Teaching Certification and Salaries in BC

College of Teachers

To teach in a public school in BC, you will need a teaching certificate issued by the BC College of Teachers. The College of Teachers establishes standards for the education of teachers in public schools, issues teaching certificates, conducts certificate reviews and, where necessary, suspends or cancels certificates.

Salary information

Salary grids for March 31, 2006 through June 30, 2010 are available in PDF and Excel formats.

Upgrading your TQS salary category

Teachers wishing to upgrade their TQS category must meet the requirements as determined by the TQS.

Teacher Qualification Service (TQS)

All teachers in public schools must be assigned a Teacher Qualification Service (TQS) category. These categories are used by school boards for salary placement purposes. An advisory service to school boards and locals, the Teacher Qualification Service evaluates the qualifications of teachers employed in the public school system of BC, and determines salary categories.

The TQS was established in 1969. Prior to this, the British Columbia Department of Education issued certificates to teachers which allowed them to teach in BC public schools and assisted school districts in determining their placement on district salary grids. The Department of Education decided that the determination of teacher salaries should be separated from the function of certification. It was because of this that in 1968 the BC School Trustees Association and the BC Teachers' Federation created a neutral and independent body to deal with the issue of relating teacher salaries to their level of training. The TQS is a non-profit society funded jointly by the BCTF and the BCSTA.

A small staff of four employees at the TQS processes over four thousand applications annually.