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New UK QTS rules for teachers trained overseas
What the New Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) Rules Mean for Teachers Trained Overseas. If you trained as a teacher in Nigeria, Ghana or India and plan to teach in England, a major part of the process has changed.
According to the Department for Education (DOE), from 9 September 2026, teachers who trained in those three countries can no longer use the Department for Education’s Apply for QTS in England service.
That does not mean teachers from these countries are banned from teaching in England.
It means the direct route that some overseas trained teachers used to obtain Qualified Teacher Status, or QTS, is no longer available to them.
The difference is important. If you have already spent years training and teaching, the last thing you need is to see a headline about the change and assume your career plans are over.
What matters now is understanding which part of the process has changed and which options may still be available to you.
What has actually changed?
The Department for Education has changed the eligibility rules for its Apply for QTS in England service.
From 9 September 2026, teachers trained in Ghana, India and Nigeria are no longer eligible to use that service.
The department says a country must have a national regulator that can verify a teacher’s professional standing and provide references that meet the department’s requirements.
The government’s explanation is not the same for all three countries.
For India, the Department for Education says there is no national regulator that can confirm professional standing.
For Ghana and Nigeria, the department says its data showed that more than 70% of applications included work history references using public email services such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than an official school email address. It says these raised concerns about verifying the information provided.
That is the government’s explanation for changing the eligibility rules. It should not be turned into a broader claim that teachers from these countries are unqualified or that their teaching experience is not genuine.
The change is about eligibility for this particular QTS service. Does this mean you cannot teach in England? No.
This is where the situation is often misunderstood.
QTS, employment and immigration permission are separate matters.
The Department for Education says teachers in England are employed by individual schools, not by the Department for Education.
It also makes clear that QTS does not provide someone with a teaching job or a visa. Those have to be dealt with separately.
Consider a teacher who qualified in Nigeria and has taught for several years.
That teacher cannot now make a new application through the direct Apply for QTS in England service using their Nigerian teaching qualification.
But that does not automatically mean the teacher cannot work in an English school.
The teacher needs to consider whether another route to QTS is available and, separately, whether they have the immigration permission needed to work in the UK.
Those are two different questions.
What if you trained in Nigeria, Ghana or India?
Your next step depends on your circumstances.
The Department for Education currently identifies four routes to QTS for teachers and people with teaching experience outside the UK:
- Apply for QTS in England
- Assessment-only QTS
- Teacher training in England
- International Qualified Teacher Status, or iQTS
Your eligibility depends on factors including where you qualified, your subject and your teaching experience.
The first route is the one that has closed for teachers trained in Ghana, India and Nigeria.
The other routes have not simply disappeared because of this change.
That means you should not immediately assume that you need to start your teaching career again from the beginning.
Assessment-only QTS may be relevant if you are experienced
Assessment-only QTS is designed for experienced teachers who can already demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards.
It is not another teacher training course. Instead, an approved teacher training provider assesses your existing teaching practice and evidence.
Current guidance says you normally need at least two years of teaching experience, a degree, and the required English and mathematics qualifications.
Primary teachers also need the required science qualification. Your experience must include teaching in at least two separate schools.
This matters because an experienced overseas teacher may have a route that does not involve starting teacher training from scratch.
You do not necessarily have to move to England to complete assessment only QTS.
Approved providers can assess eligible teachers outside the UK, although they need to assess you at your place of work, and you should check that the provider accepts international applications and can carry out the
assessment where you are.
There is also a cost. Current government guidance says assessment-only fees are generally around £1,500 to £4,000, although fees can be higher for teachers outside the UK.
Providers set their own charges, so check the current fee before applying.
What if you are already working in England?
This can make a significant difference.
Qualified teachers from outside the UK can, subject to the relevant conditions, teach in England for up to four years without QTS. This is commonly called the four-year rule.
For the exemption to apply, you need to have qualified as a teacher outside the UK and completed teacher training recognised by the organisation that regulates teachers in the country where you qualified.
There are exceptions to the exemption, including certain pupil referral and alternative provision settings. This creates a serious situation for an overseas-trained teacher.
You may be able to obtain a teaching job in England first and then work towards QTS while you are employed.
Assessment-only QTS can be particularly relevant to teachers in this position. The Department for Education says teachers working under the four-year rule can apply for assessment-only QTS alongside their teaching if they meet the requirements.
There is a practical complication, though.
Being legally able to work without QTS does not mean every school will employ you.
QTS is not a legal requirement in every type of school, but many schools use it when assessing teaching applicants, and it is a legal requirement in maintained schools.
So there is a difference between being allowed to teach without QTS for a period and being competitive for the jobs you want.
What if you are still outside the UK?
If you are in Nigeria, Ghana or India and have not yet moved to England, do not assume that getting another qualification is automatically the answer.
First establish which route fits your existing qualifications and experience.
For an experienced teacher, assessment-only QTS may be worth investigating. An overseas teacher who needs further training can also look at iQTS.
iQTS is a UK government-backed qualification delivered by English teacher training providers in partnership with schools around the world.
You can complete the training where you live and work, without having to visit the UK. Successful completion leads to English QTS.
It is therefore quite different from simply taking an international education qualification because it sounds similar to a UK teaching qualification.
That distinction matters.
Be careful with PGCEi and similar courses
One of the easiest mistakes for an overseas teacher to make is assuming that any qualification containing the words “international” or “PGCE” will give them QTS.
