Registration/ Certification/ Accreditation?

Registration/ Certification/ Accreditation?

One of the most important steps in getting ready to teach in England is sorting out where you stand with respect to your teaching qualifications. Making sure you have the correct documentation and status for England can be the difference between you or someone else getting an interview and will certainly be a deciding factor in whether a school proceeds with an offer for you so the earlier you can get things confirmed, the better.

Let’s start with the basics. QTS. Qualified Teacher Status. This is the full registration/ certification that a teacher in England aspires to achieve following their initial study and training. It is the status you achieve when the Teaching Regulation Authority is satisfied that you are a competent teacher and it allows you to move up the pay scales as a qualified teacher. If you studied in the UK then you would go through an assessment process with your mentor teacher/s, at the completion of which you would be issued with a QTS certificate bearing your name and registration number. However, if you’re coming in from overseas, you will fall into one of several categories, each of which requires a slightly different process:

Full registration/certification in NZ, Australia, Canada or the USA plus a teaching qualification from a university in one of those countries:

This is the easiest route – if the above applies to you then the Teaching Regulation Authority is going to automatically grant you QTS! All you need to do is visit the link below and upload evidence of your teaching qualification along with evidence of your teaching registration/certification: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/qualified-teacher-status-qts#teachers-qualified-in-australia-canada-new-zealand-and-the-usa

Provisional or no registration in NZ, Australia, Canada or the USA plus a teaching qualification from a university in one of those countries:

The next best to the first category. The Teaching Regulation Authority will automatically recognise your qualifications and allow you to teach in England for up to 4 years without QTS. If you’re on a Youth Mobility Visa, you can’t stay longer than 2 years anyway, so you don’t need to do anything. If you’re on a different visa and plan to be in England for 4 years or longer, you need to go through the ‘Assessment Only’ route with your school. This is something a school will look to do once you’ve settled in and adjusted to life and work over there – it is an investment for them, so they want to make sure you are going to be with them for a little while.

Teaching qualification and full registration from South Africa:

This is a very recent change – if the above applied to you, you used to have to apply for a NARIC (see below) to confirm the strength of your qualification but the Teaching Regulation Authority has decided that they are now happy with South African qualifications and registration, so you are now exempt. At this stage you won’t be able to apply for QTS automatically so assume you will need to go through the ‘Assessment Only‘ route if your plan is to stay in England long-term – but keep checking with your Point to Point Education Consultant for any changes in the future.

Teaching qualifications and registration/certification from any other countries:

You need to apply for a NARIC Statement of Comparability. This is an assessment that is done on your qualifications, so you’ll need to get hold of a full transcript for your university qualifications. You can upload as many qualifications as you want (as long as they are all yours) into one application. Once assessed, you’ll receive a full statement comparing your qualifications to similar qualifications in the UK. This is done to confirm the robustness of the courses provided within the degree/qualification and ensure that if you had completed the same courses at a UK university, you would have a similar level of knowledge/skill upon graduation. Get started: https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/Individuals/Compare%20Qualifications/Statement%20of%20Comparability.aspx

If for any reason you think you fall outside any of those categories above, or you just want to clarify your own circumstances, please talk to one of our Consultants and we will be happy to help you get moving towards your teaching adventure in the UK.