The proposed new national security review of the qualifications of teachers in Hong Kong: who can continue to stand on the podium after three years of continuous certification?

A teacher who has been enrolled and has been teaching in Hong Kong schools for many years may have to apply for another certificate on a regular basis in order to remain at the podium. The certificate is not only a certificate of achievement of the training, but also a statement of criminal record, a statement of compliance, residence in the port and the administrative determination of the suitability of the teacher for teaching.

The HKSAR Government ' s 13 November Journal, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2026, proposes to add a certificate of practice to the existing system of teacher registration and to address the qualifications of teachers found guilty of crimes against national security. The bill is scheduled to be submitted to the Legislative Council for its first and second readings on 25 November, which, as of 13 November, is still a draft legislation and cannot be written into provisions that have been fully implemented.

The Education Department stressed that this is to ensure the professional qualities of teachers and the well-being of students. However, the direct link between the criminalization of national security and the ability to continue with education also means that the professional qualification system of Hong Kong teachers will have a more explicit national security control function. The question is not just who needs to produce an additional certificate every three years, but who is empowered to judge whether a teacher is fit to serve, whether the criteria on which to base the judgement are clear and what procedural safeguards are available to those affected.

From one registration to regular access: the certificate of practice is intended to cover all schools

(a) Under the programme published by the Education Department, the certification of the practice of teachers is applied to public, funded, funded, and subsidized schools, including private schools, international schools and kindergartens; The headmaster is also within the scope of application. The certificate is valid for no more than three academic years.

Teachers must first hold valid certified or certified teacher certificates or have applied for registration pending decision. In addition, applicants must prove that they are teaching or are preparing to teach in schools, declare whether or not they have a criminal conviction, declare that they are upholding professional conduct and complying with the law, and meet the conditions of continuous professional development and usually Hong Kong.

Under the programme, each applicant must complete 60 hours of continuous professional development within 36 months of the application; The target of 150 hours for three years for public funding of primary and secondary school teachers is still in place, 60 hours being included, and the specific arrangements for the additional 90 hours are to be announced by the Education Department.

60 hours of professional development is not a full replacement for 150 hours. Combining these two sets of figures would distort the actual system burden. The former is the uniform threshold for applying for a certificate of practice, while the latter is the higher training indicator that some school teachers continue to apply.

For most teachers who do not have a national security conviction record, the most direct change is to combine continuous training, criminal record declarations and regular re-accreditation of qualifications. The Department of Education is able to promote professional studies and to obtain a system of periodic review of teachers ' qualifications.

The national security conviction is restricted to teaching, written in the education code

The more political and legal aspect of the amendment is the proposed establishment of a mechanism to regulate the registration of teachers who have been convicted of crimes against national security and to prevent the persons concerned from teaching in schools.

The Education Department has officially explained that those convicted of national security offences should not continue to practice in schools in order to protect students, maintain professional conduct of teachers and public confidence. The provisions are part of the institutional arrangements proposed in the draft, not administrative recommendations that are intended only for voluntary reference by schools.

However, this arrangement also raises new rights issues. Teachers are inherently responsible for classroom behaviour, quality of teaching and professional malpractice; The NSG conviction may involve political activities and speech outside the classroom. When professional qualifications are directly affected by criminalization, the scope of application of the prohibition, the duration of the prohibition and the means of redress need to be clearly explained.

Criminal penalties and professional qualifications are the legal consequence of two different levels. The imposition of an academic restriction on persons convicted of national security offences must address the issues of necessity, proportionality and procedural fairness. These questions cannot be answered in their entirety by the word “suspecting students”.

What is now possible is the policy direction of the draft; The procedure for specific challenges in the application, availability or absence of exceptions and decisions relating to each specific national security offence shall be governed by the legislation finally adopted and by the formal implementing rules.

