Teacher profession data by country
Where teacher is a regulated profession, how foreign qualifications are recognised and which shortage lists name it, country by country, from official registers.
39 countries have an official record for teacher: 38 regulate it and 20 name it on a shortage list. Comparable country-level profession salaries are not published here, so a best-paying destination cannot yet be named.
- Countries
- 39
- Regulated in
- 38
- On a shortage list in
- 20
Country by country
Open a country for its full record and sources. A dash means the register has no entry for that field.
| Country | Regulation | Recognition route | Shortage list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Regulated | AITSL migration assessment requires at least four years of full-time university-level study including an initial teacher-education qualification. A successful migration assessment is separate from registration with the intended State/Territory regulator.AITSL for the migration skills assessment; the relevant State/Territory teacher-registration authority for permission to teach. | Listed2025 Occupation Shortage List (ANZSCO 2022) |
| Austria | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Route varies by school type and origin; third-country qualification may require nostrification at a matching PH/university.Competent PH/university or other office for exact school type and qualification origin. | — |
| Belgium | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. For an EEA/Swiss fully qualified teacher, FWB assesses the dossier against teaching functions and may require an adaptation period or aptitude test. The German-speaking Community Ministry handles its route; academic equivalence may be needed if the credential is not immediately comparable.Teaching recognition is administered by the relevant language Community: FWB education recognition service, the German-speaking Community Ministry, or the competent Flemish education authority for the exact role. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Bulgaria | Not marked regulated | Employer assesses the foreign qualification for a non-regulated teacher occupation; a school role also requires the pedagogical qualification under Ordinance No.15. Optional NACID academic-degree recognition is a separate credential procedure, not teacher licensing.For a non-regulated occupation, NACID assigns professional qualification recognition to the employer. A public-school employer also checks pedagogical-specialist requirements; no separate nationwide foreign-teacher professional-recognition authority was identified. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Canada | Regulated | Ontario internationally educated applicants submit education and supporting records for OCT certification assessment; certificate route depends on teaching level and qualifications.OCT is the certifying authority for Ontario publicly funded schools; other jurisdictions have separate regulators. | ListedCanadian Occupational Projection System — projected labour-market conditions |
| Croatia | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. The Croatian government places regulated qualifications outside its seven automatic professions in the general system, which assesses education, knowledge, skills and experience; language proficiency may also be relevant. The precise teacher-title route and authority must be checked by the applicant's title and origin. | — |
| Cyprus | Regulated | For public teaching, obtain KY.S.A.T.S. equivalence/correspondence of a foreign degree to the relevant Cyprus teacher degree, then file the Educational Service Commission appointment-table application with role-specific documents and language proof. Primary and secondary specialities follow separate service plans.Educational Service Commission for public appointment tables; KY.S.A.T.S. for equivalence/correspondence of the foreign teaching degree. | — |
| Czechia | Regulated | Foreign qualifications are assessed for the exact pedagogical post. Eligible EU/EEA/Swiss applications use the professional-qualification route; a qualification obtained solely outside those states is outside that general service. General system of recognition - primary application.MŠMT is the recognition authority for foreign pedagogical qualifications; the route depends on school level and qualification origin. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Denmark | Regulated | For the listed teaching tracks, apply to UFSN for recognition of the non-Danish teaching qualification; recognition is required for the permanent role. The result and any supplementary conditions depend on school type and qualification.Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (UFSN) handles recognition for the listed primary/lower-secondary and upper-secondary teacher tracks. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Estonia | Regulated | Submit a written or electronic application and qualification documents to the Ministry; translation may be requested.Ministry of Education and Research (Haridus- ja Teadusministeerium). | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Finland | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Apply through EDUFI/Studyinfo with qualification documents. EDUFI assesses eligibility for the specific Finnish post; compensatory or supplementary study may be required.Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) for foreign qualification decisions on covered teaching posts. | — |
| France | Regulated | Statutory public posts require the post-specific level and concours; EU/EEA diplomas are accepted as French, while outside EU/EEA applicants need ENIC-NARIC level attestation and a sworn French translation. Contract recruitment is separate.The Education Ministry runs the relevant public concours; ENIC-NARIC France issues the level attestation for diplomas outside EU/EEA. | — |
| Germany | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. The selected Land authority compares the foreign teacher qualification with the relevant German teacher track, school type and subjects; it can require additional study, an adaptation measure or an aptitude examination.The competent authority or professional chamber in the federal state where the applicant intends to practise. Use the federal Recognition Finder with the exact profession and intended city; the 16 Länder set their own authority arrangements. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Greece | Regulated | For foreign teachers in the specified foreign/private-school channel, the school files the application before the school year with proof of teaching entitlement in the home country, authenticated/transl. qualifications and supporting documents. Public-school appointment is a separate competition/list process.For the cited foreign/private-school teacher permission, the Ministry of Education and the competent Education Directorate handle the school-submitted application. Public appointments follow the Ministry’s separate appointment procedure. | — |
