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 UK said the withdrawal of the direct route does not mean teachers from Nigeria, Ghana and India are completely barred from teaching in England, but they will have to follow alternative routes which require training or assessment in England.
