Vocational Licensure

Massachusetts Chapter 74 Vocational Technical Teacher licenses come in two types, Preliminary and Professional. Both types of licensure are valid to be employed as a teacher in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Interested applicants should note that they cannot begin the licensure process at the Professional stage. The Preliminary license must be earned first.

Vocational teachers earn their Preliminary license by documenting that they have the appropriate industry experience, education history and content knowledge for their license field. Content knowledge is typically measured through testing. Note that teacher preparation coursework is not required to earn a Preliminary license.  With regards to education, some Vocational teacher licenses require a bachelor’s degree, some require an associate’s Degree while other licenses require a high school diploma.

Once earned, the Preliminary Vocational Technical Teacher License is valid for five years of full-time employment. This means that only time spent working under the license in a Massachusetts school may count towards the validity period. For example, Samantha earns a Dental Assisting Preliminary license in 2020, however she does not obtain a job as a Dental Assisting teacher in a Massachusetts public school until August of 2024. Assuming Samantha is continuously employed under the Dental Assisting license, her Preliminary license will be valid until the end of the 2028-29 school year. 

Once a vocational educator begins working under the Preliminary license, they should begin to take steps to advance their license to the Professional stage. A vocational educator advances to the Professional stage after they have been employed under the Preliminary for at least three years, (including an induction program provided by the school district) and have completed the required coursework for advancement.

For additional information about what is required to advance a Preliminary license to the Professional stage, please review the Chapter 74 Guide for Professional Vocational Technical Teacher Licensure, here.

The Type of license that an educator applies for is going to be dependent on a variety of factors, such as the applicant's education, training, experience, and licensure priorities. 

• Provisional — valid for five years of employment (cannot be extended, must advance to initial). Starting on July 1, 2019, individuals who hold more than one Provisional license will have no more than five total years of prospective employment under the Provisional licenses.
• Initial — valid for five years of employment (may be extended once, must be advanced to Professional)
• Professional — valid for five calendar years (renewable every five years thereafter)

Educators are expected to take note of the amount of time for which each license is valid and work toward advancement of each license to its next stage, i.e., from Provisional to Initial or from Initial to Professional. Licenses at the Professional stage must be renewed every five years or else they become inactive/invalid.

• Licensure 101: How to Obtain a Massachusetts Educator License

Specific Licensure Requirements

Specific Licensure Requirements for each license category, type, and grade level can be found in the Licensure Requirements Tool.

• DESE Licensure Requirements Tool

Licensure Requirements

The Vocational Technical Education Teacher licenses have two types, Preliminary and Professional. Either license makes an educator eligible to work in a career and vocational technical education setting in the state of Massachusetts; however, an educator must earn a Preliminary license before they can advance to a Professional license.

Requirements for a Preliminary Vocational Technical Teacher license

1. Depending on the field applied for, the license will require one of the following:

1. Possession of a High School Diploma/GED equivalent
2. Possession of an Associate degree in the subject matter knowledge and skills to be taught
3. Possession of a Bachelor's degree in the subject matter knowledge and skills to be taught

2. Documentation of the required years of employment experience in the field of the license.
   NOTE THAT THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF YEARS WILL VARY, DEPENDING ON THE LICENSURE FIELD APPLIED FOR
3. For certain fields, possession of a state or national occupational license or certification is required
4. Achieving a passing score on both the written and the performance vocational subject matter test
5. Achieving a passing score on one of the following Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTELs):

1. The Vocational Technical Literacy Skills Test (VTLST)
2. The Communication and Literacy Skills Test
    

MTEL & VTEL Information and Registration 

Written & Performance Subject Area Tests

Working Toward Your Professional Licensure

If you are looking for courses needed for your Professional License, you must complete six, three-credit courses approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and a SEI Endorsement course. These courses address the Professional Standards for Vocational Technical Teachers set forth in 603 CMP 4.10.  The required courses are:

1. Seminar for the Beginning Vocational Technical Teacher
2. Developing and Implementing a Standards-Based Curriculum in Vocational Technical Education
3. Addressing the Needs of Students with Disabilities in Vocational Technical Education
4. Teaching Methods for Vocational Technical Education:  Educating and Assessing the Vocational Technical Education Learner
5. Teaching Methods for Vocational Technical Education:  Instructional Strategies
6. Teaching Methods for Vocational Technical Education:  Using Research-Based Practices to Develop Effective Instructional Strategies
7. Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement

THESE COURSES CAN BE TAKEN IN ANY ORDER.