Am I eligible to train to teach with Ambition?

Here’s everything you need to know to check your eligibility for our Teacher Training programme before starting your application.

Check your qualifications

The first thing you’ll need to check is that you have the necessary qualifications to train with us. These qualifications are:

• An undergraduate bachelor’s degree with honours, generally a 2:2 or above, or equivalent.
• A GCSE grade 4/C or above in English and maths, or equivalent.
• To teach in a primary school, a GCSE grade 4/C or above in science, or equivalent.

On our Teacher Training Programme, you’ll do your training with one of our local partners. Some of our partners may require you to have a degree and/or A Level related to the subject you wish to teach.

Eligibility as an international candidate

We welcome international candidates onto the programme. You’ll need qualifications equivalent to the ones listed above.

You’ll need to provide an ENIC statement of comparability, which is a document comparing your international qualifications to their UK equivalents. This costs £69.60 and will take 15 days to process from the date ENIC receives your qualification documents and payment. You can apply for your ENIC statement and find out everything you need to know at UK ENIC.

If you want to check your qualifications before applying for an ENIC statement you can contact Get into Teaching for free. They will be able to tell you what your grades are equivalent to.

If you receive an offer to train with us, you’ll need to apply for and send us a digital or physical copy of your ENIC statement of comparability during the application process.

Your right to work in the UK

You must have permission to work in the UK full- time by the start of and for the duration of the training programme. Your right to work in the UK must allow you to train as a teacher: check that your visa is valid for training before applying.

If you need a visa to work in the UK, this is something you need to secure yourself as we can’t sponsor your visa.

If you are unsure if your visa is eligible for this programme, we can check this for you. You will need to contact us with your share code so we can verify if it’s suitable. You can find out more about how to get a share code here. Please note a code is only valid for 90 days.

After you’ve checked your qualifications and right to work meet our requirements, you can start your Teacher Training programme application.

Am I eligible for the assessment only route to QTS?

This route is for unqualified teachers who can show they meet all the teachers' standards in full, without the need for further training.

You can apply if you:

• Have two years' teaching experience, across a minimum of two schools. This teaching experience must be across two consecutive key stages in the phase you are applying for (key stages 1 and 2 for Primary, or key stages 3 and 4 for Secondary).
• Can evidence whole class teaching with sole responsibility for planning, marking, assessing and reporting on pupils’ work.
• Can demonstrate that you meet all the teachers’ standards without needing further training.
• Hold an undergraduate bachelor’s degree.
• Have GCSEs at grade 4/C or above in English and maths, or equivalent. If you teach primary pupils, you will also need a GCSE at grade 4/C or above in science, or equivalent.

This route is not suitable if you:

• Have only worked as a cover supervisor.
• Are currently on, or have failed an initial teacher training programme previously.
• Are a teaching assistant whose experience is limited to supporting classroom teachers, delivering small group interventions or covered various teaching roles inconsistently.

If you are a teaching assistant who teaches whole classes independently and consistently, you may be eligible to apply, provided you have at least two years’ experience.

Applications will open for our Teacher Training programme and assessment only route to QTS in the autumn. You can register your interest for either programme now to be alerted when applications are open.