Guidance published for providers on initial teacher training

This information is for potential and existing initial teacher training (ITT) providers offering or considering to offer ITT provision. It provides guidance and support on all aspects of running your ITT programme.

You can work with the Department for Education (DfE) to offer ITT teacher training through the following routes:

• provider-led – run by higher education institutes (HEIs) or school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) providers
• School Direct (fee funded) and School Direct (salaried) – run by schools

For School Direct provider guidance visit our School Direct collection.

For early years ITT read our early years initial teacher training (ITT): a guide for providers information.

We don’t allocate places to ITT providers for:

• Teach First – intensive work-based training for high academic achievers
• assessment-only – for professionals who don’t require training to demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards

If you’d like to become a teacher, please visit our Get into Teaching website.

Only ITT providers accredited by DfE can recommend trainees for qualified teacher status (QTS). We won’t consider schools for accreditation if their most recent Ofsted inspection is less than good.

Lead schools and ITT providers need to register their intention to offer ITT courses in advance. To do this you need to enter your information on the DTTP:

• lead schools – the lead school will need to log in to request and view their allocations
• providers – the provider will need to log in to ratify any requests and also request their own provider-led places

The log in details are unique, even where the lead school may also be the provider.

In some circumstances you can migrate your ITT accreditation to another accredited entity. If you no longer want to offer ITT, you must follow the ITT provider closure guidance.

If you’re deemed non-compliant with the ITT criteria either by Ofsted during an initial teacher education inspection or by DfE, you may enter the accreditation withdrawal process.

Allocation methodologies from previous years are published and available for providers to access.

In order for schools to make well-informed decisions about the partners they work with, we recommend looking at the following statistics when choosing a partner provider for ITT.