A license to connect teachers to work, to continue their education and to live their lives

The new system may affect more than classroom performance. The conditions for applications published by the Education Department also include “usually Hong Kong”. The Bureau stated that the reasons for the applicant ' s absence from Hong Kong, the time and the number of times would be considered in a comprehensive manner.

This may affect teachers who have travelled to the field to study, to take long-term care of their relatives or to travel to and from Hong Kong to work in other areas. The Education Department has yet to clarify how these situations are identified and to prevent the needless uncertainty that vague living standards create for teachers.

Similarly, it is not unusual in itself to require an applicant to declare compliance with the law; However, if the approval of a qualification for practice is not only an objective verification, but also extends to a broad assessment of political expression or private conduct, teachers may choose to reduce public expression because of concerns about their qualifications. This is a potential chill risk for the draft and should not be the result of a general occurrence when implementation data are not available.

The fact that teachers are responsible for speech and professional conduct in the classroom does not mean that their right to express as citizens can be relinquished without any proportionate restriction to administrative review. The education industry certainly needs professional standards, and the problem is that standards must be predictable, verifiable and should allow for reasonable justification.

From school administration to national security: why is the Education Department taking a case at this time

The exception is not a sudden, stand-alone measure. The Government of the HKSAR in its 2026 Governance Report has proposed changes to the Education Ordinance to make the practice of certification a prerequisite for teaching and to improve teacher training. The Department of Education stated that it had been consulting industry since September 2025 and had presented its recommendations to the Legislative Council ' s Education Commission on 6 February 2026.

The Government has placed professional development and national security requirements in the same set of teacher qualifications reforms, reflecting its two expectations for the education system: on the one hand, linking further education to continuous practice, and on the other hand, confirming through the registration and certification system that teaching staff meet the legal and behavioural requirements identified by the Government.

This also highlights the institutional changes in education governance in Hong Kong. (a) The past discussion of teacher qualifications, which focused on academic qualifications, training and classroom performance; The professional consequences of national security criminal law will now be more directly integrated into the management of school personnel.

It is not the education system that should guarantee students, but the educational profession determines how much more independent space is left after national security reviews have entered the teacher qualification system.

The Legislative Council considered 25 November, and there are four questions to answer in public

After the draft has entered the legislative process, at least four elements are worth continuing inquiry:

- Criteria for review: In addition to the clear fact of criminalization, what specific material will apply for a certificate of practice determine whether the teacher is fit to serve? -Legal remedies: Will teachers be able to obtain written reasons, present arguments and be independently reviewed when their licence is denied, revoked or not renewed? - Scope of application: Is there a time limit, exceptions and possibility of reinstatement due to the conviction of the national security offence? -Occupational impact: How can current teachers, cross-border teaching staff and long-term overseas trainees avoid losing their jobs due to administrative uncertainty?

These are not abstract arguments. For teachers, the approval, extension or refusal of a certificate of practice is directly related to the ability to continue working; For schools, it is about the possibility of hiring experienced teachers; For students, it ultimately concerns whether the educational environment encourages independent thinking, professional discussion and rational analysis of complex issues.

Conclusion: is the qualification of teachers determined by a professional or by political law?

The certification system proposed by the Hong Kong Government has identifiable administrative objectives: regular recognition of qualifications, promotion of continuous education and professional suitability to deal with serious offenders. Of real concern is the fact that the Government has simultaneously embedded national security laws into this system of professional qualifications, which may result in long-term professional consequences beyond the penalization of a criminal conviction.

The Education (Amendment) Bill 2026 is still pending before the Legislative Council. It will eventually become a transparent, accessible, educationally professional-centred system, or a further threshold for the expansion of the administrative control over the personal conduct of teachers, depending on the specific legal provisions, the enforcement procedures and the existence of effective checks and balances in future cases.

The way a city decides who is qualified to teach is often also an indication of what knowledge, issues and public discussions it allows the next generation to access. This is not only a professional policy for teachers, but also a system option that needs to be examined in public.