At the end of your training, you’ll gain qualified teacher status (QTS) once you’ve met the teachers’ standards. This is an external link.

QTS is what you need to teach in maintained primary, secondary and special schools in England (and soon, academies, too).

The teachers’ standards

Part 1: teaching

There are 8 standards you’ll work towards.

  1. Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils.
  2. Promote good progress and outcomes by pupils.
  3. Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge.
  4. Plan and teach well structured lessons.
  5. Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils.
  6. Make accurate and productive use of assessment.
  7. Manage behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment.
  8. Fulfil wider professional responsibilities.

Part 2: personal and professional conduct

You should demonstrate professional standards from the very start of your course.

A teacher is expected to demonstrate consistently high standards of personal and professional conduct.

The following statements define the behaviour and attitudes which set the required standard for conduct throughout a teacher’s career.

  1. Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by:
    • treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position
    • having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions
    • showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others
    • not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
    • ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability or might lead them to break the law
  2. Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality.
  3. Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.
Remember that professionalism is the key. Ensure that you make positive relationships with all staff on your placements and turn up everyday on time.

Geography trainee from 2024/25

When you’ll be assessed and how

You will not be assessed against the teachers’ standards until the end of your course.

But throughout your training, you’ll be assessed against your individual provider’s initial teacher training curriculum.

Different training providers will ask you to evidence this in different ways. You should speak to your provider-based mentor or tutor to understand exactly what you need to do.

You should do this at the start of your course so you know what evidence to gather as you go.

This could include:

  • lesson plans
  • observing other teachers at your school and reflecting on their practice
  • conversations with your mentor
  • classroom observations conducted by your mentor or other experienced teachers
  • reflective learning journals