Previously, recruits to the profession did a one-year Masters course at a university, provided they had a PGCE (post-graduate certificate of education) plus two years of teaching experience.
To get the certificate, a buyer would need to be fingerprinted, take a firearms training course and undergo a national criminal background check and involuntary commitment or voluntary admission check.
Such a certificate would be issued after the buyer was fingerprinted, took a firearms training course and passed both a criminal background check and checks to see whether the person had been committed to a psychiatric hospital.