The United Kingdom through its Department for Education is offering citizens of Nigeria and other nationals teaching opportunities in priority subjects in the 2023/24 UK Teacher Recuitment exercise. The programme is part of the UK education department’s move to deveop and support a fairer approach to awarding qualified teacher status (QTS) to teachers in Nigeria and other countries.
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. The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) are responsible for awarding QTS. They also award QTS to qualified teachers outside England.
The commencement of the 2023/24 UK teacher recruitment will be highly prioritized such that applicants from Nigeria and other countries with subject specialization in languages mathematics and science with teaching qualification to teach 11 to 16-year old will have the opportunity to check their eligibility standing for the qualified teacher status (QTS) for them to apply for the programme.
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UK Teacher Recruitment 2023/24 | Eligibility Criteria
The Government of United Kingdom through its education agency has highlighted that awarding overseas teacher QTS will be based on the assessment of individual’s experience and qualifications against a set of requirements.
Starting from February 1st, 2023, the award of qualified teacher status to a non-UK teacher requires that the applicant meets the following criteria:
- Possession of an undergraduate degree of the same academic standard as a UK bachelor’s degree, as verified by UK ENIC.
- Must have completed teacher’s training that meets the standard of a level 6 qualification and is of at least the same length as an English initial teacher training course – for instance, a Bachelor of education or a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
- Have completed a course with content that is practically and pedagogically focused.
- Be qualified to teach children aged between 5 and 16 years of age.
- Have at least one school year (a minimum of 9 months including holidays but excluding time out taken for any other reason) of professional experience working as a teacher after qualifying.
- Have the professional status needed to be a teacher in the country where you qualified, and not be subject to any conditions or restrictions on your practice.
- Meet a certain standard of English language proficiency (e.g. CEFR B2 level of English proficiency, IELTS SELT Consortium – 5.5, LanguageCert – 33/50, Pearson – 59, Trinity College London – Pass, PSI Services (UK) Ltd – Pass)
Other special requirements for Nigerian teachers include:
- A qualification in teaching that meets the standard of a level 6 qualification qualifying the candidate to teach children aged 11 to 16 in mathematics, languages or science.
- A bachelor’s degree made up of at least 50% mathematics, science or a language (excluding English) taught in English state schools, for example: French, german, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Mathematics and science qualifications).
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Routes to QT
There are 4 routes to qualified teacher status for teachers and trainees outside the UK:
- apply for QTS using our new online service
- apply for assessment only QTS
- apply for teacher training in England
- apply to train for international qualified teacher status (iQTS)
Your eligibility for each route will depend on:
- where you qualified
- your subject specialism
- whether you already have teaching experience
- your personal circumstances
Applicants with subject specialism in languages, mathematics or science and a teaching qualification to teach 11 to 16 year olds from one of the following 7 countries, you will be able to use the service to check if you meet the requirements and apply for QTS in England:
- Ghana
- India
- Jamaica
- Nigeria
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Zimbabwe
When you apply for QTS in England you do not need to: pay a fee to a training provider, undergo any further training, visit the UK. Over time this route will be open to qualified teachers from every country outside the UK.
Interested applicants can then proceed to Apply for the QTS in England.