The Full Form of QTS is Qualified teacher status.

You must have qualified teacher status (QTS) to take up a teaching post in England in a:

• maintained primary school
• maintained secondary school
• maintained special school
• non-maintained special school

Maintained schools are part of the state-funded schools system in England. In maintained schools, funding and oversight is generally provided by the local authority.

Maintained schools make up the majority of schools in England and are mostly either:

• community schools or voluntary controlled schools (where the local authority employs the school’s staff and is responsible for admissions)
• foundation and voluntary-aided schools (where the school’s governing body employs the staff and is responsible for admissions)

The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is the competent authority in England for the teaching profession on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education. We’re responsible for awarding QTS. We also award QTS to trained teachers from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA.