The United Kingdom Department for Education has excluded teachers trained in Nigeria, Ghana and India from using the route to apply for Qualified Teacher Status, QTS, in England.
The change took effect on September 9, 2026, according to updated guidance posted by the DfE.
QTS is the professional qualification required to teach in many schools in England. The department said teachers trained in the three countries will no longer be eligible to use the “Apply for QTS in England” service.
The decision followed release of data on applications for 2024-2025 academic year. The data published August 27 showed Nigeria recorded 1,076 applications, with 364 awarded QTS and 599 declined, representing 95 percent rejection. Ghana recorded 1,067 applications, with 196 awarded and 749 declined, representing 97 percent rejection.
The DfE said eligibility was updated to ensure countries covered have a national regulator capable of confirming a teacher’s professional standing and providing references that meet its requirements.
It said India was excluded because it “does not have a national regulator that can confirm professional standing.”
On Nigeria and Ghana, it said, “Our data shows that more than 70% of applications from teachers in Ghana and Nigeria include work history references that use public email addresses, such as Gmail or Hotmail, rather than a school’s official email domain.”
It said assessors spent “additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications” and it must be confident information is genuine to ensure overseas teachers awarded QTS have required skills.
To apply for QTS, overseas-trained teachers must have a valid passport, an undergraduate degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree and professional recognition as a teacher in the country where they trained. They must have completed mandatory induction requirements, be qualified to teach children aged between five and 16 and have at least nine months teaching experience after qualifying. Applicants must provide employment references using an email address linked to the school’s official domain.
Depending on country, additional requirements may include qualification to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 and specialism in subjects such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian or Spanish.
The department said teachers no longer eligible to use the service can explore other routes into teaching, as teachers in England are employed by individual schools rather than the department.
Nigeria and Ghana’s removal means South Africa is the only African country on the list. Countries and regions that remain eligible include Australia, Canada, the European Economic Area, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA. Teachers qualified in Jamaica, Singapore and South Africa can also apply under specified conditions.
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