Ireland. Although GTC (UK) seems very close-minded about allowing foreign-trained teachers in (other than US and EU teachers), GTCS and GTCNI are a bit more open minded. Both have pathways to recognize foreign-trained teachers, and if you meet their requirements, you can register with them. If you manage to get a "full" registration, you can actually then apply for QTS.
........................................................
Getting a US Teaching license
If you dig these forums, you will see that right now, the three most common pathways people suggest are MA (Massachusetts), HI (Hawaii) or CT (Connecticut). Here are the basics:
* MA: Massachusetts has something called the "Provisional License". It is meant really as a temporary license, but it does not expire as long as you don't work in Massachusetts. Therefore: in practical terms, it never expires. What's the catch? Several: 1. You have to take the relevant MTEL exams to get this license, which can only be taken in Massachusetts (few exceptions, some can now be taken online due to COVID). 2. It is not considered a "professional" license (it's right there on the name). While some schools won't look to much at this, some might...
*CT: Like most states, Connecticut wants you to have completed a teacher preparation program. However, Connecticut has an "experiential" pathway for people who have worked as teachers and have some sort of teaching education, but not a license. This means that if, for example, you have a M.Ed. in your field, and have been working as a teacher for at least 2 years, they may waive not having completed a teacher preparation program. You will see many posts here where, with a similar profile to the one just previously described, some posters will suggest you to do the CT pathway based on experience. Here is my own personal experience with this. DON'T DO IT. Although it is true that CT will waive the requirement for having completed a teacher preparation program, they will not waive other course requirements. Turns out, there are some obscure "general academic coursework" requirements including having a minimum of a certain amount of credits in US History courses, Arts and Humanities. This was not found on their webpage, but I found out the hard way. After applying, sending everything and paying, I got a nice letter saying that if I could provide transcripts that covered those requirements, I would be able to get the license. Since I did not study US history in college, I would literally have to take for-credit courses (which are generally expensive) for this. I chose another pathway. So should you, if you can.
*HI: Hawaii is widely used by many international teachers. Hawaii wants you to have a teacher preparation program. If you have one, it is a very straightforward path. All the information is on the HTSB website (just Google it). Read the section on this post targeted at non-Americans for more information. If you did not complete a teacher preparation program, then HI is not really for you.
Washington: As mentioned before, some people do the Teach Now preparation program to get this license. If you have the time and money for Teach Now, it really seems like a sensible long-term investment.
....................................................
My experience and what you can learn from it
As mentioned before, I basically did a M.Ed. which in my country is considered the equivalent of a teacher preparation program. The first step to get a US Teaching license when you do not have a degree from the US is to get an evaluation of your degrees. Most states work with companies that belong to an "organization" called NACES. You basically pay them a significant amount of money to look at your degree and "translate it" into what they think is an "equivalent" degree in the US. If you dig around this forums, you will see that there are several companies mentioned, with WES being one of the main ones. I used them, and I regretted it.
WES is big, and well known. They have a very streamlined (albeit bureaucratic) process. Ultimately, they took my money, had me make certified translations, have my university send transcripts directly to them (all pricey) and then told me that my degree was the equivalent of a Masters Degree in Educaiton with a concentration on my field. I then tried to apply to Hawaii and was quickly told that I did not meet their requirements because the evaluation should clearly state that my degree allows me to teach. I went back to WES and they basically blew me off. I contacted them on several occasions, presented them with all the documentation showing that my degree is a teacher training program, and they basically said that they would not change anything and that what I showed them was just "contextual" information.
After this, I thought "no problem", I will just apply to CT via the experience route. I sent all my documents and then got back a nice letter saying I needed to complete a bunch of credits, including US history (covering at least 100 years), Arts, and whatnot. When asked about this, I was told that these are part of the general coursework requirements and that there was no way around it. I really did not feel like doing this. I could have, but I didn't.
I then thought about trying to get QTS through the GTCS route I mentioned earlier. However, after inquiring by email, they were quite clear on the fact that I would most likely receive a "provisional" registration. After inquiring more about it, it seems that moving from provisional to a full registration involves a ton of paperwork and class observations. I ultimately decided to leave this as a Plan C.
