Initial teacher training (ITT): accreditation

This guidance is for:

organisations seeking ITT accreditation
accredited providers of ITT who wish to remain accredited after September 2024

Eligibility criteria

You can only provide courses that lead to a recommendation for qualified teacher status (QTS) if you are accredited by the Department for Education (DfE).

The following groups must be must be accredited by the DfE:

new organisations and existing accredited providers
lead schools
school partners who wish to deliver ITT courses leading to QTS

This covers all the teacher training routes leading to QTS, namely:

undergraduate
postgraduate fee based
postgraduate salaried (including postgraduate teaching apprenticeship assessment only)
school direct (salaried)
school direct (fee).

Organisations that deliver Early Years ITT must also be accredited to deliver Initial Teacher Training leading to the award of QTS and deliver a minimum of one programme leading to this award.

Accreditation process

Organisations wishing to apply for accreditation from academic year 2024 to 2025 will need to register on Jaggaer (DfE’s online application portal) if they are not already registered. Details on how to register for Jaggaer are set out in the How to Register on Jaggaer (PDF, 1.07 MB, 12 pages) document.

If your application for accreditation status is successful, you will be issued with an accreditation certificate, meaning you can deliver ITT courses that lead to qualified teacher status (QTS) from September 2024.

The accreditation process, as well as all the information you need about accreditation, is set out in the How to Apply Guidance which can be found in the Jaggaer document tab.

Applicants who are successful in this accreditation process will be awarded accreditation effective from September 2024.

Details on future rounds of accreditation will be announced in due course. Applicants wishing to provide ITT from September 2024 should apply in this opportunity.

ITT criteria

Currently accredited providers must deliver training which meets the Secretary of State for Education’s ITT criteria. You need to ensure that all programmes of ITT comply with the criteria. The ITT criteria also includes the withdrawal of accreditation criteria. The existing ITT criteria will cease to be effective in academic year 2024 to 2025, when the ITT Criteria 2024/25 will come into effect.

For applicants seeking accreditation for courses starting in 2024, you must deliver training which meets the Secretary of State for Education’s ITT criteria 2024 to 2025. You need to ensure that all programmes of ITT comply with the criteria. The ITT criteria also includes the withdrawal of accreditation criteria. The ITT Criteria 2024 to 2025 is available in the document tab in Jaggaer.

You must ensure that all trainees are assessed against the Teachers’ Standards.

Ofsted will inspect you in accordance with the Ofsted initial teacher education framework.

For queries concerning applying for accreditation from academic year 2024 to 2025, or your application for accreditation, please submit through the messaging function in Jaggaer.

If you’re a potential candidate, wishing to gain qualified teacher status (QTS), please visit Ways to train.