What is a Provisional Certificate (in teaching)?

Question

If you have a Provisional Certificate, are you qualified to hold a position as a teacher at a charter school?

What is the difference between a Provisional Teaching Certificate and a Professional Teaching Certificate?

Answer 1

The provisional one is because you are still missing some of the requirements. Ex: being out of field, not passing the FTCE test, etc.

The professional you get it when you have met all the requirements by the Department of Ed.

It all depends on the state where you live.Now days is better to comply with the requirements a.s.a.p. Take your ESOL Endorsement also Sometimes they will hire you but with a salary of asub teacher until you meet all of the requirements.

Answer 2

Provisional does not mean you are missing any requirements or classes, except for passing the Praxis III (when they come in and observe your teaching during the first year.)  In Ohio, Provisional licenses are good for 2 years,  I subbed during my 1st year and got a teaching position my 2nd year.  During the 2nd year, I passed the Praxis III.

Then, you get a Professional License that is good for 5 years. Before the license is up, you need to earn your master's degree.  You continue to get professional licenses after that that are also good for 5 years.

Answer 3

Both certificates are used by the state, and so who qualifies as what changes with the states. Most likely every state will require the provisional certificate holder to have a bachelors degree, and they are often not renewable or renewable for a limited amount of time while the person gets their professional teaching certificate. Some schools will accept provisional certificates and some won't, depending on the demand for that job and extra state regulations (like Title 1 schools require professional certificates only).

If you already have a provisional certificate, apply away to the schools, charter and traditional. If you don't have to certificate, don't try to get it yourself. Apply to a school system and tell them you have a degree in history and you'd like to become a history teacher, can you teach there while pursuing professional certification, and then they will do all the paper work for you. (That's the most common way that I've heard it's done.)

Answer 4

It varies from state to state, but in CA provisional means that you have a basic credential but still need to complete a few courses in order to get your professional Clear Credential. Also, I think you need to renew your provisional certificate every year or every 2 years and the professional clear is every 5 years.  The provisional is enough to get you a job, but you do need to work on the classes to get your clear. Look on the back of the certificate because it may list what you need to lift the provision on the back.