What is the overseas trained teacher programme?
Anyone wishing to work as a qualified teacher in England must have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). You have only four years from the first day of teaching in the United Kingdom, irrespective of any gaps in your employment, in order to gain QTS. The Overseas Trained Teacher Programme (OTTP) offers you a way to achieve QTS while working as a teacher.
Once you have found a teaching position in a school you can follow an individual training and assessment programme leading to QTS.
Can I go on the programme?
To go on the programme, you must be:
- Qualified as a teacher overseas
- Working as a teacher in a school and be
- Accepted by an accredited provider
What qualifications do I need?
If you qualified outside of the EEA you will need:
- An overseas teaching qualification
- A qualification equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree (for secondary phase, your degree content must be at least 50% in the subject you wish to teach).
- A qualification equivalent to general certificate of secondary education (GCSE) grade C or above in English and Maths
and
- A qualification equivalent to GCSE grade C or above in science if you are applying for primary teaching.
If you qualified as a teacher in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, one of the other countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you may be eligible for QTS without further assessment. In this case, you will need to contact the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) to get your qualifications assessed. The UK National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) can give advice on the equivalence of overseas qualifications (contact www.naric.org.ukor phone 0870 990 4088).
If you require registration documents to teach in the country you trained in, you will need to ensure that these documents are up to date. In certain cases, the lack of registration documents means that the teacher cannot legally teach in England. NARIC will also be able to advise on this.