Teachers Educated in Countries with Reciprocal Agreements

In order to qualify for international reciprocity, your education must have been completed in the same country where your teaching certificate was issued and the country must be on the approved list of qualified countries.  For example, if you are a teacher from Canada who was educated in India, you would not qualify under the reciprocity agreement because your education is from a country other than the country with which New York State has reciprocity.

These guidelines do not cover the teaching titles of Literacy, School Media Specialist, Speech Language Disabilities, and Social Studies, Career+ Technical titles (CTE), Pupil Personnel titles, or School Leadership titles.  Candidates with job offers in the above areas must go through an individual evaluation by the Office of International Teacher Support.

In all cases, the requirements listed below serve as a guideline for teachers from the respective countries.  When eligibility and certification requirements are met, the candidate is given a Conditional Initial Certification from New York State.  This certificate is good for two years, during which time the teacher must meet all other requirements for state certification for the Initial Certificate.

Bachelor’s Degree Equivalency:

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited Australian college or university based upon the completion of four years of full-time study.
• A three-year bachelor's degree when combined with a one-year Bachelor of Education, Diploma in Education, or Graduate Diploma in Education.

Master's Degree Equivalency:

• A master's degree from an accredited College or University in Australia is accepted as the equivalent of a master's degree in the United States.

Basic Requirements:

• Candidates must possess at least a four-year degree granted by a recognized degree-granting college (Hochschule) or university (Universitat) recognized by the Austria Ministry of Education.  Applicants who have completed the three-year teacher program (Lehramts-prufungzeugnis) will be credited with a bachelor’s degree.
• A minimum of 30 credits of content core coursework is required in the subject area seeking NYS certification.
• Prospective candidates must have the necessary pedagogical core content and student teaching for acceptance.  The number of credits will depend on the certificate area.  For example, Mathematics certification would require at least 21 semester-hours equivalent in the pedagogical core.
• Upon issuance of the two-year Conditional Initial certificate, candidates must complete the LAST, ATS-W and CST (in the specific subject area) exams for this office to grant the Initial certificate.  Those candidates seeking Students w/Disabilities (SWD) certification must complete in addition the Multi-Subject CST and SWD CST.  The Initial certificate is backdated to the effective date of the Conditional certificate.
• The basic requirements for those prospective applicants seeking a Conditional Initial certificate are based on the Austria Pre-Bologna degree system.  Applicants receiving degrees under the 3+2 degree structure must possess a masters degree from a recognized university for the BA equivalence.  The new degree system outlines bachelor degrees for three years and master’s degrees for two years in length as part of many European countries updating university programs to reflect student mobility and employment practices.  All Austria Universities have aligned their degree programs to conform to the 3+2 system.
• Applicants seeking NYS ESOL certification must complete a degree program from a degree-granting college or university approved by the Austria Ministry of Education.  The degree program must contain English Grammar, “Methods of Teaching English,” Linguistics, and the degree major needs to be English or English to Speakers of Other Languages or English.

Teachers from Canada

Teachers from Canada who possess a Baccalaureate degree and a Teacher's Certificate issued by the province in which that applicant obtained the Baccalaureate degree may be considered for Conditional Initial certification and will be eligible for reciprocity.

The following conditions apply:

• The certification area identified on the certificate will determine the appropriate reciprocal certificate to be issued.  However, the area identified on the certificate must be consistent with the major program of study.  In the case of a certificate that states that all subjects at the K-12 level can be taught, reciprocity will be applied only to the major course of study identified on the transcript or to a subject in which the required number of credits in the desired content area are present.
• If the certificate issued by the province was based solely on academic credentials earned in another country or another province, that certificate will not be considered reciprocal.

• A Bachelor of Education degree and the minimum required number of credits in the content area for which certification is sought.
• A Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree in a content area that is comparable to a title area in New York State and completion of either a Graduate Diploma in Education or a master’s degree in Education.

In considering candidates for reciprocity, it is assumed that anyone who meets the academic requirements identified as acceptable possesses the minimum amount of professional education coursework.  A review of the transcripts must show that the minimum required amount of content coursework has been completed.

Basic Requirements:

• Candidates must possess at least a four-year Licenciado diploma granted by a recognized degree-granting university approved by the Ministry of Education.  The Licenciado degree must be in an appropriate subject area for acceptance.
• Candidates who have the Licenciado in an appropriate content area taught in NYS public schools must also have completed an approved teacher training program that leads to at least the one-year Certificate of Pedagogical Apitude(CAPS) certificate.
• A minimum of 30 credits of content core coursework are required in the subject area seeking NYS certification.
• Prospective candidates must have the necessary pedagogical core content and student teaching for acceptance.  The number of credits will depend on the certificate area.  For example, Mathematics certification would require at least 21 semester-hours equivalent in the pedagogical content core.
• Holders of the title Titulo de Maestro or other three-year programs in various educational fields are not accepted unless the candidate has also earned the Licenciado.  In this case, if the Licenciado has been earned, the appropriate teaching title will be determined by the specialty of the Titulo de Maestro.
• Bologna Process Degree Reform:  Applicants receiving degrees under the new 3+2 degree structure must possess a Masters degree from a recognized university for the BA equivalence.  The new degree system outlines Bachelor degrees for three-years and Master degrees for two-years in length as part of many European countries updating university programs to reflect student mobility and employment practices.  The Bologna process will affect all Spanish University graduates after 2005 based on the enactment of the University Degree Act.

Applicants must be graduates of a Bachelor of Education program and also must possess a Higher Diploma in Education or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education offered by accredited universities in the United Kingdom which meet certain pre-defined academic requirements.

You may also be considered if you hold a Bachelor of Education degree and have the minimum required number of credits in the content area for which certification is sought, or have a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree in a content area that is comparable to a certification area in New York State and have completed either a Higher Diploma in Education or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.  In all cases, the Baccalaureate is the minimum acceptable requirement for consideration.

Teachers from the West Indies and Guyana

Applicants must be a graduate of a Baccalaureate degree program offered by the University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana or, in certain cases, other colleges in the West Indies and Guyana which meet certain predefined academic requirements.  In all cases, the Baccalaureate degree is the minimum acceptable requirement for consideration.  Individual applicants with the academic preparation specified below may be considered for eligibility:

• A Trained Teacher’s Diploma AND an earned Bachelor of Education degree from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana, or,
  A Trained Teacher’s Diploma AND an earned Baccalaureate degree in a content area from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana, or,
• A Baccalaureate degree AND a Diploma of Education from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana, or,
• A Bachelor of Education degree from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana equivalent to a four-year bachelor’s degree from the United States (the Bachelor of Education degree is typically a two-year degree earned after completion of the Trained Teacher’s Diploma); in the case of an individual who has not completed a Trained Teacher’s Diploma, the B.Ed. must be equivalent to a four year degree), or,
• A Baccalaureate from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana AND a Certificate in Education from the University of the West Indies or the University of Guyana, or,
• A Trained Teacher’s Diploma AND earned Baccalaureate from Northern Caribbean University, Caribbean Union College or the University of Technology.