UK Stops Teachers Trained in Nigeria, Ghana From Applying for QTS

Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana can no longer apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England, following changes introduced by the United Kingdom’s Department for Education.

The new rule took effect on September 9 and means teachers trained in the two West African countries are no longer eligible to use the UK’s direct QTS application route.

QTS is a professional status required to teach in many schools in England, although individual schools may consider alternative qualification routes when recruiting teachers.

According to the UK Department for Education, overseas teaching qualifications and professional experience are assessed against strict criteria to ensure that only teachers who meet the required standards are awarded QTS.

One of the requirements is that the country where a teacher trained must have a national regulator capable of confirming the applicant’s professional standing and providing authenticated references.

The department said Nigeria and Ghana failed to meet the reference verification 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.

The UK government said it must be able to establish that information submitted by overseas teachers is genuine before granting them QTS.

“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 added.

India has also been removed from the list of countries whose teachers can apply through the route, with the UK Department for Education citing the absence of a national regulator capable of confirming professional standing.

South Africa is currently the only African country remaining on the list of eligible countries under the route.

The department said about 90 per cent of applications are assessed within 12 months.

### Requirements for QTS

Teachers seeking QTS through the overseas application route must meet several requirements.

Applicants must have a valid passport, an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree and recognition as a professional teacher in the country where they completed their teacher training.

They must also have completed all mandatory induction requirements needed to obtain full teacher registration in the country where they qualified.

Applicants are required to provide evidence showing that they are qualified to teach children between the ages of five and 16.

They must also have at least one school year, or nine months, of teaching experience in any country after becoming qualified to teach.

Work-history references must be capable of verifying the applicant’s employment and must come from an email address using the school’s official domain.

Depending on the country where the teacher trained, additional requirements may apply, including evidence of qualifications to teach pupils aged between 11 and 16 and a teaching specialism in subjects such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish.

Despite the changes, the UK Department for Education noted that teachers in England are employed directly by individual schools rather than by the department.

As a result, some schools may consider teachers through alternative qualification routes, even though QTS remains a status preferred by many schools.

The department advised teachers who are no longer eligible for the direct QTS application service to explore other available routes into teaching in England.