International Qualified Teacher Status

ISI is commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to inspect providers of the International qualified teacher status (iQTS). All providers of the iQTS qualification are inspected once they have completed one full academic year of delivery.

International qualified teacher status (iQTS) is a teaching qualification backed by the Department for Education (DfE) and the UK government. iQTS meets the same high standards as English qualified teacher status (QTS).

iQTS is designed to:

• provide opportunities for accredited English initial teacher training (ITT) providers to expand into the growing international teacher training market
• make high quality training accessible around the world, allowing trainees to benefit from evidence-based ITT
• support schools outside of England to recruit, retain and to develop local talent
• increase the global pool of high-quality teachers and to support global mobility within the teaching profession.

In June 2025 the DfE published the international qualified teacher status inspection framework. ISI inspects using this framework and publishes inspection reports on its website.

ISI worked with the DfE to test the draft inspection framework from January 2024 to June 2024.

ISI conducted three pilot inspections of providers. The inspection reports are available here:

Inspection reports