Accreditation process and requirements review consultation

Closing date:

March

2026

External body:

Thank you to those who responded to our consultation on proposed changes to our accreditation policy. This consultation is now closed.

What are we consulted on

A lot has changed since we assumed formal responsibility from the Scottish Government for the accreditation process in 2012. The number of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes available and the providers offering them has increased, and it has also become a legal requirement for college lecturers to register with us and for further education teaching qualification programmes (TQFE) to be accredited. The landscape has changed and we believe that aspects of our current practice need to be brought up to date to reflect this.

We therefore consulted on changes to our Accreditation Policy following a review of our accreditation process and requirements, including:

its name
one document that covers programmes of ITE and TQFE
a statement of general principles to guide the process
one section that sets out the requirement for the content, nature and duration of programmes of ITE with a stronger focus placed on ensuring the outcome of these is the achievement of the Standard for Provisional Registration
a new section setting out expectations for teacher educators and programme staffing.
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