How does the Concurso Docente actually work?

The Concurso Docente is the merit competition that fills teaching and school-leadership jobs in Colombia’s public education system under Decreto Ley 1278 of 2002. It runs in four stages: an eliminatory written test, a psychometric test, a scoring of academic and professional background, and an interview, in that order, and only aspirants who pass each stage move to the next. The 2026 process opened its OPEC preliminar to public consultation in August 2026 with roughly 28,000 vacancies on offer, according to Colombian press coverage of the CNSC’s own announcement, the largest single teaching concurso in the country’s recent history.

Who coordinates the Concurso Docente and who applies it?

The CNSC coordinates the process: it publishes the acuerdo de convocatoria, consolidates the OPEC and manages SIMO. The Ministerio de Educacion Nacional and the ICFES support the technical design of the tests and the certification of subject areas, since the content is education-specific in a way a generic administrative concurso is not. As in other CNSC processes, a contracted universidad operadora applies the actual tests.

What are the four stages in detail?

First, the prueba de aptitudes y competencias basicas, a written eliminatory test built around situational items drawn from the Colombian educational context rather than pure content recall. Second, the prueba psicotecnica, which measures attitudes, interests and motivations relevant to teaching or school leadership rather than knowledge. Third, the valoracion de antecedentes, a documentary review that scores formal education above the minimum required, such as especializacion, maestria or doctorado, and teaching experience above the minimum, up to caps fixed in the acuerdo. Fourth, the entrevista, applied in group format by an evaluator panel; our detailed look at the Concurso Docente interview covers how it is scored and what to expect. Every one of these stages feeds into a single weighted final score.

Who can apply?

A Colombian citizen holding a titulo de licenciado in the relevant discipline, a titulo de normalista superior for primary and preescolar levels where the acuerdo permits it, or a professional degree with pedagogical training as fixed by the Estatuto de Profesionalizacion Docente. Directivo docente roles, rector and coordinador, carry an additional minimum-experience requirement in teaching or educational leadership. Every requirement is specific to the empleo listed in the OPEC, which is why choosing the right OPEC number before registering in SIMO matters more here than in most other concursos; see our explainer on what the OPEC is.

What happens after the tests?

The weighted score across all stages orders aspirants into the lista de elegibles for each specific empleo, and that list has a vigencia of two years. The entidad territorial certificada en educacion that owns the vacancy is legally required to nombrar from that list before it can continue filling the job with a provisional teacher. Our post on what a lista de elegibles actually is covers how that ranking translates into an actual appointment.

Does the 2026 process include anything new?

Yes, a reserva legal of 7 percent of the vacancies for aspirants with disability, applied for the first time in this process in compliance with Ley 2418 of 2024. Our post on the disability reserve in CNSC concursos explains how that reserve is structured and who qualifies for it.

FAQ

Is the Concurso Docente the same process as CNSC Territorial 12? No. Both are concursos de merito coordinated by the CNSC, but Territorial 12 fills general administrative jobs under Ley 909 of 2004, while the Concurso Docente fills teaching and school-leadership jobs under the separate Estatuto de Profesionalizacion Docente, and adds the psicotecnica and entrevista stages that Territorial 12 does not have.

When do inscriptions open for the 2026 Concurso Docente? CNSC scheduling reported by Colombian press projected the inscription window between November and December 2026, with the actual test application projected for 2027 across more than fifty cities. Check the current acuerdo on the CNSC portal before relying on any date, since projected windows can move.

Can a current provisional teacher apply? Yes, provisional teachers can apply on the same terms as any other aspirant who meets the requisitos of the empleo they choose, through the modalidad that applies to that vacancy.

Does the psicotecnica have a passing or failing score? It is used to evaluate attitudes, interests and motivations relevant to the role rather than to produce a simple pass or fail cutoff the way the aptitudes test does; specifics are fixed by the acuerdo de convocatoria for the process.

Where do I check my results once the tests are applied? Through SIMO and, once the lista de elegibles is published, through the Banco Nacional de Listas de Elegibles. Our guide to checking CNSC results walks through both.