QTS or QTLS that is the question?

There are lots of myths surrounding both these acronyms based upon what went before. For example;

The 2018 October

School Census shows that there are 8,166,038 pupils studying in state funded

schools in England. Of these, 4,091,312 pupils are studying in an academy or

free school. Therefore, as of October 2018, 50.1% of pupils studying in

state-funded schools in England were in an academy or free schools (Gov.uk.

Online, 2020).

This predicts that

Academy schools in the UK are equal if not potentially more than State schools

in 2020 as there hasn’t been any overarching design of government policy to

disarm private Academy chains since 2018. QTS is always attached to the state

school sector as the schools have to apply for a NQT to go onto a training

route through a government approved supplier usually University based for

example and to complete the training for QTS. Now this is dependent on the

school wanting to employ the teacher so that they can qualify for the government

teacher pay scale starting at around ￡27.000. It is a very expensive route for

the schools concerned with a bill of around ￡2500 for the training and subsequent

QTS badge.

The Academy schools

of which there are an equal number in the UK do not need teachers to be qualified

or sector competent or to indeed have any teaching experience. However this is

not to say that SLT in these schools want unqualified teachers, far from it. Once

a dual professional has entered the Academy as a teacher then they can be put

forward for Teacher Training and that provider once approved can train the

staff concerned. Once the teacher has obtained either their PGCE or DET qualification

that shows sector competency as a teacher they can then apply for QTLS through

the SET. This status is a throwback to the days when the government used to

actually fund a QTLS route through schools that saw in-service training occurring

in conjunction with Colleges and Universities that gave teachers sector competency

status. This was devolved by the Conservative government many years ago along

with the IFL who oversaw that sector competency framework. The SET was formed

from the ashes of the IFL and it now works as a private entity itself and once

again is now back working with government to oversee the portfolios of NQT's to

the ranks of QTLS once more. But this time the teacher or school has to pay for

the QTLS training at around ￡400 and once completed the membership of SET is assured

along with their QTLS status.

I hope this

article dispels some myths related to QTS and QTLS in the UK teaching sector

and if you need to discuss your career as a teacher and want to be sector competent

and attain either QTS or QTLS then please contact us on 020-33974548