HARRISBURG – The PA Department of Education (PDE) announced that aspiring educators can now receive an Intern Certificate for free, enabling them to enter the classroom and teach for up to three years while taking education classes on the path to earning their full teaching certification. The free Intern Certificate opens up an alternative path into teaching careers for Pennsylvanians who have already earned a bachelor’s degree in another field and want to take their knowledge and skills to use it to help educate future generations and put more teachers into PA classrooms faster. Individuals with an Intern Certificate have passed the content test demonstrating that they have the knowledge to teach in a content area and must only complete their professional core education work and student teaching before becoming fully certified. Interns have three-year certificates, giving them the chance to complete their student teaching while working and getting paid as a teacher of record. PDE hopes to incentivize more individuals to pursue this option and encourage more schools to hire interns to address their immediate staffing needs. For more information, click on the banner below.
