Unqualified teacher jobs in London
Can you teach without QTS? Yes — in the right settings. Here's how unqualified teaching roles work, where the demand is (science included), and the routes into a teaching career.
You do not always need Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) to teach in England. Plenty of brilliant educators start out in unqualified teaching roles, build real classroom experience, and go on to earn QTS later. If you have strong subject knowledge — especially in a shortage subject like science — there is genuine demand for you.
Can you teach without QTS?
Yes, in several settings. Academies, free schools, independent schools and further education colleges can all employ teachers who do not hold QTS. Many maintained schools also recruit unqualified teachers (paid on the unqualified teacher pay range), cover supervisors and instructors with specialist or vocational expertise. In SEN and alternative provision, schools often value life experience and the right approach as much as a formal teaching qualification.
Unqualified science teacher jobs
Science is one of the hardest subjects for schools to staff, so a graduate with a science degree — or a professional moving across from industry — is often welcomed into the classroom as an unqualified teacher while working towards QTS. If you have a background in biology, chemistry, physics or engineering, you are exactly the kind of person London schools are looking for.
Routes into teaching without QTS
- Unqualified teacher roles. Teach now, with support, and gain classroom experience that counts.
- Assessment Only (AO) route to QTS. If you are already an experienced, graduate-level teacher, you can be assessed against the Teachers' Standards without further training.
- Postgraduate teacher training. School Direct, PGCE, Teach First and teaching apprenticeships lead to QTS, often with a salary or bursary.
- Teaching assistant to teacher. Many people start as a TA or cover supervisor, then train on the job.
How WhoFoundWho helps
We work with primary, secondary, SEN and further education settings across London and the Home Counties, including academies and independent schools that can take on unqualified teachers. We will be honest about what you are ready for, help you present your experience well, and match you to schools where you can grow — and every candidate is fully safeguarding and compliance checked before they start.