You submit an application to the responsible office. You can send the application by post, send it electronically or submit it in person. The responsible office will inform you.
The responsible office receives the application. It will confirm to you after a maximum of one month that the application has been received. Once the competent office has received all the documents from you, it will process your application. The competent authority will then check: Is your professional qualification equivalent to the professional qualification in your federal state? The competent body will compare the qualifications using certain criteria. Important criteria are, for example, the content and duration of the training and the number of subjects taught. The competent body will also take your professional experience, your other certificates of competence and your other qualifications into account when assessing equivalence.
If your professional qualification and the professional qualification in the selected federal state are equivalent, you will receive recognition.
Sometimes there are significant differences between the professional qualifications. If there are significant differences, you may be able to take a compensation measure.
There are various compensation measures:
- Adaptation course: you work as a teacher and perhaps do additional training. This means, for example, that you take part in courses at a university or college.
- Aptitude test: You take teaching tests and oral examinations. A teaching sample means that you conduct lessons with pupils. Examiners observe and assess your lessons. The responsible office will inform you about the necessary teaching samples and examinations.
You can usually choose between an adaptation period or an aptitude test. Sometimes the competent body decides which compensatory measure you should take. The responsible office will inform you.
If you successfully complete the compensation measure, you will receive recognition of your foreign teaching qualification as a teaching qualification.
With this recognition, you can apply for a teaching position in your federal state. This is a different procedure.
If you meet all the requirements, you will receive the teaching qualification. The teaching qualification is always valid for the relevant teaching profession. This means that you can teach your subjects at a specific school. You have the same professional rights as a person with the German professional qualification.
In some cases, recognition of a teaching qualification as a teaching qualification is not possible. This is the case if
- you do not submit the application documents in full within a certain period of time despite being requested to do so by the competent authority,
- you have acquired a teaching qualification in your country of training which is not based on training at a university or training institution with an equivalent level of training, and/or the qualification you have acquired does not entitle you to practice the profession of teacher in the country of training in at least one of the subjects approved for the corresponding teaching profession in accordance with the Teacher Training Ordinance, or
- the significant differences identified cannot be compensated for.
There are various options for working as a teacher without recognition. The responsible office will inform you about the details.