I went back to trying to get a US license. I was pretty upset at the fact that WES did not want to update my NACES evaluation, and that this was pretty much the only thing keeping me from being able to apply to Hawaii. I digged around on the internet, searched about other NACES evaluators (other than WES) and found an interesting PDF of the evaluation of the degrees of a random woman from Mexico done by a company called SPANTRAN (who also does NACES evaluations). On her evaluation report, they had clearly written a note stating that her degree allowed her to work as a Science teacher in Secondary. This sounded quite interesting, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a second evaluation of my degree, but this time through SPANTRAN. The result: a report stating that I had done the equivalent of a Masters degree in Education. I contacted them about it, and about the need to clearly state it allowed me to work as a teacher, and to my surprise, in less than 48 hours they updated my report to include a note clearly stating that my degree allowed me to work as a teacher in my home country in my field. Not only this, when applying, I could pay for them to contact my college to check my degree was real, instead of having to pay my college and pay for UPS to send the transcripts (which was more pricey).
The takeaway here: In my experience, SPANTRAN is better than WES in that they will actually listen, look at the documentation, and update your report if necessary. If you Google WES, you will find TONS of people complaining about incorrect equivalencies and WES simply refusing to change anything. In my opinion, SPANTRAN is better at that.
Once my report had been updated, I applied to Hawaii, and this time I was successful. Now I need to start preparing how I will be able to renew it, but that is another story.
..........................................................
Steps to get a Hawaii teaching license as a foreign teacher (with a proper teaching degree)
1. Get a NACES evaluation of your degrees (I suggest SPANTRAN), make sure it says that you are allowed to work as a teacher of X in Y grade levels.
2. Get the relevant experience form from the HTSB website (you just get someone at your school to sign it showing how many years of experience you have)
3. Apply. That's basically it. Oh, and it's free...
.........................................................
What if I don't have a proper teaching degree - teacher preparation program, but I do have experience?
You basically have three options: spend some money, go to Massachusetts, take the relevant tests, and get an MA Provisional license, do the Teach Now program, or try to get QTS through the Assessment Only option. The CT option some posters in this forum suggest is not really viable unless you want to have to meet other requirements like courses in US history....
From the three options previously mentioned, my personal view is that Teach Now would be the best option in that it will open more doors. The MA Provisional will work, but not all doors will be open as some schools might not find this qualification as suitable.
.......................................................................................
What about the "IB Certificate"? I've seen info about this
The IB Certificate is, in my humble opinion, a bit of nonsense. It's taking some courses which do not lead to a proper qualification, and it is not really that recognized by schools either. Schools that want people with IB Training, want people with IB Experience who have done a Cat 1 course. They don't really care for the IB Certificate coursework (not really). Sure, maybe it looks nice on the CV, but chances are it will not really make much difference.
...............................................................
Other "interesting" alternatives for teachers trained outside of the EU, UK or US, or those with something similar to techer preparation program but no actual license.
Although most people go for a US Teaching License of QTS, this is just being recognized by the US or the UK. There are more countries in the world... In many countries, this process of getting recognized as a teacher is only for nationals or residents. But some countries do let you apply as a foreigner. One of these is Norway. Their agency NOKUT is in charge of this process. their basic rule is that, although being proficient in Norwegian is a requirement to work in most schools, it is not a requirement if you will work teaching in English. You basically upload your degrees (English is accepted, or translations into English). No need to have them apostilled or anything, simply scan them scan the translations, and apply. They take a very long time (months, in my case 1 year), but ultimately, if they find your studies to be equivalent to theirs, you will get a nice letter (in Norwegian and English) stating that you are recognized as a teacher in Norway. It will say which studies you did and how they considered them to be equivalent in their system, and it will state that you are not recognized for a particular subject, but that schools are the ones that determine what they believe you can teach.
I could be wrong, but in my view, this would essentially also be a valid teaching qualification.
Did I mention it is free? And it does not expire either...
Would this work for, say someone with a PGCEi or a M.Ed but no teaching license? I don't know, but you can find out for free I guess.
