Guidance

Initial teacher training (ITT): accreditation

Find out about eligibility and how to become an accredited provider of initial teacher training (ITT).

From:
Department for Education and National College for Teaching and Leadership
Published
15 April 2014
Last updated
9 June 2022 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

The accreditation process is now closed. We currently expect the next accreditation round to take place during the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

A list of the successful accredited initial teacher training (ITT) providers is available.

If you were not granted accreditation, consider entering into a partnership with an accredited provider. You can express your interest in joining a partnership by emailing ITT.providersupport@education.gov.uk.

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).

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

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

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 who deliver ITT leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) must be accredited by DfE, and courses must continually meet the requirements set out in the DfE’s ITT criteria.

The government response to the ITT market review sets out new Quality Requirements which will become part of the ITT criteria from September 2024 (ITT criteria 2024 to 2025). This means that from September 2024, all ITT providers must deliver courses that incorporate the new Quality Requirements. The current ITT criteria will remain active until the end of August 2024.

All organisations who wish to begin courses that deliver ITT leading to QTS from academic year 2024 to 2025 must apply for accreditation against these new criteria, regardless of whether they currently hold accredited status.

There are currently 2 application rounds for organisations seeking to be awarded accreditation to deliver ITT from the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

  • application round 1 opened on 1 December 2021 and closed on 7 February 2022 - see Outcomes of accreditation round 1
  • application for round 2 opened on 23 May 2022 and will close on 27 June 2022

Organisations wishing to apply in round 2 will need to register on DfE’s online application portal Jaggaer in order to submit an application (if they are not already registered). Details on how to register for Jaggaer are set out in how to register on Jaggaer (PDF, 1.06 MB, 15 pages). All the information and documents needed to submit an application will be available to view on Jaggaer.

Potential applicants can view the How to Apply round 2 guidance prior to registering on Jaggaer, under ‘View Opportunities’ in the ‘How to Register on Jaggaer’ instructions. This will be available from 23 May when round 2 opens.

Outcomes of accreditation round 1

Eighty applicants have been awarded accreditation in round 1.

Applicants who did not apply in round 1 are encouraged to do so in round 2, which will open on 23 May and close on 27 June. There may be future accreditation rounds, if required.

Applicants who were not accredited in round 1 have been given feedback to help them understand the areas they need to address. Applicants who reapply in round 2 will only need to respond to questions where they were below the required standard in round 1.

Applicants who do not wish to re-apply are encouraged to partner with newly accredited providers ready to deliver ITT from 2024.

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 or we may withdraw accreditation. 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.

The ITT Criteria 2024 to 2025 is available in the document tab in Jaggaer once application round 2 is open.

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.

Stage 2

ITT providers who are successful in gaining accreditation in rounds 1 or 2 of stage 1 will progress to stage 2. Stage 2 is designed to support accredited ITT providers in their readiness to deliver ITT under the new Quality Requirements from September 2024.

To access the provider guidance for stage 2, see Initial teacher training (ITT): provider guidance on stage 2.

Funding

Providers awarded accreditation in 2022 will be eligible for a one-off ITT reform set-up grant in the financial year 2022-2023.

This is a one-off grant of up to £25,000 to help providers with the additional costs of establishing ITT courses that meet the new quality requirements ahead of 2024. For guidance on how to apply for set-up cost funding, see ITT reform funding.

Contact

For queries concerning applying for ITT accreditation from academic year 2024 to 2025 in round 2 please submit your queries through the messaging function in Jaggaer.

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

Updates to this page

Published 15 April 2014
Last updated 9 June 2022 + show all updates

  1. Added new 'Funding' section, which includes guidance on the initial teacher training (ITT) reform set-up grant.

  2. Round 2 details added along with link to provider guidance on stage 2.

  3. We have updated the 'Accreditation process' section with information on 2 application rounds for organisations seeking to be awarded accreditation to deliver ITT from the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

  4. Removed incorrect information from the eligibility criteria section about groups that must be accredited by DfE.

  5. Updated to reflect the changes to ITT accreditation following the publication of the government response to the ITT review and consultation.

  6. Added information about the support available to newly accredited providers, and an online community called Knowledge Hub.

  7. First published.

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