UK Removes Nigeria, Ghana from Teacher Qualification Route
The United Kingdom has removed Nigeria and Ghana from the countries whose teachers can use the direct route to apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England.
The change was made by the UK Department for Education (DfE) and will be effective from 9th September 2026, after an update to its eligibility guidance for overseas-trained teachers.
Many schools in England require teachers to hold the professional teaching status of QTS. The new regulations mean that teachers who were trained in Nigeria and Ghana will no longer be able to use the “Apply for QTS in England” service.
The decision was based on data from applications made in the 2024-2025 academic year, DfE said. Nigeria had 1,076 applications, of which 364 were accepted for QTS and 599 were rejected. In Ghana, 1,067 applications were made, with 196 being accepted and 749 rejected for QTS.
Eligibility criteria were revised to ensure that the countries participating in the programme have national regulators that can confirm the professional standing of teachers and give acceptable references.
In Nigeria and Ghana, over 70 per cent of applications contained work-history references from public email addresses (Gmail or Hotmail) rather than official school email addresses, DfE said. This added to the verification work of assessors, it said.
Those teachers who are impacted by the change can consider other pathways to teaching in England. The general requirements for applicants who use the QTS service are that they have an equivalent UK bachelor’s degree, professional teacher recognition, required induction and at least nine months of post-qualification teaching experience.
Nigeria and Ghana have been dropped, leaving South Africa as the only African nation on the general eligibility list.
