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Requirements to become a Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST®)

Rob Hill
  • Updated

Individuals must meet the following requirements before submitting an application to become a Certified Scrum Trainer® (CST®).

  1. A CST candidate must be an active Scrum Alliance® certificant in good standing (free of Scrum Alliance® Code of Ethics complaints or violations.)
  2. A CST candidate must hold (and have visible on their Scrum Alliance profile) an active CSP®-SM certification.  If applying via the product owner path, the CST candidate must hold an active CSP®-PO certification.
  3. A CST candidate must have delivered at least 10 qualifying training events* (please see additional information below under "Definitions")

  • The 10 qualifying training events must total at least 100 students.

  • At least 5 of the qualifying training events must be delivered with the most recent version (including no substantial changes, see section VII, below) of the candidate’s CSM® or CSPO® materials.

  • All of the qualifying training events must have occurred within the last 60 months.

  • For co-training to count as a qualifying training event, the candidate must have delivered at least 50% of the duration of the certified course. 

  • For each qualifying training event, the candidate must be able to describe how they are inspecting and adapting based on student and/or co-trainer feedback.

  1. A CST candidate must document the following minimum recent experience:
  • A minimum of 60 months, within the last 84 months, either:
    • Actively working on a scrum team
    • Actively working as an agile coach
    • Actively leading an agile transformation
  • This experience, above, must have been gained in at least three different areas, for example:
    • Different companies or organizations
    • Different business units
    • Different product lines
    • Different contexts
  1. A CST candidate must clearly explain at least one compelling personal reason to want to deliver Certified ScrumMaster® or Certified Scrum Product Owner® courses, including their key personal motivation and also what they feel will be their unique contribution to the Scrum Alliance Guides community.
  1. A CST candidate must demonstrate and explain their personal approach to train scrum masters or product owners.
  1. A CST candidate must create their own CSM or CSPO training materials, which validate the most recent version of the Scrum Alliance Scrum Foundations and CSM or CSPO learning objectives*.  A CST candidate must maintain their training materials up to date. (Updates may be substantial, i.e., embracing a new delivery style, or non-substantial, i.e., tweaking wording or an activity prompt).
  1. A CST candidate must provide at least five (5) letters of recommendation that validate their expertise in training and their breadth and depth of scrum knowledge.  If a CST candidate has co-trained with an active CST, they must provide feedback from each of their CST co-trainers. If feedback is not submitted for any co-training event, an explanation of why it is not provided must be presented.
  1. A CST candidate must demonstrate and describe how their materials and delivery methods have evolved through their experience of delivering the training, both through the use of student feedback and from self-reflection.
  1. A CST candidate must have participated in at least one Scrum Alliance event (Global Scrum Gathering®, Regional Scrum Gathering®, Scrum Alliance-hosted workgroup, or Agile Coaching Retreat) within the last 24 months.  **please note that during the Covid-19 live online pivot (beginning 15 March 20), the Scrum Alliance event(s) may be attended in the live online (virtual) environment.
  2. A CST candidate must have been an active and engaged member of the national and international agile/scrum community (see examples listed in Standard 3A of the CST certification standards) for at least 24 months prior to application.


Definitions:

  • CST: an active Certified Scrum Trainer, meeting and maintaining all certification requirements designated by Scrum Alliance.
  • CST Candidate: a CSP® on the CST journey, aspiring to become an active Certified Scrum Trainer (CST). 
  • Co-training:  a CST candidate who co-delivers some or all of a training event with an active CST.  To be considered a co-training, feedback from the CST on scrum knowledge and training techniques must be shared with the CST candidate.
  • Learning Objectives (LOs):  statements that define the expected goal of a curriculum, course, lesson, or activity in terms of demonstrable skills or knowledge that will be acquired by a student as a result of instruction. The learning objectives for a CSM course are validated by a CST, who measures the student’s depth of understanding and what the student will be able to do after successful completion of the course.
  • Qualifying Training Event: a scrum master (or, if applying via the product owner path, a product owner) training course, either certified or non-certified, which must include:
    • The course must take place on consecutive days.
    • If in-person, there must be a minimum of 16 hours of contact time (including reasonable breaks and lunch) with the students.  If live virtual, there must be a minimum of 14 hours of contact time with the students.
    • At least 8 students must attend the course.
    • At the time of delivery, the course must fully integrate and cover the most recently published version of the Scrum Alliance Scrum Foundations and CSM or CSPO learning objectives.
    • The course must provide clarity to the students on what is a part of Scrum and what is not part of Scrum, as aligned with the most recently updated version of the Scrum Guide.

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