The United Kingdom's Department for Education has updated its guidance for the "Apply for QTS in England" service, removing Nigeria, Ghana, and India from the list of eligible countries. This change took effect on September 9, 2026. QTS is a professional teaching qualification recognized by schools across England. The decision was made following the publication of data on applications from overseas-trained teachers for the 2024-2025 academic year.
According to the data released on August 27, 1,076 applications were submitted by teachers trained in Nigeria, with 364 resulting in QTS awards and 599 declined. Ghana recorded 1,067 applications, of which 196 resulted in QTS awards while 749 were declined. The Department for Education stated that it revised the eligibility criteria to ensure countries included in the service have a national regulator capable of confirming teachers' professional standing and providing references that meet its requirements.
The Department for Education explained that India's removal was due to the country not having a national regulator that can confirm professional standing. Nigeria and Ghana were removed because more than 70 percent of applications included work-history references using public email addresses such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than official school email domains. This resulted in assessors spending additional time and resources trying to verify information supplied in applications.
The requirements were designed to ensure that information provided by overseas applicants could be verified and that teachers awarded QTS possess the skills and experience required to teach in English schools. Before the latest change, overseas-trained teachers applying through the service were required to hold a valid passport and an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree.
They also needed professional recognition as teachers in the country where they trained, complete any mandatory induction requirements for full teacher registration there, be qualified to teach children aged five to 16 and have at least nine months of teaching experience acquired after qualifying. Applicants were also required to provide employment references verifying their work history, with the email address expected to be linked to the school's official domain.
Additional requirements could apply depending on the applicant's country of training, including qualifications to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 and specialisations in subjects such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish. The DfE noted that teachers in England are employed by individual schools rather than the department, meaning schools may consider alternative routes when recruiting overseas-trained teachers.
With Nigeria and Ghana removed, South Africa is now the only African country listed among those eligible for the QTS service. Other countries and regions still eligible include Australia, Canada, the European Economic Area, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States. Teachers who are no longer eligible for the QTS application service can explore other routes into teaching in England.
Key points
- The UK Department for Education removed Nigeria, Ghana, and India from the list of countries eligible for the direct QTS application service due to issues with verifying applicants' professional standing and work history.
- The change aims to ensure that teachers awarded QTS possess the required skills and experience to teach in English schools.
- Other routes into teaching in England remain available for teachers from Nigeria, Ghana, and India.
