Provisional registration

published:27 Mar 2009

Trainee teachers
Anyone commencing a course of initial teacher training (ITT) in England leading to the award of QTS to be provisionally registered with the GTC. All trainees must be provisionally registered no later than 28 days after the start of their programme.

These requirements are set out in Statutory Instrument 2008 No. 1884 Education England, The General Teaching Council for England (Eligibility for Provisional Registration) Regulations 2008.

Anyone who is due to start their teacher training will need to have their suitability confirmed before they start the course. This will allow them to be provisionally registered with the GTC no later than 28 days after the start of their programme.

Providers issue suitability declaration forms as part of the admissions process and trainees will need to return their completed forms to the provider. The GTC's guidance explains how ITT providers should implement suitability assessment and deal with any forms returned with a 'Yes' answer to any of the five questions we ask. It is anticipated, however, that only a very small number of cases will need to be referred to the GTC.

Only the GTC can decide whether a trainee is unsuitable for registration with the Council.

Information for employers
The provisional registration regulations include trainee teachers on training placements and those carrying out their programmes largely in schools, such as SCITT and EBR programmes.

Employers who have access to the GTC's online Employer Access system will be able to use this system to carry out checks on trainee teachers, with effect from early 2010.

Overseas trained teachers
If you are an overseas trained teacher (OTT) and teach in a maintained school or a non-maintained special school you must be provisionally registered with the GTC.

Definition of an OTT
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 qualified teacher status (QTS) in England. Under regulations, these teachers can be employed as an unqualified teacher for a period of up to four years.

Instructors
If you are an Instructor and teach in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit you must be provisionally registered with the GTC.

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

Definition of an instructor
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.

Applying for provisional registration: OTTs and instructors
To apply for provisional registration, you will need to complete an application to register form which you can download from this page.

There is no fee for provisional registration.

If you have any questions or would like a copy of the application form posted to you, please contact the Teacher Enquiry Service:

email: registration@gtce.org.uk
phone: 0370 001 0308

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 and schools to enable them to check the registration status of qualified teachers. From October 2009, this service will also show the registration 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