Admissions FAQS

See dates here.

We do not have online or part-time options for the BEd program here at UBC. The structure of the teacher education program is cohesive and must be completed onsite. The program’s courses are offered in-class by various departments within the Faculty and the practicum component necessitates that the student be present full-time.

The Teacher Education Office strives to provide inclusive, equitable, and accessible service to our students. If you have a disability that may require accommodation or academic concession during your time as UBC student, please register with the Centre for Accessibility. By registering with the Centre for Accessibility, you can request a new academic concession or disability accommodation, and discuss options with your Accessibility Advisor. First, to register with the Centre , you must meet with an Accessibility Advisor. Please complete the steps on the Centre's registration page. Please note that if you have previously communicated with the Centre for Accessibility during your time in another UBC program, you should still reconnect with them so that any future accommodations can be aligned in the most effective way to your Bachelor of Education program.

Academic requirements can be taken from any accredited post-secondary institution, and can be taken in any format, in-person or online. Institutions such as Athabasca University and Thompson Rivers Online Learning offer a number of online courses.

Applicants must have volunteered or worked in some capacity in a group setting with children or youth of the age level you wish to teach (5-12 for elementary and middle years or 13-17 for secondary).

Please visit Academic & Experience Requirements for further details.

Experience requirements must be completed and received in our office by the application deadline. However, we recommend completing them much sooner as this will give your referees time to submit their references.

Deadlines can be found here.

Admission to the program is competitive and meeting the minimum admission requirements does not guarantee admission.

In addition to all other academic and experience requirements, applicants must complete an acceptable French proficiency assessment, the DELF/DALF.

For more details on what is required for admission, please visit the French specialization page.

Last year, we accepted over 700 students and received 1500 applications.

A more competitive applicant would typically try to exceed the published minimum 75 hours of experience with age-appropriate groups of students/youth that shows leadership and an ability to organize and communicate effectively.

Documents should be sent well in advance of the deadline. Please see deadline dates here.

Yes.

Yes. Please keep receipts of your transcript orders as proof.

No. Applicants reapplying are required to have new, sealed, official copies of all post-secondary transcripts sent directly to the TEO from the issuing institution. We also require applicants to resubmit French/English language proficiency assessments and have their new or existing referees submit new, up-to-date reference forms.

Your application is evaluated for both your academic requirements (specific course work, GPA, overall academic history) and your Personal Profile (including experience, writing abilities and references). When we receive your Personal Profile, it is read by education professionals who evaluate and make recommendations for admission based upon quality, quantity, and relevance of your combined experiences, written language skills, and references. Applicants may be invited for an interview.

Applicants who believe they may have been unjustly denied admission may submit a formal appeal within 10 business days days of the issue date of the notification of the admission or readmission decision according to the policy and process outlined on the UBC Admissions/Appeals website. We strongly suggest contacting the Teacher Education Office and speaking with an admissions officer before submitting an appeal.

Please note that all communication and interactions with the Teacher Education Office and Faculty of Education are considered part of the admissions process and are taken into account when considering applicants for admission. Admission may be denied to applicants who communicate in an unprofessional manner or who act in an inappropriate manner during the admissions process, regardless of academic standing.

A competitive GPA usually hovers around 80%.

For the secondary program, we will be looking at your top 18 senior-level credits in your teachable subject(s).

For the elementary & middle years program, we will be looking at your most recent 60 relevant academic credits. This includes anyone who have taken additional courses outside of their degree.

We are only able to include in GPA evaluation the marks for courses that have final grades reported on an official transcript before the deadline of January 15 as we start assessments right away. Coursework taken after this date will not be used for GPA calculation.

Only under special circumstances such as irreplaceable documents from a foreign country.

You do not need to request for a transcript to be sent from UBC if you are a UBC student. As long as we have your student number, we can access your transcripts.

The TEO does not accept transcripts dropped off in person. All transcripts need to be sent directly from the issuing institution(s).

Yes.

Yes, unless you participated in the Go Global Exchange program at UBC.

The insitution is required to send official correspondence to TEO to confirm that they will not provide a transcript.

Most decisions are sent by the end of May each year, with some coming later.

Check with your institution's advisors to ensure your degree is the academic equivalent of a 4-year 120-credit UBC bachelor's degree

Count your contact hours per course. Usually at UBC, a three credit course is thirty nine contact hours in classrooms. Please see our academic self-assessment page.

Before you speak with an advisor, look at our self-assessment worksheets.

No. However, you are required to provide your supervisor's information and contact information along with your self reported hours so that the TEO may verify with them if necesary.

We do not have online or part-time options for the BEd program here at UBC. The structure of the teacher education program is cohesive and must be completed onsite. The program’s courses are offered in-class by various departments within the Faculty and the practicum component necessitates that the student be present full-time.

The deposit is not refundable, should you choose to withdraw from the program.

Please click here for current UBC domestic and international tuition fees.

When you get your degree, you can teach full time, part time, and/or TOC forever depending on the district.

We do intakes each September.

For every hour of instruction, it takes around two to three hours of planning at the beginning. If possible, we recommend avoiding working during this program.,

If you are interested in doing a practicum elsewhere, it will require our practicum coordinators to create a new working relationship with that school. There is no guarantee. Meet with your practicum coordinators to see if there has been a history of working with the school you are interested in; or if there is a reason why they are no longer partners.

Yes. Under the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), those individuals who possess an unrestricted teaching certificate in a Canadian jurisdiction will be eligible for a teaching certificate in any other Canadian jurisdiction. It is strongly recommended that you contact the governing body in the province in which you wish to teach for additional information.