It will not.
The Department for Education says that PGCEi, PGCE completed outside the UK, and PGDE completed outside the UK do not themselves lead to QTS.
Depending on your qualifications and experience, you may later be able to use such qualifications as part of an assessment only QTS application or apply for teacher training in England.
This is why checking the outcome of a course matters more than its title.
Before paying thousands of pounds for an international teaching qualification, ask the provider a very specific question:
“Will successful completion give me English QTS?”
If the answer is no, ask what route you would still need to take afterwards.
Get the answer in writing before paying.
What if you already have QTS?
The September announcement is about access to the Apply for QTS in England service.
It does not say that someone who already holds QTS has suddenly lost it because they trained in Nigeria, Ghana or India.
That means an experienced teacher should first establish whether they already have QTS before considering any new application.
If you have an existing QTS award, do not start another qualification simply because you have seen reports about the September change.
Check your official teacher record and your previous QTS documentation.
Your position is different from that of someone who has never obtained QTS.
QTS does not give you a UK visa
This is another distinction worth making before you spend money or make plans.
QTS deals with your professional qualification to teach in England. It does not automatically give you permission to live or work in the UK.
The Department for Education says you need to apply for teaching jobs and visas separately. A small number of schools can sponsor visas.
The government’s teaching guidance also provides information about finding vacancies and visa sponsorship.
This means an overseas teacher can face two separate hurdles.
You may have the qualifications needed to teach, but still need immigration permission.
You may have permission to work but still need to meet a school’s requirements for the teaching post.
Do not treat a QTS application as though it deals with both.
Your teaching experience still matters
The closure of the direct QTS route does not make your previous teaching experience worthless.
It may be particularly relevant if you are considering assessment-only QTS.
However, you should be prepared to show what you actually did as a teacher.
For assessment only QTS, the current guidance says experience must involve teaching rather than simply other responsibilities within a school.
It also needs to cover two separate schools and demonstrate experience with pupils from different backgrounds and different approaches to teaching, learning and school management.
That means a job title alone may not tell the whole story.
A teacher who has worked for five years but cannot produce clear evidence of the teaching they carried out may have a more difficult assessment than someone with fewer years but well documented experience.
Keep your qualification certificates, employment records and evidence of teaching experience together.
If references are required, make sure former employers can be contacted and that the information they provide accurately reflects your employment.
There is another requirement people often overlook
Getting QTS is not necessarily the end of the process.
The Department for Education says overseas teachers seeking teaching work in England will also need to meet requirements such as safeguarding checks, demonstrate substantial teaching experience and have a high standard of written and spoken English.
Some teachers who gain QTS through particular routes may also need to complete the Early Career Teacher induction period.
This is another reason not to view QTS as the whole process.
A teacher planning to move to England needs to consider the qualification, the job, immigration permission and the school’s recruitment requirements as separate parts of the plan.
What should you do now?
If you trained in Nigeria, Ghana or India, work through these questions in order.
First, do you already have QTS? If you do, establish your existing status before applying for anything else.
Second, are you already working in England? If you are, ask your school which rules apply to your current role and whether you could work towards QTS through assessment only.
Third, how much relevant teaching experience do you have? If you have at least two years of experience and have taught in two schools, an assessment-only QTS may be worth investigating.
An approved provider must confirm that you meet its requirements.
Fourth, are you still outside the UK? Look at assessment-only QTS and iQTS rather than assuming the closed direct route was your only option.
Fifth, do you need immigration permission to work in England? Check this separately. Do not assume that obtaining QTS gives you the right to work in the UK.
Finally, check the current government guidance before paying for anything. Rules can change, and a private course provider may describe its qualifications differently from the way the Department for Education recognises it.
What you should not assume
Three assumptions could cause unnecessary problems. “I trained in Nigeria, so I cannot teach in England.”
That is too broad. The direct QTS service is closed to teachers trained there, but other routes and employment arrangements may still be relevant.
“I just need another international teaching qualification.”
Not necessarily. Some international qualifications do not lead to QTS. Check what qualification the course actually awards and what you would still need afterwards.
“If I get QTS, I can automatically move to England and work.”
No. QTS, employment and immigration permission are separate matters.
What the September 2026 change really means
For teachers trained in Ghana, India and Nigeria, the straightforward QTS application route they may have expected to use is now closed.
That is the part that has changed.
The next question is personal. A teacher already working in England may have different options from an experienced teacher still working overseas.
Someone with two years of teaching experience may have different options from someone who has only recently qualified.
Before making another application or paying for a new qualification, establish where you stand.
Check your teaching qualifications. Check your experience. Check whether you already have QTS. Check the alternative routes.
Then deal separately with the job and immigration requirements.
For the latest position, use the Department for Education’s guidance on routes to QTS for teachers with qualifications or experience outside the UK rather than relying on a headline or a course provider’s description.
The change has closed one door. It has not, by itself, answered every question about whether an overseas trained teacher can work towards teaching in England.
This article may be worth reading.
Useful resources
- Trivium in Practice by Martin Robinson.
- Teaching WalkThrus: Five-step guides to instructional coaching: Visual step-by-step guides to essential teaching techniques by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli.
- Responsive Teaching: Cognitive Science and Formative Assessment in Practice by Harry Fletcher-Wood.