.........................
That's it. Again, hope this is useful.
NOTE: Please let's not turn this thread into a discussion on whether the US should allow foreign nationals to apply for a teaching license or not, or for judging anyone who may want to get a license with the minimum amount of time, money or effort. Everyone will have their own reasons for being interested (or not) in getting a proper teaching qualification, and they may have their own (valid or not) reasons for how they want to do it. I am simply reporting on my own experience in case this is useful for others.
My profile in brief: I am not an EU citizen. I am not a US citizen. I did train as a teacher in my home country through a graduate degree in teaching on my field (which in my country allows me to teach). This post will hopefully be useful to people with no teacher training who want a teaching qualification, people thinking of training to get a qualification, people who trained as teachers somewhere other than the US or UK, or just anyone who is curious about this whole thing.
.......US Teaching License, PGCE (QTS), PGCEi, M.Ed., ACSI........
First things first. For the purposes of this post, a proper teaching qualification is a document (paper or electronic) where a particular governmental authority (national or local) authorizes you to work as a teacher in public schools. Generally speaking, most people posting here are trying to get qualified either in the US or the UK. In the USA, this would be a license, where in the UK it would be achieving QTS (Qualified Teacher Status). In the US, teacher licenses are not "centralized", with each state having its own regulations and such. So here are a few distinctions and such:
*Teacher Preparation Program/Teacher Training: Refers to having formally studied to be a teacher. Whether you did an undergraduate degree in education that led to a license, or whether you did a 1 year program, or whatever. Many posters that ask about licenses here have not completed this. More on that later.
* US Teaching license: refers to an actual license given by the competent state authority from the US. This is a proper qualification.
* PGCE / QTS: QTS refers to "Qualified Teacher Status" which is a proper qualification as it means you are authorized to teach in the UK. The most "common" pathway to get QTS is to do a PGCE programme (which is the UK's version of a teacher preparation program, it is a post graduate certificat in education). This, however, requires teaching in the UK in order to complete it (most if not all cases).
* PGCEi: This "mimics" a PGCE (pardon my bluntness), but does NOT lead to QTS. It shows that you have studied education/pedagogy, but it is not a proper qualification and it is NOT considered equivalent to having a license or QTS.
* M.Ed.: Refers to a Master's degree in Education. Some American M.Ed. programmes lead to getting a US Teaching license in specific states. Others not. Ultimately, this is simply a graduate study which in of itself is not a teaching qualification (except of course of specific M.Ed. in some countries like Spain).
* ACSI: This is a certificate from a Christian association which basically says they recognize you as a teacher. Although for some this may be better than nothing, it is, in the opinion of this humble poster, not much more than you yourself printing a diploma of a made-up organization stating you are a teacher. It is not a proper qualification.
*Teach Now: Teach Now is a popular online program which can be completed in under a year, and which leads to a fully functional teaching license from Washington (if you pass all required tests, of course). Most people who complete it seem happy with the investment. I didn't do this...
*Other proper qualifications: most countries have their own system for authorizing/recognizing teachers. Most posters here seem to be behind a US license or QTS. However, there are obviously more choices, even if less common. I will include a section about this later in this same post.
.............................................
Getting QTS
If you have a US Teaching license or are recognized as a teacher in the EU, you may apply for QTS through reciprocity. That being said, they are making things difficult for people who do Teach Now and the latest reports are that they want you to have done field experience in the place where you have a license from.
If you do not have a license from the US or EU, to get QTS you (generally) have to do a PGCE, which will involve teaching in the UK for a while...
Ways "around" this:
1. If you have no officially recognized teacher training from any given country: The AO (Assessment Only) route: This involves paying a good amount of money to one out of several organizations that can do this service, where you will create a portfolio of evidence and fulfill other requirements to essentially prove that you "meet the standards" of QTS. Warning, can be expensive.