For more information, please see:

Moving Jurisdictions
Certification Regulations by Province/Territory

We do not take any transfer students. You will have to complete the entire program.

Individuals who already have a prior Bachelor of Education degree/teacher certification from another country or province are requested to contact the Teacher Certification Branch for assessment, as they will assess these situations on a case-by-case basis. The Teacher Certification Branch is the certifying body for the teaching profession in British Columbia.

Please see our website for more information on Dual Degrees. You can also check with the coordinator of your UBC department as well as the Dual Degree Coordinator at the UBC Teacher Education Office (Bette Shippam at bette.shippam@ubc.ca).

Yes, although it is recommended to have a successful IELTS or TOEFL result before you receive any decision on admission.

No.

Yes. Detailed instructions are provided with the admission offer. Applicants should not obtain a criminal record check in advance as any prior criminal record checks undertaken outside of this office will not fulfill this requirement.

Clearance of this criminal record check is required in order to begin the BEd program or take certain courses in the Faculty of Education.

If you have been convicted of, or given an absolute or conditional discharge, or received a pardon on a criminal offence and you are considering a teaching career, you should contact the Ministry of Education Teacher Regulation Branch (TRB) before undertaking a teacher education program or taking courses at the Faculty of Education.

Please click here for current UBC domestic and international tuition fees.

The online application opens on October 1, 2022 and closes on January 15, 2023. Find more information here.

You are able to include experience from the last five years if it is relevant to your application. Competitive applications will have a range of experiences (volunteer or paid) with age-appropriate groups of students or youth. The strongest kind of experience you can obtain is sustained and ongoing over a significant period of time. Attempting to gain the a competitive amount of experience over the course of one school semester is difficult even during normal operations.

We advise you to continue with your classes at your institution as they are available. Should this situation continue for an extended period, the admissions committee will announce any changes to assessment procedures.

If you are completing courses at an international institution, please check whether they can arrange to send an official final transcript electronically through email or other means.

We are unable to complete an evaluation without a copy of transcripts from all of your attended post-secondary institutions. If your institution is unable or unwilling to send official paper or electronic transcripts, please send some form of official communication you have received from the institution that states they cannot or will not send the documents to teacher.ed@ubc.ca. Only once we have confirmation that the institution will not be sending transcripts at this time, we will accept unofficial copies for evaluation purposes. Any offer of admission made using unofficial documents will be CONDITIONAL until official transcripts are received. Please note, if official documents cannot be produced by the July 31 deadline, admission offers can be cancelled.

Many institutions are experiencing delays with moving courses online and there may be other factors involved. Best practice at this time is to keep up-to-date with your home institution as things progress with this situation.

No. Admission requirements are to ensure teacher candidates are academically-prepared for their studies in the BEd program, for the teaching profession, and to be eligible for certification with the BC Teacher Certification Branch.

The UBC Bachelor of Education admissions team will accept a Credit/D grade for courses that an applicant presents towards meeting UBC BEd academic requirements. Understandably, the admissions team will not accept an ‘F’ course towards meeting an academic requirement.

Admissions will not use a Credit/D grade in the applicant’s GPA calculation, however they do use a grade of ‘F’ in the GPA calculation. For more information on UBC’s Credit/D/F marks, please visit students.ubc.ca/enrolment/courses/creditdfail-grading.

Contact your instructor or institution to find out how the course components will be delivered. If the lab component has been cancelled, you should find a suitable science course that has a lab component. If you’re unsure whether any course meets admission criteria, please consult this list of acceptable courses. This is not an exhaustive list, but can act as a good guideline for which courses to look at. If your course is not listed here, please contact teacher.ed@ubc.ca and your query will be directed to an admissions officer.

For English proficiency tests, UBC will accept the TOEFL-ibt Special Home Edition, which can be done remotely. If you are required to do a DELF/DALF exam, we encourage you to keep in constant contact with your closest testing centre(s) for updates.

Advisors are available via Zoom. There are a number of online information sessions scheduled as well. Please visit https://teach.educ.ubc.ca/webinars/ and teach.educ.ubc.ca/admissions/advising for more information.

UBC follows all British Columbia Ministry of Health protocols concerning COVID-19. UBC is planning for on-campus instruction for the 2023/24 Winter Session. Teacher candidates accepting admission offers for the 2023/24 Bachelor of Education program should be prepared to be in Vancouver/Lower Mainland to participate in face-to-face coursework and practica. Therefore, if applicable, you will need to arrange for housing and childcare to fulfill this part of the program. General updates are available on the UBC website at covid19.ubc.ca.

The completion of all practicum experiences is a requirement for completing the BEd program, and also a requirement to be eligible for certification with the BC Teacher Certification Branch. The requirements for practicum follow the guidelines specified by the BC Ministry of Education in accordance with guidance from the BC Ministry of Health. If you have circumstances that may potentially prevent you from completing in-person, in-school practicums, you may wish to consider applying to the BEd program at a later date, keeping in mind that the status of public health is an evolving and unpredictable situation.

For the time being, the TEO, staff, faculty, and students must follow all protocols issued by the BC Ministry of Health.

The Teacher Education Office strives to provide inclusive, equitable, and accessible service to our students. If you have a disability that may require accommodation or academic concession during your time as UBC student, please register with the Centre for Accessibility. By registering with the Centre for Accessibility, you can request a new academic concession or disability accommodation, and discuss options with your Accessibility Advisor. First, to register with the Centre , you must meet with an Accessibility Advisor. Please complete the steps on the Centre's registration page. Please note that if you have previously communicated with the Centre for Accessibility during your time in another UBC program, you should still reconnect with them so that any future accommodations can be aligned in the most effective way to your Bachelor of Education program.