Registration with the General Teaching Council for England - Frequently Asked Questions

Here you will find the answers to some frequently asked questions about the General Teaching Council for England's registration area.

Click on the questions below or scroll down to read the full page.

The GTC is the professional body for teaching. It provides an opportunity for teachers to shape the development of professional practice and policy, and to maintain and set high standards. The Council was established on 1 September 2000. The GTC Register of Teachers was established on 1 June 2001.

All qualified teachers, including supply teachers, wishing to teach in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit, are legally required to register with the General Teaching Council. This requirement also applies to centrally employed teachers who spend any proportion of their time teaching students and pupils in these schools. This will therefore include peripatetic music teachers and teachers in central supply pools.

DfES numbers are allocated to trainee teachers at the beginning of their Teacher Training or PGCE course, not all of these will go on to be awarded Qualified Teacher Status. DfES numbers are also allocated to some of those who work as instructors or unqualified teachers.

The GTC has established a Register of teachers with Qualified Teacher Status. This is the first time that such a register has been compiled. Holding a place on the Register guarantees each teacher's qualification and fitness to teach. The GTC's Register will also provide evidence about the profession on matters such as retention and recruitment.

Please note that there is no GTC registration number. Any employer or prospective employer wishing to check if a teacher is registered should contact the GTC, with the teacher's full name and date of birth or DfES reference number, at: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or on: 0870 001 0308.

Yes. Regular and occasional supply teachers teaching in a maintained school, non-maintained special school or pupil referral unit are legally required to register with the GTC.

Advisory teachers or consultants working with teachers in schools rather than fulfilling the duties of a practising teacher, are not required to register. If you take sole control of a class at any time then you will need to register.

We have been working with the Department for Education and Skills, Local Education Authorities and other employers, to collect the necessary data to enable the Council to establish its register of teachers.  You may have been registered with the GTC through your employer.

No. All registered teachers were sent a registration card in Autumn 2003.

The registration fee for the fee year April 2002 to March 2003 was set at £23 and for April 2003 to March 2004 was set at £28. The fee was eligible for tax relief. The full fees are payable to the GTC with any tax relief claims from the Inland Revenue.

The registration fee for the fee year April 2004 to March 2005 is set at £30. The fee is eligible for tax relief. The full £30.00 is payable to the GTC with the tax relief claimed from the Inland Revenue.

This reflects the withdrawal of government grant as the GTC reaches full independent status. The new fee does not lead to an increase in the GTCs overall income.

All registered teachers are required to pay the registration fee. The following teachers are not legally required to register with the GTC:

If the above teachers hold Qualified Teacher Status they are welcome to register with the GTC but will need to pay the registration fee.

If you are not required to be registered with the GTC and wish to deregister please contact the Teacher Enquiry Service on 0870 001 0308.

The Council has considered the subject of scaled fees and refunds but have decided that this option is not viable because of the high costs it presents, and the need to keep the fees as low as possible.

The School Teachers' Review Body has recommended, and government intends to accept, the recommendation that teachers should receive an allowance of £33 to cover the fee.

If you have taught or will be teaching during part of the registration year commencing 1 April 2004 you are required to pay the annual registration fee.

If you were teaching during part of the registration years commencing 1 April 2002 or 1 April 2003 you were required to pay the annual registration fee.

The GTC understands that the fee will be a greater proportion of income for supply teachers, part-time teachers, or teachers who are due to leave the teaching profession during the year. The Council has considered the subject of scaled or part-year fees but have decided that this option is not viable because of the high costs it presents, and the need to keep the fee as low as possible.

The School Teachers' Review Body has recommended that teachers employed by an LEA or maintained school should receive an allowance of £33 to cover the fee regardless of working hours. If you are employed by an agency then it will be up to individuals to negotiate with agencies. Some agencies may choose to reimburse the cost of the GTC registration fee to their teachers, whilst others may reflect the fee in their pay rates. This has been the situation previously as well.

If you are a supply teacher directly employed by a maintained school or Local Education Authority then you will be entitled to receive the £33. If you do not receive the £33 then we suggest you contact your employer directly. Previously the national employers organisation wrote to LEAs with guidance on how to pay the £33 allowance but the final implementation is up to each employer.

The national employers organisation also recommended that supply teachers employed by an LEA or maintained school during May 2002 and May 2003 should be paid the £33 sum as part of the payment for that period of work. The school where the teacher works for the majority of their time during May should be responsible for ensuring the payment is made. We hope that similar arrangements will be made for this fee year.

You should inform your employer. If you work in a voluntary aided or foundation school you should get in touch with the school bursar.

