A proposed education bill would require teachers and principals in publicly funded, private and international schools, as well as kindergartens, to hold both teacher registration and a practising certificate before they could teach.
The certificates would be valid for no more than three school years, and applicants would have to meet continuing professional-development requirements. Commercial Radio reported that the threshold would be 60 hours in the 36 months before applying.
An Education Bureau submission to the Legislative Council in January, reported by HK01, said applicants would need to be employed by a school as a teacher. The submission proposed exempting short-term substitute teachers hired for no more than 30 school days in a 12-month period. It also proposed treating new graduates who move straight into teaching as having met the professional-development requirement.
The bill would also establish a mechanism for dealing with teacher registration after a conviction for an offence endangering national security. The government says the proposed safeguard is intended to prevent people convicted of such offences from teaching in schools.
The government plans to gazette the Education (Amendment) Bill 2026 on November 13 and submit it to the Legislative Council for first and second readings on November 25.