| Hungary | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Request recognition of the foreign qualification level and, where required, professional qualification through OH-MEIK; the public-education act specifies the qualification for primary and secondary posts by stage/subject.OH-MEIK in the Educational Authority handles foreign higher-education diploma recognition for employment/professional purposes; formal teacher posts also have stage- and subject-specific qualification rules. | — |
| Iceland | Regulated | Apply to the Ministry for the national teacher's licence under Act No. 95/2019. Foreign professional qualifications are assessed under Iceland's recognition framework; the teacher page directs applicants to the official application.Ministry of Education and Children. | — |
| Ireland | Regulated | General system of recognition - secondary application. General system of recognition - primary application. Apply under the Teaching Council route for the relevant level. Foreign-qualified primary and post-primary teachers are assessed separately; post-primary applicants must meet subject requirements and may receive conditions.The Teaching Council. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Italy | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. MIM requires an individual assessment of foreign teacher qualifications; recognition is not automatic, and the training must be regulated in the source country. The application route uses separate EU/EEA and non-EU forms.The Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) receives foreign teacher-qualification recognition applications. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Japan | Regulated | A prefectural board may conduct an educational personnel examination based on a foreign university-issued teaching licence and issue a corresponding Japanese licence; the result is not automatic equivalence.The relevant prefectural board of education awards Japanese teaching licences; it can examine an overseas licence and award a corresponding Japanese licence. | — |
| Latvia | Regulated | AIC reviews the qualification and sends its report to the Ministry of Education and Science, which decides recognition. Material differences can require an aptitude test or adaptation.The Ministry of Education and Science issues recognition decisions after AIC assessment. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Lithuania | Regulated | Submit the application, qualification evidence and required supporting records with certified Lithuanian translations; the Ministry may seek evidence from other authorities.The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport recognizes the listed school-teacher professional qualifications for the stated EU/EEA/Swiss and third-country routes. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Luxembourg | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Public primary-school candidates need a recognised teaching degree, preliminary examinations, competitive ranking and an induction stage. Foreign EU/EEA teaching qualifications use the applicable recognition rules; the public secondary route separately requires the stated degree level for its career group.The Ministry of Education, Children and Youth organises the public-school hiring route; foreign higher-education teaching diplomas must be recognised by the Ministry for Research and Higher Education for the stated primary-teacher route. | — |
| Malta | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. A permanent teacher warrant requires the specified degree and teaching qualification; foreign qualifications need MFHEA comparability at the stated level.Council for the Teaching Profession administers teacher warrants. | — |
| Netherlands | Regulated | Apply to DUO for recognition of the foreign teaching qualification for the same Dutch teaching authorization; EEA/Swiss and non-EEA routes differ, and temporary service is a separate notification.Education Executive Agency (DUO) handles foreign qualification recognition for named primary, secondary, special-needs, vocational and adult-teacher posts. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| New Zealand | Regulated | A person entering the New Zealand teaching profession must apply for and be granted teacher registration; overseas qualifications are addressed in the registration requirements and overseas-qualification pathways. Overseas-trained teachers provide qualification, identity, language and conduct evidence, then apply for registration and a practising certificate; the Council assesses comparability and competence.Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand; Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand registers teachers and issues practising certificates. | — |
| Norway | Regulated | Apply to HK-dir for recognition of a foreign teaching qualification for permanent primary/secondary teaching; kindergarten-teacher qualification recognition applies to head or educational-supervisor roles.HK-dir is competent authority for foreign school-teacher qualification recognition and specified kindergarten leadership roles. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Poland | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Foreign teacher credentials are assessed under the applicable diploma-recognition and teacher-qualification rules; recognition of an academic diploma and eligibility for a named school post are separate checks.Ministry of National Education / competent education authority for the covered teacher-qualification recognition. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Portugal | Regulated | Foreign school-teacher qualification recognition is handled through DGAE; academic-degree recognition and authorization to teach are distinct.DGAE is the named authority for the school-teacher qualification route; academic degree recognition is separate. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Romania | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. General system of recognition - secondary application. For regulated pre-university teaching, the qualification application goes to the Ministry of Education authority listed for school teaching; higher-education staff use a separate authority route.Ministry of Education, General Directorate for Human Resources Management and School Network, for pre-university teaching staff; higher education has a separate listed authority. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Saudi Arabia | Regulated | For covered educational occupations, register for ETEC's general and specialized professional-licence tests and obtain the licence after meeting issuance requirements; this does not itself confer an immigration work permit.Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) for the general and specialized teacher professional-licence assessments. | — |
