The Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) is a professional qualification for

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

s in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. There have been two incarnations of the Cert Ed over the years.

New Cert Ed

The current Cert Ed is a non-compulsory qualification offering training in teaching at

further Further or Furthur may refer to: * ''Furthur'' (bus), the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus * Further (band), a 1990s American indie rock band * Furthur (band), a band formed in 2009 by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh * ''Further'' (The Chemical Brothers a ...

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...

level. Those wanting to teach at primary or

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

must undertake either a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order fo ...

or a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree, such as a BA (Hons) Primary Education, or

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

(in a relevant Education course) degree or a non-education degree followed by a postgraduate qualification in teaching, such as the PGCE. In 2007, many colleges and Universities stopped teaching the Cert Ed with the advent of the newer Teaching Awards, the

Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector The Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS) was an initial teacher training qualification, studied at QCF Level 5 or 7, for teaching in Further Education (FE) and the lifelong learning sector of education in the United Kingdom ...

(DTLLS) replacing the full Cert Ed.

Old Cert Ed

The old Cert Ed was a qualification that was required to become teachers. The Cert Ed course took three years to complete and was studied for at a College of Education under the control of the local or nearest university. The Cert Ed was discontinued in the early 1980s when the law required all trainee teachers to train via graduate or post-graduate courses. The Cert Ed did allow some students that reached the qualifying level to complete a fourth year for a BEd (Hons) degree.

New Cert Ed

Old Cert Ed

See also