Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana are no longer eligible to apply for the United Kingdom’s qualified teacher status (QTS), a legal requirement for teaching in many schools across England.
The change took effect on September 9.
According to the UK Department for Education, teaching qualifications and professional experience are assessed against strict criteria to ensure that only teachers who meet the required standards are awarded QTS.
To remain on the eligibility list, a country must have a national regulator capable of confirming a teacher’s professional standing and providing authenticated references.
The department said Nigeria and Ghana failed to meet the latter requirement.
“Our data shows that more than 70% of applications from teachers in Ghana and Nigeria include work history references that use public email addresses, such as Gmail or Hotmail, rather than a school’s official email domain,” the department said.
“This means assessors spend additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications.”
The department said about 90 percent of applications are assessed within 12 months.
India was also removed from the list because it does not have a national regulator capable of confirming professional standing.
South Africa is now the only African country remaining on the list of eligible countries.
“We must be confident that the information applicants provide is genuine. This helps ensure that overseas teachers awarded qualified teacher status have the skills and experience needed to teach in schools in England,” the department said.
QTS qualifications
Teachers applying for QTS must have a valid, unexpired passport, an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree, recognition as a professional teacher in the country where they completed their training, and must have completed all mandatory induction processes required for full teacher registration in that country.
Applicants must also provide qualifications demonstrating that they can teach children aged between five and 16 years, as well as at least one school year, or nine months, of teaching experience in any country. The experience must have been gained after they first became qualified to teach.
They are also required to provide references confirming their employment history, with an email address linked to the school’s official domain.
Depending on the country where they trained, teachers may additionally need qualifications showing that they can teach children aged between 11 and 16 and have a teaching specialism in one of the following subjects: maths, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish.
However, because teachers in England are employed by individual schools rather than the Department for Education, some schools may consider alternative qualification routes, although QTS remains the status preferred by most schools.
The department said teachers who are not eligible to use the apply-for-QTS-in-England service can explore alternative routes.