The Certificate in Education (Cert Ed) is a professional qualification for teachers in the United Kingdom.
The current Cert Ed is a non-compulsory qualification offering training in teaching at further or higher education level.
The old Cert Ed was a qualification required by teachers, obtained after three years of study at a College of Education.
At the end of this period students could complete a fourth year in order to gain a BEd (Hons) degree, although only a minority chose to do so.
[1] The Cert Ed was discontinued in the early 1980s when the law required all trainee teachers to train via graduate or post-graduate courses.