Guidance

Teachers' standards

These standards set the minimum requirements for teachers’ practice and conduct.

Applies to England

Documents

Teachers' standards

Teachers' standards: overview

Details

This guidance is for:

  • school leaders
  • school staff
  • governing bodies

The standards themselves (part 1 and part 2) have statutory force (under regulation 6(8)(a) of the Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012).

They are issued by law; you must follow them unless there’s a good reason not to. They define the minimum level of practice for trainees and teachers to achieve qualified teacher status.

You can also use them to assess the performance of all teachers with qualified teacher status who are subject to The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012.

The standards replace the ‘standards for qualified teacher status’ and the ‘core professional standards’, previously published by the former Training and Development Agency for Schools.

Updates to this page

Published 1 July 2011
Last updated 13 December 2021 + show all updates
  1. Updated 'Teachers' standards' and 'How you should use the teachers' standards' to refer to the Teaching Regulation Agency (formerly National College for Teaching and Leadership).

  2. 'Teachers' standards' updated to reflect changes in terminology and teacher induction duration related to the Early Career Framework reforms.

  3. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page