Teachers with professional qualifications from third countries; apply for recognition

Application

The application must be submitted using the application form and enclosing the required documents.

Confirmation of receipt

You will receive confirmation of receipt of the application and the documents within one month, stating which documents are missing, if applicable.

Decision

Once the complete documents have been received, a decision will be made on the determination of the equivalence of your teaching qualification - if necessary, taking into account an expert opinion from the Central Office for Foreign Education at the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs in Bonn (ZAB).

You will receive written notification of the determination of equivalence.

The determination of equivalence must be applied for at the Ministry of Education - Department 2.

• Single point of contact for administrative matters

If you have acquired your teaching qualification in a country other than those mentioned above (third country), this can be equated with a teaching qualification acquired in Rhineland-Palatinate if

• you can provide evidence of a university examination completed at a recognized university,
• this university examination gives you access to the teaching profession in your country of origin,
• your higher education studies, taking into account any other professional qualifications, do not differ significantly in terms of content and scope from the corresponding Rhineland-Palatinate bachelor's and master's degree courses related to the teaching profession. In particular, in addition to educational sciences, the university degree program must include two of the subjects prescribed in Rhineland-Palatinate for the respective teaching profession, and special education subjects for the teaching profession at special schools,
• you have provided evidence of a practical school training phase comparable to the 18-month preparatory service.

If this cannot be proven or if there are significant differences to the respective preparatory service, equivalence can be established with regard to access to the preparatory service for the corresponding teaching profession, provided that the other requirements are met.

• Application (see applications/forms),
• Tabular list of completed training courses and work experience as a teacher,
• Proof of nationality,
• officially certified copies of the original and the German translation of the university degree certificates (in particular the certificate of the professional qualification entitling direct access to the teaching profession) including the overview of subjects and grades,
• officially certified copies of the original as well as the German translation of the certificates showing the course contents of the completed training to obtain the diploma (e.g. transcript of records, semester lists),
• if the current name differs from the name on the training certificate or the qualification certificate, a copy of the original and the German translations of the marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate,
• If applicable, certificate of the type and duration of previous employment as a teacher, on request as a certified copy/ transcript of the original, using certified translations if necessary,
• Declaration as to whether an application for determination of equivalence has been submitted in another federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany and, if so, with what result.
• The study regulations and the examination regulations for obtaining the teaching qualification must be submitted on request.
• Further documents required for recognition may be requested subsequently.

An administrative fee is generally charged for processing the application (maximum € 130.00).

There are no deadlines to observe.

• State law on determining the equivalence of foreign teaching qualifications (LehrQFG RP)

• Recognition-in-Germany

02.12.2022