Overview of teacher certification
All teachers working in the K-12 public education system in BC are required to hold a valid certificate of qualification (BC teaching certificate) from the BC Ministry of Education. These certificates are issued by the BC Teacher Regulation Branch.
As this is a provincial requirement, you should make holding a BC teaching certificate a must-have qualification category in your job posting. To widen your pool of potential candidates, you could modify this requirement to state that you will consider applicants who are in the process of applying for their certificate. Your job posting might therefore state that job applicants must hold a valid BC teaching certificate or be in the process of applying for one.
Hiring an uncertified teacher
There are some circumstances in which you can hire an uncertified teacher. You can do this if:
- the uncertified teacher will be employed for up to 20 consecutive teaching days and
- no qualified teacher with a valid certificate is available.
This is in accordance with Section 19 of the School Act.