Requirement to hold a further education teacher qualification

The Education Workforce Council (Additional Categories of Registration and Further Education Teacher Qualifications) (Wales) Order 2024 introduced the requirement for all practicing further education teachers to hold a teaching qualification specified in Schedule 6 of The Education Workforce Council (Main Functions) (Wales) Regulations 2015, or to be working towards one within the following time period:

• 3 years from the date on which they started working towards the qualification where the person is employed full-time
• 5 years from the date on which they started working towards the qualification where the person is employed part-time

The requirement to hold a teaching qualification specified in Schedule 6 has been in place since 10 May 2024. In practice this means that all FE teachers should, from the time of employment, either:

• have a qualification specified in Schedule 6
• be working towards one

The purpose of the requirement is to professionalise the sector’s workforce and contribute to the development of parity with schoolteachers, beyond pay. Further work on the professional development offer and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is being progressed through the review of PCET ITE.

Welsh Government have updated the list of specified qualifications in Schedule 6, significantly increasing the number recognised.

The updated qualification list was developed with the Education Workforce Council and ColegauCymru and introduced via the Education Workforce Council (Further Education Teacher Qualifications, Periods of Absence from Work and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026.

It is hoped this will better reflect those relevant qualifications which both satisfy the criteria and are already held by the workforce, therefore significantly reducing the number of teachers required to obtain an additional teaching qualification.

A registered practitioner record can be accessed via MYEWC login, to check whether one of the specified qualifications listed in Schedule 6 is already held.

Ensuring records are up to date will help the EWC to advise Welsh Ministers on updates required to capture more FE relevant teaching qualifications within Schedule 6 in the future.

Employers will be able to advise whether teachers have a relevant, specified teaching qualification, or whether further professional development is needed to obtain one.

They will also be able to signpost to support, relevant teaching qualifications for their setting and any funding available to assist people to achieve this. Please contact your HR department in the first instance.

• Check the EWC practitioner record for a teaching qualification specified in Schedule 6.
• Discuss the teaching qualification with your employer or employee.
• If a qualification specified in Schedule 6 is held, no further action is required to fulfil this requirement.
• If the employer determines a relevant qualification that isn’t specified in Schedule 6 is held, you or they can email feteacherqualifications@gov.wales to inform us of the qualification it is believed should be added.
• If the employer determines a relevant or specified teaching qualification is not held, please discuss the support available to obtain one.