2. If you are officially recognized as a teacher somewhere (but not in the EU and US): Getting registered through GTCS or GTCNI: These are the Teaching Councils from Scotland and Ireland. Although GTC (UK) seems very close-minded about allowing foreign-trained teachers in (other than US and EU teachers), GTCS and GTCNI are a bit more open minded. Both have pathways to recognize foreign-trained teachers, and if you meet their requirements, you can register with them. If you manage to get a "full" registration, you can actually then apply for QTS.
........................................................
Getting a US Teaching license
If you dig these forums, you will see that right now, the three most common pathways people suggest are MA (Massachusetts), HI (Hawaii) or CT (Connecticut). Here are the basics:
* MA: Massachusetts has something called the "Provisional License". It is meant really as a temporary license, but it does not expire as long as you don't work in Massachusetts. Therefore: in practical terms, it never expires. What's the catch? Several: 1. You have to take the relevant MTEL exams to get this license, which can only be taken in Massachusetts (few exceptions, some can now be taken online due to COVID). 2. It is not considered a "professional" license (it's right there on the name). While some schools won't look to much at this, some might...
*CT: Like most states, Connecticut wants you to have completed a teacher preparation program. However, Connecticut has an "experiential" pathway for people who have worked as teachers and have some sort of teaching education, but not a license. This means that if, for example, you have a M.Ed. in your field, and have been working as a teacher for at least 2 years, they may waive not having completed a teacher preparation program. You will see many posts here where, with a similar profile to the one just previously described, some posters will suggest you to do the CT pathway based on experience. Here is my own personal experience with this. DON'T DO IT. Although it is true that CT will waive the requirement for having completed a teacher preparation program, they will not waive other course requirements. Turns out, there are some obscure "general academic coursework" requirements including having a minimum of a certain amount of credits in US History courses, Arts and Humanities. This was not found on their webpage, but I found out the hard way. After applying, sending everything and paying, I got a nice letter saying that if I could provide transcripts that covered those requirements, I would be able to get the license. Since I did not study US history in college, I would literally have to take for-credit courses (which are generally expensive) for this. I chose another pathway. So should you, if you can.
*HI: Hawaii is widely used by many international teachers. Hawaii wants you to have a teacher preparation program. If you have one, it is a very straightforward path. All the information is on the HTSB website (just Google it). Read the section on this post targeted at non-Americans for more information. If you did not complete a teacher preparation program, then HI is not really for you.
Washington: As mentioned before, some people do the Teach Now preparation program to get this license. If you have the time and money for Teach Now, it really seems like a sensible long-term investment.
....................................................
My experience and what you can learn from it
As mentioned before, I basically did a M.Ed. which in my country is considered the equivalent of a teacher preparation program. The first step to get a US Teaching license when you do not have a degree from the US is to get an evaluation of your degrees. Most states work with companies that belong to an "organization" called NACES. You basically pay them a significant amount of money to look at your degree and "translate it" into what they think is an "equivalent" degree in the US. If you dig around this forums, you will see that there are several companies mentioned, with WES being one of the main ones. I used them, and I regretted it.
WES is big, and well known. They have a very streamlined (albeit bureaucratic) process. Ultimately, they took my money, had me make certified translations, have my university send transcripts directly to them (all pricey) and then told me that my degree was the equivalent of a Masters Degree in Educaiton with a concentration on my field. I then tried to apply to Hawaii and was quickly told that I did not meet their requirements because the evaluation should clearly state that my degree allows me to teach. I went back to WES and they basically blew me off. I contacted them on several occasions, presented them with all the documentation showing that my degree is a teacher training program, and they basically said that they would not change anything and that what I showed them was just "contextual" information.
After this, I thought "no problem", I will just apply to CT via the experience route. I sent all my documents and then got back a nice letter saying I needed to complete a bunch of credits, including US history (covering at least 100 years), Arts, and whatnot. When asked about this, I was told that these are part of the general coursework requirements and that there was no way around it. I really did not feel like doing this. I could have, but I didn't.
I then thought about trying to get QTS through the GTCS route I mentioned earlier. However, after inquiring by email, they were quite clear on the fact that I would most likely receive a "provisional" registration. After inquiring more about it, it seems that moving from provisional to a full registration involves a ton of paperwork and class observations. I ultimately decided to leave this as a Plan C.
