Guidance

Check a teacher’s record

Use this service to check a teacher’s record before they start working for your school, college, teacher supply agency, or other organisation.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 26 June 2024
• Last updated: 6 December 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

You must check a teacher’s record before they start working for you in England as part of your safeguarding checks.

If you are an organisation that uses a teacher supply agency, you must get confirmation from the agency that they have completed the safeguarding checks.

You can check a record for anyone with a teacher reference number (TRN), including:

• teachers and former teachers
• teaching assistants and higher level teaching assistants

You can use this service to check the records of multiple teachers at once.

A teacher’s record tells you whether they have:

• qualified teacher status (QTS) or early years teacher status (EYTS)
• passed their induction
• national professional qualifications (NPQ) or mandatory qualifications for teaching pupils with sensory impairments
• been prohibited from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Agency
• had sanctions or restrictions placed on them by the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE)
• been found guilty of serious misconduct but not prohibited from teaching

It will not tell you whether someone:

• has qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) status –  you need to check the Society for Education and Training professional register
• is allowed to manage or govern schools – you need to check the section 128 list
• is barred from working with children – regulated employers can check the DBS’s children’s barred list using the check the children’s barred list service

You should only check the children’s barred list if a candidate:

• will start working with children while waiting for the result of an enhanced DBS check
• does not need an enhanced DBS check because they’ve worked with children in a school or college within the last 3 months

Before you start

To check the record of a single teacher, you’ll need:

• the teacher’s last name and date of birth (you do not need to know their TRN)
• to confirm the teacher’s identity
• a DfE Sign-in account

To check the records of multiple teachers at once, you will need:

• all of their dates of birth
• all of their TRNs
• a DfE Sign-in account

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

You can:

• ask your organisation’s approver to create an account for you
• use the contact form to request an account if you do not have an approver
• email [email protected] if you work for a teacher supply agency – you should normally receive a response within 5 working days

If you need to check a teacher’s record while you wait for your DfE Sign-in account, email [email protected] and say ‘urgent query’ in the subject line.

Claiming and disowning teachers

You do not have a legal obligation to claim or disown a teacher from your organisation.

You can no longer claim or disown a teacher using this service.

Contact

Email [email protected] if you have questions about this service. We will aim to respond within 5 working days.

Published 26 June 2024
Last updated 6 December 2024 + show all updates

1. 6 December 2024

   Replaced the email address [email protected], which is no longer in use, with [email protected].

2. 10 October 2024

   Updated to include the latest information on who must use the service and how. Added a section on claiming and disowning teachers.

3. 26 June 2024

   First published.