Who must be registered?

published:

Full registration: qualified teachers
Teacher who hold qualified teacher status (QTS) and teach in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit must be fully registered with the GTC.

By 'teach' we mean:

• planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils
• delivering lessons to pupils
• assessing or reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.

The requirement to register applies to full-time, part-time and supply teachers.

Provisional registration: trainees
All trainee teachers starting an initial teacher training programme (ITT) must provisionally register with the GTC within 28 days of starting their course.

Provisional registration: overseas trained teachers (OTT)
From 1 September 2009 all OTTs who teach in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit must be provisional registered with the GTC.

Definition of an Overseas Trained Teacher
An OTT is someone who has successfully completed a programme of professional training for teachers in any country outside the UK and who has not been awarded QTS in England. Under regulations, these teachers can be employed as an unqualified teacher for a period of up to four years.

Provisional registration - instructors
From 1 September 2009 all instructors who teach in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit must be provisional registered with the GTC.

Definition of an instructor (unqualified teachers)
An instructor is an unqualified teacher who is appointed to carry out ‘specified work’ in a school. Specified work is defined as:

• Planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils
• Delivering lessons to pupils
• Assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils
• reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.

Instructors are used where no suitable qualified teacher is available for appointment to the post. Higher Level Teaching Assistants, Teaching Assistants and Cover Supervisors are not instructors.

Employer checks
From 1 September 2009 employers should ensure that their OTTs and instructors are provisionally registered with the GTC.

The GTC has a free secure online service for local authorities andschools to enable them to check the registration status of qualifiedteachers. From October 2009, this service will also show theregistration status of OTTs and Instructors.

If you don’t already have access to this free service, please contact the Employer Access Team on:

• phone: 0121 345 0150