Certificate of Qualification and Registration or Certificate of Qualification and Registration (Restricted), Interim Certificate of Qualification and Registration or Interim Certificate of Qualification and Registration (Limited).
AQ and ABQ Admission Requirements
Individuals interested in registering for Niagara University in Ontario Additional Qualifications (AQ) and Additional Basic Qualifications (ABQ) programs are required to submit a completed application (candidate registration form) and, where applicable, appropriate statement of experience (certificate of teaching experience form).
Applicants seeking Additional Qualifications or Additional Basic qualifications must be an Ontario certified teacher or have completed a pre-service teacher education program as well as having an OCT number and meet all of the requirements set out in the Teachers’ Qualifications Regulation.
Below are the registration requirements and prerequisites according to regulations listed on the Ontario College of Teachers’ website.
Please note that all applicants for AQ and ABQ courses need to carefully read the eligibility requirements/prerequisites which are posted on the College of Teachers website.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that these requirements/prerequisites are fulfilled prior to applying for any of the offered courses; failure to do so will jeopardize the course being submitted to the Ontario College of Teachers.
The three-part specialist courses consist of Parts I, II and III (Specialist).
The certificate of teaching experience form for part 2 and specialist courses in Schedule D must be submitted at the time of application for the course.
Prerequisites – Part 1
- Certificate of Qualification and Registration or Interim Certificate of Qualification and Registration (ICQR) or ICQR (Limited)
- Basic Qualifications in Primary or Junior divisions or Intermediate or Senior divisions in general studies
- Primary Education, Junior Education and Intermediate Education require a basic qualification in the respective division.
- For admission into Part I in Kindergarten, applicants also must hold a qualification in the Primary division
Prerequisites – Part II
- Part I or evidence of a Schedule A subject associated with the Intermediate or Senior division which the Ontario College of Teachers considers equivalent
- One year of successful teaching experience, certified by a supervisory officer (Certification of Teaching Experience Form, AQ Part II & III)
Prerequisites – Part III
- Part II or equivalent
- Two years of successful teaching experience, including one in the subject in Ontario, certified by a supervisory officer. Experience outside of Ontario must be certified by an appropriate supervisory official (see Appendix 2 — Certification of Teaching Experience Form, AQ Part II & III).
Candidates who are seeking Additional Qualifications in FSL must satisfactorily complete a written and oral proficiency test. The fluency test is a mandatory component of admission to the FSL Part 1 AQ course.
Results of the French fluency test will be provided to Niagara University for the purposes of admission to the French as a Second Language AQ course only.
** An additional $50 administration testing fee is added to the course (in addition to the registration). **
PQP Requirements
- Candidates need to identify a mentor who is a practising principal or vice- principal in the candidate’s school. This mentor must be OCT certified and have principal qualifications.
- The candidate will develop the Leadership Practicum Proposal in collaboration with this mentor.
- The Leadership Practicum Proposal must be school-based (beyond the classroom) and connected to the Ontario Leadership Framework.
- The Leadership Practicum Proposal needs to be completed by the end of PQP I; this proposal needs to be approved by the principal/mentor and the PQP 1 course instructor.
- The Leadership Practicum proposal is a contract between the candidate, mentor and course instructor for Part I outlining the nature of the inquiry to be undertaken by the candidate.
- The signed and approved Leadership Proposal must be submitted to the provider for admission into PQP II.
- PQP 1 Teaching Experience Form
- The signed and approved Leadership Proposal developed in PQP I must be submitted to Niagara for admission to the PQP II.
- This Leadership Proposal must be implemented and completed during the duration of the PQP II.
- The duration of the Leadership Practicum will be a minimum of 60 hours of which 20 hours could be observation.
- At the end of PQP II, the Leadership Practicum must be successfully completed, and all required documentation submitted and approved by the instructor for Part II.
SOQP Eligibility Requirements
For more information, please review the Ontario College of Teachers Act (1996) Regulation 176/10 (revised 2017).
- Teaching qualifications in three or more divisions, one of which must be in the intermediate division
- At least five (5) years of successful classroom teaching experience after certification by OCT as verified by a board supervisory officer
- An acceptable master’s degree with 30 graduate post-secondary credits or their equivalent, or a doctorate of which the credits or their equivalent were completed in addition to any credits required for initial certification. An official copy of your master’s transcript is required when applying.
- Principal Qualification Program, parts 1 and 2 or equivalent
- The SOQP confirmation of teaching experience must be submitted.