UK Closes England’s QTS Route to Nigerian, Ghanaian Teachers Over Verification Concerns

Nigerian and Ghanaian-trained teachers seeking to build careers in England have been shut out of a major qualification route after the United Kingdom removed both countries from its list of nations eligible for the overseas-trained teacher application pathway.

The change, which took effect on September 9, means teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana can no longer apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the route, a recognised teaching qualification used by many schools across England.

The UK Department for Education said the decision followed a review of the systems used by eligible countries to verify the qualifications, professional records and teaching experience of applicants.

At the heart of the decision is the process for confirming employment references. The department said countries participating in the scheme must have systems capable of providing reliable verification of an applicant’s professional standing and work history.

According to the department, Nigeria and Ghana fell short of the required standard for reference verification.

The UK government said its assessment found that more than 70 per cent of QTS applications from teachers trained in the two countries contained employment references linked to public email services such as Gmail and Hotmail instead of official school email addresses.

The department said this created difficulties for assessors attempting to establish whether the information supplied by applicants was genuine.

“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,” the department said.

It added that the verification problem required assessors to spend additional time and resources checking information submitted by applicants.

India has also been removed from the QTS route, although for a different reason. The UK Department for Education said the country does not have a national regulator capable of confirming the professional standing of teachers trained there.

The latest changes leave South Africa as the only African country currently remaining on the list of countries whose teachers can apply through the overseas-trained teacher QTS route.

The development is significant for Nigerian teachers who have traditionally looked to the UK as one of the international destinations for professional opportunities in education.

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However, removal from the QTS application route does not necessarily mean that overseas-trained teachers are completely barred from teaching in England.

The UK Department for Education stressed that teachers are employed directly by individual schools rather than by the department, meaning schools can consider other pathways for recruiting and training teachers who do not qualify through the overseas QTS application service.

For those still eligible under the scheme, the requirements remain substantial.

Applicants must hold a valid passport, possess an undergraduate qualification considered equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree and have formal recognition as a teacher in the country where they received their training.

They must also have completed any compulsory induction requirements necessary to obtain full teacher registration in their country of qualification.

In addition, applicants must demonstrate that they are qualified to teach pupils between five and 16 years old and have accumulated at least nine months of teaching experience after becoming qualified.

Employment references must verify an applicant's work history and, under the requirements, should come from an official school email domain rather than a publicly available email service.

Some applicants may face additional requirements depending on their country of training. These can include evidence of qualifications to teach pupils aged 11 to 16 and subject specialisation in areas such as mathematics, science, biology, chemistry, physics, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish.

The UK department said its verification requirements are intended to protect the integrity of the qualification and ensure that teachers awarded QTS genuinely possess the training, professional recognition and classroom experience required to teach in England.

It added that around 90 per cent of applications are assessed within 12 months.

For Nigerian and Ghanaian teachers affected by the September 9 change, the immediate route through the QTS application service is now closed, but the UK government has advised those no longer eligible to investigate alternative routes into teaching.

The decision also places greater attention on how teacher qualifications and employment records are authenticated internationally, particularly as countries compete for skilled professionals and educators seek opportunities beyond their home education systems.