Teachers trained in Nigeria, Ghana excluded from UK’s Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) eligibility list

Wednesday, September 23, 2026 - Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana are no longer eligible to apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), a legal requirement for teaching in many schools in England. 

The exemption took effect on September 9, according to the UK Department for Education, which said teaching qualifications and professional experience were assessed against strict requirements before QTS could be granted. 

The department said eligible countries must have a national regulator capable of confirming a teacher’s professional standing and providing authenticated references. It said Nigeria and Ghana failed to meet the second requirement. 

The department said more than 70 per cent of applications from teachers in Nigeria and Ghana contained work history references from public email addresses such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than official school domains. It said this created additional work and resources for assessors trying to verify the information. 

India was also removed from the list because it lacked a national regulator capable of confirming teachers’ professional standing. 

South Africa is now the only African country on the list of countries eligible for the QTS application route. 

The department said applicants must provide a valid passport, a degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree, recognition as a professional teacher in the country where they trained and evidence of completing mandatory induction requirements for full teacher registration.

Applicants must also show at least nine months of teaching experience gained after becoming qualified, provide qualifications demonstrating they can teach children aged five to 16, and submit work references with email addresses linked to their schools’ official domains.

The department said teachers who are no longer eligible to use the QTS application service in England can explore alternative routes. It added that while QTS is preferred by most schools, individual schools may consider other qualification routes because teachers in England are employed directly by schools rather than the education department.