How To Become A Teacher In UAE?

A Guide For Your Teaching Career In UAE

If you’re on the lookout on how to become a teacher in UAE, you’re going to need to follow a few steps and make sure you have all the necessary requirements needed to become one. Being a teacher in the UAE opens doors to you for working with a rich pool of diversity in terms of students, teachers, and members of the academic world.

The first requirement is holding a bachelor’s degree, a 4-year university degree or higher for the subject you wish to become a teacher for. This is a mandatory requirement for people who wish to teach at government/public schools, and private schools that are located in the UAE.

In addition, you will need the following documents:

• A medical fitness report issued by a doctor in the UAE
• Original educational certificates
• A criminal clearance record
• Should the educator have acquired a university degree outside of the UAE, they will have to get their certificates attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and their home country’s embassy situated in the UAE.

For applying for jobs in a UAE Government school, you will need to apply directly through the job portal on the Ministry of Education’s website. For private schools, you’ll need to apply through the relevant schools own procedures. After you apply with the school, they will forward your documents to the Northern Emirates Ministry of Education, or to the KHDA in Dubai. After which, you will be required to take tests and await final approval. Also know more about Chemistry lessons for O-Level students

Teaching License In UAE

It is also very important to note that the teaching license in UAE is undergoing a significant revamp. As of 2017, the UAE has initiated the first phase for the Teachers Licensing System. (TLS). By 2020, all educators and members of school faculty will be required to have a TLS to maintain their current role. This is a requirement for Public school and Private school teachers and administration alike.

If you currently hold a Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS), it is now effectively invalid. You will have to apply for TLS is you wish to continue your teaching career in the UAE.

The test consists of two different areas: participants will have to pass a test in pedagogy, and also the teachers for their specific subject. You can read more about the TLS in detail here.  

Once you have passed all of the above requirements, you will be granted a TLS license that will last between 1 to 3 years, depending on your score in the test. Once you license expires, you will have to renew it with the same process as previously mentioned with regard to the TLS.

The UAE government has currently applied TLS to a few core subjects, but more will be added in the coming months. You only need to apply for TLS if you teach any of the subjects below:

• English
• Arabic
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology