UK: Nigeria, Ghana-trained teachers removed from teaching qualification list

Teachers trained in Nigeria and Ghana are no longer eligible to apply for the United Kingdom’s Qualified Teacher Status — a legal requirement to teach in most English schools — after the UK Department of Education removed both countries from its eligible nations list effective September 9, 2026.

According to The Cable, the UK department cited a specific and damning reason for Nigeria and Ghana’s removal: more than 70 per cent of applications from teachers in both countries included work history references using personal email addresses such as Gmail or Hotmail rather than official school domain emails — making verification difficult and consuming excessive assessor time and resources.

“This means assessors spend additional time and resources trying to verify information provided in applications,” the department stated.

India was simultaneously removed from the eligible list for a different reason — the absence of a national regulator capable of confirming teachers’ professional standing.

South Africa now stands as the only African country remaining on the UK’s list of QTS-eligible nations.

To qualify for QTS, applicants must possess a valid passport, a degree equivalent to a UK bachelor’s degree, professional recognition in their country of training, full teaching registration, at least nine months of post-qualification teaching experience and references using official school domain email addresses.

The UK department stressed that individual schools may consider alternative routes to employment, though QTS remains the preferred standard across most English schools.