Qualified teacher status (QTS): qualify to teach in England
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-18)

Find out how to obtain qualified teacher status (QTS) to teach in a maintained school or non-maintained special school in England.

Overview

Qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement to teach in many English schools and is considered desirable for teachers in the majority of schools in England.

Get into Teaching (https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/ways-to-train) explains teacher training routes to QTS for UK citizens.

Schools where QTS is a legal requirement

Schools where QTS is a legal requirement are referred to as maintained schools. Maintained schools are part of the state-funded school system in England – funding and oversight are generally provided by the local authority.

They include:
- community schools or voluntary controlled schools (where the local authority employs the school’s staff and is responsible for admissions)
- foundation and voluntary-aided schools (where the school’s governing body employs the staff and is responsible for admissions)
You must also have QTS to teach in a non-maintained special school (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-maintained-special-schools-regulations-2015).

Schools where QTS is not a legal requirement

In some schools in England, QTS is not a legal requirement. For example:
- within the English state school sector, academy schools (https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/academies) and free schools (https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school/free-schools) can employ teachers without QTS
- outside the English state school sector, private schools or independent schools can employ teachers without QTS
Even where QTS is not a legal requirement, many schools use it to assess the quality of candidates for teaching jobs.

Teachers who trained in England

When you finish your training, your initial teacher training provider will tell us about your results. This applies to all teacher English training routes and to those awarded QTS following the assessment only route (https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/teacher-training-routes/specialist-training-options/assessment-only).

If you’re successful, we will record your QTS on your teacher record. Your QTS certificate will be available online from the Access your teaching qualifications (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/access-your-teaching-qualifications) service.

Teachers who trained in Wales

If you completed your initial teacher training in Wales, you’ll be awarded QTS by the Education Workforce Council (EWC) (https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/). This is recognised in England and the information is held on teacher records.

Teachers trained in Northern Ireland and Scotland

If you trained in either Northern Ireland or Scotland, you must apply for QTS if you intend to take up a teaching post in a maintained school or non-maintained special school in England.

You can apply for QTS (https://apply-for-qts-in-england.education.gov.uk/eligibility/start).

Teachers who trained outside the UK

If you are a qualified teacher from a country outside the UK or have gained teaching experience outside the UK, read the guidance on routes to QTS for teachers who qualified outside the UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-qualified-teacher-status-qts-if-you-teach-outside-the-uk/routes-to-qualified-teacher-status-qts-for-teachers-and-those-with-teaching-experience-outside-the-uk#apply-for-qualified-teacher-status-qts).

Recognition of QTS for teachers who want to teach overseas

To find out if the country where you plan to work recognises QTS, and whether they require any further teaching qualifications, check with the organisation that regulates teachers in that country.

UK ENIC (https://www.enic.org.uk/) is the UK’s national information centre for professional qualifications and can give you contact details for the appropriate organisation in your chosen country.

Qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS)

If you are an experienced post-14 teacher and have QTLS status and membership of the Society for Education and Training (https://set.et-foundation.co.uk/), you may be eligible to work as a qualified teacher in schools in England.

You can find out how to obtain QTLS (https://set.et-foundation.co.uk/professionalism/qtls/equivalence-of-qtls-and-qts/) and how to teach in a maintained school with QTLS (https://set.et-foundation.co.uk/professionalism/qtls/guidance-for-headteachers-and-initial-teacher-educators/guidance-for-headteachers/).

Independent sector teachers

If you’re from the independent sector, you need QTS to teach in the maintained and non-maintained special school sectors.

There are a number of routes that assess previous teaching experience.

Learn more about teaching and training to teach in a private or independent school in England (http://www.iscteachertraining.co.uk/for-trainees/faqs/).

Contact

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