| Slovakia | Regulated | Apply for recognition of the formal education and professional qualification for the exact teaching post. The relevant school title and level control the evidence required. General system of recognition - primary application.Ministry of Education, through CRD, recognizes the education and professional qualification for the exact regulated school-teacher title. | — |
| Slovenia | Regulated | Regulated school-teaching qualifications use the Ministry of Education recognition procedure; foreign education assessment alone is not a teaching licence. Exact route varies by school level, title and origin. General system of recognition - primary application.Ministry of Education handles recognition for regulated education professions; the precise unit depends on school/teaching title. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| South Korea | Regulated | — | — |
| Spain | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. Match the foreign qualification to the Spanish early-childhood, primary or secondary teaching stage; apply for the relevant degree/qualification homologation and establish the required pedagogical training for that stage.Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports for the national homologation/recognition route; the relevant autonomous-community education authority applies the stage and hiring rules. | — |
| Sweden | Regulated | Foreign-trained teachers apply to Skolverket with degree/transcript and language evidence; UHR evaluates foreign credentials, while Skolverket decides certification and subject/school-form eligibility.Skolverket decides Swedish teacher and preschool-teacher certification; UHR evaluates foreign qualifications in the process. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| Switzerland | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. EDK compares the foreign diploma individually with the Swiss qualification for each requested school level and subject; substantial differences can require compensatory measures. The applicant must hold full, unrestricted teaching authorisation in the country of training.EDK (Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education) for primary, lower-secondary and baccalaureate-school teaching diplomas; vocational-school teachers apply to SERI. | ListedEURES labour shortages and surpluses dashboard — National Coordination Office submission |
| United Arab Emirates | Regulated | Hold at least a bachelor’s or four-year university degree in the required field; foreign graduates submit attested educational certificates. The Education Professional licence requires category-specific tests; tailored training follows an unsuccessful test.Authority depends on emirate and school: MoE evaluates some private-school applicants; KHDA (Dubai), ADEK (Abu Dhabi), SPEA (Sharjah), and Ras Al Khaimah Department of Knowledge are named. | — |
| United Kingdom | Regulated | General system of recognition - primary application. In England, eligible overseas-trained teachers apply for QTS through the DfE service and submit qualification, professional-standing and experience evidence. Requirements differ by training country; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate arrangements.Teaching Regulation Agency for England; Education Workforce Council for Wales; General Teaching Council for Scotland; General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland. QTS is an England route, not the only nation system. | — |
| United States | Regulated | — | — |
How this list is built
The list holds the 39 countries with at least one official record for teacher: a regulated-professions register entry, a recognition record or a shortage-list row. National occupation names are joined to this profession through a reviewed crosswalk, country by country; a name the crosswalk does not match is left out rather than guessed. Salaries are not shown until a profession-level salary is collected for the country.
Cite this page
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APA citation
ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 25). Teacher profession data by country [ImmigrationDB compilation; version cd5d4a72cbddbee302b24485975e470d]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/teacher/ Retrieved 2026-10-25. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/BibTeX citation
@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_teacher-profession-data-by-country_dd8bc9fade9b,
author = {ImmigrationDB},
title = {Teacher profession data by country},
publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-25},
version = {cd5d4a72cbddbee302b24485975e470d},
url = {https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/teacher/},
note = {Retrieved 2026-10-25. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}Markdown citation
[Teacher profession data by country](https://immigrationdb.com/move-as/teacher/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version cd5d4a72cbddbee302b24485975e470d; retrieved 2026-10-25; built 2026-10-25.This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.
Sources
- Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
- Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Government
- ILO
- European Commission Regulated Professions Database
- Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research
- Austrian Federal Government, migration.gv.at
- Eurostat
- European Commission Regulated Professions Database
- French Community (FWB) education recognition service
- European Labour Authority / EURES