The GTC maintains a Register of qualified teachers. All qualified teachers who carry out ‘specified work’ in maintained schools, non-maintained Special schools and pupil referral units must be registered.

The requirement to register follows from the 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act.

Currently there are about 530 000 teachers on the Register.

Download registration forms

Students

Students on initial teacher training (ITT) courses are not, at present, required to register. However, from 1 September 2008 there will be a requirement for students on ITT courses to be provisionally registered with the GTC before commencing their course. Students will need to complete a suitability declaration enabling the Council to identify any matters which could impede registration.

The Register and the public

The Register provides assurance to the public, particularly employers, of the qualifications and status of those claiming to be qualified teachers. Registered teachers can point to their registration status as an indication of their fitness to practice as a Qualified Teacher.

The GTC’s policy work

The GTC does not allow third party access to the Register other than for employers to check the registration and qualification status of teachers. However, it uses the Register in a variety of anonymised ways for research purposes. These include:

• selecting a representative sample to gauge the views of the teaching profession for the GTC’s annual survey.
• publishing an annual Digest of Statistics that summarises the demographic profile of the profession region by region. The primary audience for this is local authorities, who find it useful for monitoring recruitment trends.

As the Register matures and becomes more detailed, we envisage that it will become a major resource for researchers, employers and universities, to model teacher employment trends.

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Registering with the GTC Find information about registering with the GTC, a requirement for all qualified teachers teaching in maintained schools, non-maintained special schools and Pupil Referral Units. Information for employers Employers who seek relevant information from the GTC Register can access it by telephone, email or our free online service. Provisional registration with the GTC The GTC is currently working with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the TDA and key partners and stakeholders to develop a system of provisional registration. Obtaining Qualified Teacher Status This section explains how teachers from outside England and Wales, and those from the independent and further education sectors, can obtain Qualified Teacher Status.