The £33 payment is based on a recommendation by the STRB and so only applies to those employed under Teachers Pay and Conditions. It is not a payment by the government, or GTC, to teachers. If you are employed by an agency then it is up to individuals to negotiate with agencies. Some agencies may choose to reimburse the cost of the GTC registration fee to their teachers, whilst others may reflect the fee in their pay rates. If you are working in the maintained sector, regardless of your employer, then you are required to be registered with the GTC.

All registered teachers need to pay the registration fee including those not currently working. All teachers pay the fee in advance for the forthcoming fee year. The registration fee is an annual fee that covers a 12-month period and if you do any teaching during that time you are required to pay the fee. This does mean that teachers not currently working may need to pay the fee before they return to work.

If you will not be teaching after 1 April 2004 and will not be teaching again before 31 March 2005 then you may request to be deregistered from the GTC. To do this please contact our Teacher Enquiry Service on 0870 001 0308. If in the future you then return to teaching you will need to reregister with the GTC.

If you did not teach between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2004 then you may request to be deregistered from the GTC also. Please see the above paragraph.

Yes, all teachers are required to pay all registration fees.

No. The cost of installment payments would add considerably to the annual fee. Those teachers eligible for the £33 STRB recommended payment would receive this as a lump sum to match the annual fee payment provided the STRB recommendation is ratified by government.

The General Teaching Council is an independent body that represents teachers. Whilst the government has covered the initial costs of setting up the General Teaching Council, it is important that the Council becomes financially independent and thus should not be permanently funded by the government. From April 2002, the Council became self-financing, generating its own income from a registration fee. This will bring the Council into line with other professional bodies and teaching into line with other professions. The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 (section 4(4)) and The General Teaching Council for England (Registration of Teachers) Regulations 2000 (section 9) provide the basis for the Council to charge registration fees fixed by them.

Members of a professional body are personally responsible for paying a registration fee.

A key part of the GTC's role is to advise government on issues affecting the profession, based on teachers' views and experience. The early professional development programme is an excellent example where the government listened to the GTC's advice. At the moment it is limited to teachers in a very few areas of the country in their second and third years of teaching. The GTC believes it should be a permanent feature of the early years of every teacher's career.

The GTC has pressed government to ensure teachers have professional support to enable them to carry out all their responsibilities both within and beyond the classroom. The GTC believes that the role of the qualified teacher can be supported but not replaced.

Continuing Professional Development

Accountability

Teacher Retention

No - our legal status, our governing Council, or lines of reporting and our way of working bear no similarity to those of any government agency or quango. We are independent of and not answerable to government.

The registration fee will be used to fund the Council's statutory functions and obligations, which flow from the corporate plan. This includes the Council's work to raise the status of the profession and seek improvements on behalf of teachers. A copy of the full corporate plan has been sent to every school. It is also available on our website www.gtce.org.uk.

The GTC holds teacher meeting around the country. Teacher meetings are one of the principal ways in which we gain feedback from the profession to enable us to do this in an authoritative way. At the teacher meetings, GTC Chief Executive Carol Adams and local GTC Members listen to teachers and speak about the GTC's work with the profession.

For further information please visit www.gtce.org.uk/news/teachmeet.asp

Council Members and GTC staff have also taken part in school staff meetings, head teacher and union conferences, local teacher meetings and seminars on a variety of topics.

The GTC is also running a pilot online community of teaching professionals. The online community gives teachers the opportunity to share their views on any issues affecting the profession. These forums are facilitated by practicing teachers. The GTC uses these discussions to inform and shape the policy advice that it gives to government on behalf of the profession. To find out more, please visit www.gtce.org.uk/community

The MORI poll of 2003, undertaken in conjunction with the Guardian newspaper, received over 70,000 responses. Such a response has provided further information that can be used in the GTC's advice to government.

The GTC is an independent professional body. As with other professional bodies, it was set up by an Act of Parliament so that its continued existence is guaranteed. The General Teaching Council was established through the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998. Before it was put to parliament, the teaching unions and associations and others were consulted on the draft legislation.

The GTC is the professional body for teaching with advisory and regulatory roles, not a union. The GTC has a statutory duty to advise on teaching matters and enable the profession to regulate itself. We have no role in pay and conditions, and we cannot represent or arrange representation for individual teachers in disputes or matters of law. The Council does however recognise that teachers should be properly paid and have the resources to do the job.

The GTC's work complements the role of the teachers' organisations. Together, we identify shared priorities and add weight to common areas of interest such as an entitlement to professional time and development.

In British anti-closed shop legislation the definition of an association does not extend to a professional organisation established by the Government and governed by public law. In general, these professional organisations are established not only to protect the interests of their members but also related public interests.