Teachers · EAs · coaches · school staff
Do Ontario teachers need first aid certification?
The certification you need
Intermediate First Aid + CPR-C, where your board or activity asks for it
Nothing requires an individual teacher or EA to hold a certificate. The legal duty sits on the board as an employer, and boards decide what they ask of staff.
We get asked this constantly, and the honest answer surprises people: no Ontario law and no Ontario College of Teachers rule requires a teacher, educational assistant or school ECE to personally hold a first aid or CPR certificate. The Ministry and the College set no such condition.
What does apply is at the school level. Because school boards are employers covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, Regulation 1101 requires a school with more than five workers on a shift to have someone on site holding the standard-level certificate (now called Intermediate First Aid) and boards routinely designate several staff to fill that role.
Requirements change and can vary by employer, site and role, so always confirm what yours asks for before booking. Not sure? Call us at 705-985-3478 or send us a message, and we’ll work it out with you.
Your course
Intermediate First Aid & CPR
Where a board, a coaching role or an activity standard names a level, it is usually the Intermediate level with CPR-C, because CPR-C covers child and infant.
Price
$138 + HST
Online at home
9 hours
In class with us
7.5 hours
CPR level
CPR-C
What does CPR-C mean? The three CPR levels, and who each one is for.
The online part is required and must be finished before your in-class day.
Pick a date and book
Booking is subject to our course policies: refunds, date changes, photo ID and what to bring on the day.
What the requirement actually says
- The board's duty under Regulation 1101 is to have a qualified person in charge of the first aid station, not to certify every teacher.
- The provincial physical-activity safety standards name the Intermediate level with CPR-C for people supervising particular activities, such as outdoor education trips and aquatics. If you supervise those, that is where your requirement comes from.
- Many boards list first aid and CPR as an asset at hiring, or as a condition of coaching a team or running a trip. That is board policy, legitimate but still policy.
- Where you do need a level, Intermediate First Aid with CPR-C covers all of these at once, because CPR-C includes adult, child and infant.
- Sabrina's Law and Ryan's Law do not require first aid certificates. They require boards to run condition-specific training on anaphylaxis and asthma, and they authorise staff to administer an epinephrine auto-injector or an inhaler.
- Rowan's Law and the concussion policy require annual concussion awareness training, codes of conduct and removal-from-sport protocols, not a first aid certificate.
Source: No requirement binds an individual teacher, EA or school ECE. The Ontario College of Teachers sets no first aid condition. The legal duty is on the board as a WSIA employer under R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1101.
Check it yourself
- Ontario College of Teachers: certification requirements, no first aid or CPR condition appears
- R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1101: First Aid Requirements, the duty that sits on the board as employer
- WSIB: First Aid Program
The named laws don't say what people think
Sabrina's Law, Ryan's Law and Rowan's Law come up in almost every conversation we have with school staff, and none of them requires a first aid or CPR certificate. Sabrina's and Ryan's require boards to train staff on anaphylaxis and asthma specifically, and authorise them to administer an auto-injector or inhaler. Rowan's Law requires concussion training and protocols. They are all real obligations on the board, but none of them is the reason you would book a first aid course. The other frequent mix-up is the child care rule: the child care first aid requirement applies to licensed child care and authorised before-and-after-school programs, not to a full-day kindergarten classroom in a publicly funded school.
Teachers & school staff: common questions
My board's wording uses an older course name. What do I book?
Intermediate First Aid & CPR, in almost every case. A board that names a level usually means the higher one, which the WSIB has called Intermediate First Aid since 22 June 2026 under CSA Z1210:24. Choose CPR-C, which covers adult, child and infant.
I coach a school team. Do I need certification?
Not by law, but very likely by board policy, and the provincial activity safety standards name a level for supervising certain activities. Your board's athletic policy is the document to check. Rowan's Law separately requires concussion training, which is a different thing and is usually provided by the board.
Which CPR level for a school?
CPR-C. It covers adult, child and infant, which is the whole point in a school setting. CPR-A is adult only.
Does the childcare rule apply to me as a kindergarten ECE?
Not if you work in a full-day kindergarten classroom in a publicly funded school, which sits under the Education Act. The O. Reg. 137/15 requirement applies to licensed child care and to authorised before-and-after-school programs. If you work in both settings, which many ECEs do, the child care rule applies to the child care half.
Training more than one person?
We’ll run the course at your site on a date that suits your operation, or host your group at our Barrie centre. Group pricing starts at six people, and a smaller group is welcome at that rate. One invoice for the lot.