I went back to trying to get a US license. I was pretty upset at the fact that WES did not want to update my NACES evaluation, and that this was pretty much the only thing keeping me from being able to apply to Hawaii. I digged around on the internet, searched about other NACES evaluators (other than WES) and found an interesting PDF of the evaluation of the degrees of a random woman from Mexico done by a company called SPANTRAN (who also does NACES evaluations). On her evaluation report, they had clearly written a note stating that her degree allowed her to work as a Science teacher in Secondary. This sounded quite interesting, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a second evaluation of my degree, but this time through SPANTRAN. The result: a report stating that I had done the equivalent of a Masters degree in Education. I contacted them about it, and about the need to clearly state it allowed me to work as a teacher, and to my surprise, in less than 48 hours they updated my report to include a note clearly stating that my degree allowed me to work as a teacher in my home country in my field. Not only this, when applying, I could pay for them to contact my college to check my degree was real, instead of having to pay my college and pay for UPS to send the transcripts (which was more pricey).
The takeaway here: In my experience, SPANTRAN is better than WES in that they will actually listen, look at the documentation, and update your report if necessary. If you Google WES, you will find TONS of people complaining about incorrect equivalencies and WES simply refusing to change anything. In my opinion, SPANTRAN is better at that.
Once my report had been updated, I applied to Hawaii, and this time I was successful. Now I need to start preparing how I will be able to renew it, but that is another story.
..........................................................
Steps to get a Hawaii teaching license as a foreign teacher (with a proper teaching degree)
1. Get a NACES evaluation of your degrees (I suggest SPANTRAN), make sure it says that you are allowed to work as a teacher of X in Y grade levels.
2. Get the relevant experience form from the HTSB website (you just get someone at your school to sign it showing how many years of experience you have)
3. Apply. That's basically it. Oh, and it's free...
.........................................................
What if I don't have a proper teaching degree - teacher preparation program, but I do have experience?
You basically have three options: spend some money, go to Massachusetts, take the relevant tests, and get an MA Provisional license, do the Teach Now program, or try to get QTS through the Assessment Only option. The CT option some posters in this forum suggest is not really viable unless you want to have to meet other requirements like courses in US history....
From the three options previously mentioned, my personal view is that Teach Now would be the best option in that it will open more doors. The MA Provisional will work, but not all doors will be open as some schools might not find this qualification as suitable.
.......................................................................................
What about the "IB Certificate"? I've seen info about this
The IB Certificate is, in my humble opinion, a bit of nonsense. It's taking some courses which do not lead to a proper qualification, and it is not really that recognized by schools either. Schools that want people with IB Training, want people with IB Experience who have done a Cat 1 course. They don't really care for the IB Certificate coursework (not really). Sure, maybe it looks nice on the CV, but chances are it will not really make much difference.
...............................................................
Other "interesting" alternatives for teachers trained outside of the EU, UK or US, or those with something similar to techer preparation program but no actual license.
Although most people go for a US Teaching License of QTS, this is just being recognized by the US or the UK. There are more countries in the world... In many countries, this process of getting recognized as a teacher is only for nationals or residents. But some countries do let you apply as a foreigner. One of these is Norway. Their agency NOKUT is in charge of this process. their basic rule is that, although being proficient in Norwegian is a requirement to work in most schools, it is not a requirement if you will work teaching in English. You basically upload your degrees (English is accepted, or translations into English). No need to have them apostilled or anything, simply scan them scan the translations, and apply. They take a very long time (months, in my case 1 year), but ultimately, if they find your studies to be equivalent to theirs, you will get a nice letter (in Norwegian and English) stating that you are recognized as a teacher in Norway. It will say which studies you did and how they considered them to be equivalent in their system, and it will state that you are not recognized for a particular subject, but that schools are the ones that determine what they believe you can teach.
I could be wrong, but in my view, this would essentially also be a valid teaching qualification.
Did I mention it is free? And it does not expire either...
Would this work for, say someone with a PGCEi or a M.Ed but no teaching license? I don't know, but you can find out for free I guess.
.........................
That's it. Again, hope this is useful.