Proof of Certification
In your professional and personal life, you may occasionally need to provide proof
that you hold or have held a Ministry of Education certificate.
This section describes how you can provide proof of certification to an employer or to another individual
or organization. It also describes how to obtain a Statement of Professional Standing so that you can apply
to work in a jurisdiction outside of BC.
Proof of Certification
You may be asked by an employer to show proof that you are a certificate holder in good standing with the Ministry of Education. There
are two ways to do this:
- Show your employer a copy of your Teacher Card. We mail these cards in the summer to certificate holders in good standing who have paid their annual practice fee.
- Ask your employer to enter your name into the Online Register of Certificate Holders. The online register is linked to our database and provides an authoritative and up-to-date account of your current certificate status.
- Ask your employer to use the Employers' Area of this website. We provide employers with special online tools and services that help them verify a potential employee's status.
Proof of Certification for Award Nominations
Nomination packages for awards such as the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence often require proof that
the teacher being nominated is a certificate holder in good standing.
If you require this proof, please send an email to the Branch using our feedback page and we will send a
letter confirming the certificate holder’s standing. In your email, include the name of the educator being nominated for
the award and his or her certificate number. Please also specify whether we should send the confirmation
letter to the nominator or the nominee, and provide the applicable address.
Leaving BC to teach in another province or country
If you are planning to move to another province or country to teach, you may need to apply for a Statement
of Professional Standing to be sent to that jurisdiction. You will also want to consider maintaining your BC Ministry of Education certificate
by paying the annual practice fee while you are working elsewhere. If you don't pay the annual fee, your certificate will be cancelled and you will have to start the
application process for a new certificate if you wish to return to BC to teach. You would then be subject to the current certification requirements
at the time of your application.
Statement of Professional Standing
If you are moving to another province or country to teach, the body that regulates teachers in that jurisdiction
may need a Statement of Professional Standing sent to it. This is a letter that confirms the standing of your
certification in BC. If you would like us to send this letter, please complete and submit to us the
Statement of Professional Standing Request Form. We will then prepare and send the letter to the body
that you specified in the form.