Having qualified teacher status (QTS) is a legal requirement to teach in a maintained school, but not an academy.
The government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently being considered by Parliament, is aimed at changing that: it includes a measure to extend the QTS requirement to all state schools.
If the bill is passed in its current form, from September 2026 all teachers in academies will be required to have QTS or be working towards it.
The Department for Education says its intention is to “ensure that children benefit from well-trained and professionally qualified teachers; and new teachers in state schools in England are prepared for a successful teaching career”.
But how many teachers don’t have QTS at the moment, and what kinds of settings do they work in?
QTS in state schools
The most recent government school workforce census shows that as of 2024, there are 468,693 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers working in state-funded schools in England. Of those, 14,485 - or 3.1 per cent - do not have QTS.
The overall number of teachers without QTS fell from 14,014 FTE in 2011, when this data was first collected, to as low as 12,539 in 2022. But since then the proportion of teachers without QTS has increased again, as shown below.
As of 2024, 2.0 per cent of teachers in state-funded nursery and primary schools don’t have QTS, while the figure is 3.3 per cent for state secondaries.
Maintained school teachers
Interestingly, the difference between the proportion of teachers without QTS in maintained schools and academies isn’t as big as you might think, because although there are currently more restrictions on recruiting unqualified staff into maintained schools - and what they can do in role - it isn’t impossible.
Unqualified teachers make up 1.6 per cent of teachers in maintained primaries and 2.5 per cent in primary academies. At secondary, they make up 2.7 per cent of teachers in maintained schools and 3.4 per cent in academies.
The big discrepancy is the gap between the mainstream and specialist sectors: teachers without QTS are far more likely to work in specialist settings.
Recruitment to special schools
As of 2024, 9.2 per cent of teachers in state-funded special schools and pupil referral units don’t have QTS. That is the highest proportion since this data was first collected, up from 6.4 per cent in 2011. You can see how this proportion has changed over time in the graph below.
Analysis by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) shows even higher percentages in certain kinds of specialist settings. For example, 14 per cent of teachers working in schools specifically for children with social, emotional and mental health needs don’t have QTS.
The NFER also found regional disparities within specialist provision: 16 per cent of teachers working in special schools in the East of England don’t have QTS - the highest proportion of any region. London is second highest with 14 per cent, while the South East is third with 12 per cent. You can see how this plays out nationwide on the map below.
Given this situation in special schools, if the bill passes and these teachers are required to work towards QTS, it is the specialist sector that will be most affected, says Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders.
She adds that the “blunt requirement” for QTS “risks exacerbating the recruitment and retention crisis” in the sector. “It is already very challenging to recruit teachers into specialist settings, which is why schools may sometimes recruit staff who hold relevant experience but do not have QTS,” she says.
“The government has to avoid doing anything to make recruitment more challenging.”
This view is echoed by Nicola Crossley, CEO at Liberty Academy Trust, which runs three special schools, who says “the recruitment and retention crisis means that for many special schools and PRUs, hiring teachers without QTS is not a choice, it’s a necessity”.
What’s more, “traditional teacher training routes do not always produce candidates equipped to deliver the kind of broad, vocational and life skills-based curriculum that our students need”, she adds, citing subjects including construction, catering and public services.
Annamarie Hassall, chief executive of the National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen), adds that “having QTS is important” and is “the gold standard to aim for”, “but we have to take that with a hefty dose of reality that across the sector, in specialist and mainstream, we have a recruitment crisis”.
Pupil premium and disadvantage
There are further ways in which this requirement for QTS would disproportionately affect some schools more than others.
As noted in the December 2024 government response to the School Teachers’ Review Body, data shows that schools with a higher proportion of disadvantaged pupils also have a higher proportion of teachers without QTS.
According to current data, 2.4 per cent of teachers in nursery and primary schools with the highest rates of pupil premium (PP) don’t have QTS, compared with 1.4 per cent in those schools with the lowest.
That difference is starker at secondary, with 4.4 per cent of teachers in schools with the highest PP rates without QTS, compared with 2.1 per cent in schools with the lowest.
What else do we know about teachers without QTS? Not much. While the DfE collects data on the age and ethnicity of teachers, as well as what subjects they teach, this data is not available as applied to the QTS figures.
As discussions about the bill continue in Parliament, there is some support for the measure on QTS, including from James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, who says that his union “supports the government’s ambition for all teachers to hold QTS in the future”.
Fears of staff shortages
However, Bowen adds that the union is aware of concerns among special-school leaders and is “actively talking with the government” about these. “Ultimately, what we need is bold action to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis head-on so that there is a sufficient supply of qualified teachers for all settings.”
Meanwhile, the measure has been criticised by Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, who is also fearful of its impact on recruitment and retention across all kinds of schools.
“Too often teachers are having to fill in on subjects they are not experts in because of shortages,” she says. “Flexibility around QTS helps bring in career changers with exactly that expertise.
“Rather than new barriers into joining teaching and making it more difficult for schools to support children, what we need is creative approaches on training and development that ensure we have a skilled professional workforce.”
Crossley at Liberty Academy Trust agrees, no doubt echoing the views of many when she says she worries that “the proposal to require all teachers to hold QTS risks making recruitment even harder”.
She adds: “If applied without flexibility, it could severely limit the pool of staff we can draw from, making it more difficult to offer the diverse curriculum that many of our students rely on, potentially reducing opportunities rather than raising standards.”
The QTS measure is one of many controversial parts of the bill, which will move to the House of Lords after its Commons readings conclude. The debate rattles on.
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