QTS skills tests
To achieve the
QTS standards you will also need to pass skills tests in numeracy, literacy and information and communications technology (
ICT).
These tests are computerised and can be taken at more than 40 test centres throughout England. If you intend to qualify as a teacher in Wales you do not have to take the skills test, even if you wish to teach in England.
Numeracy skills test
The numeracy skills test ensures that you have a good grounding in the use of numeracy in the wider context of your professional role as a teacher. It does not assess the broader range of mathematical knowledge required to teach mathematics.
Each numeracy test covers the three areas of:
- mental arithmetic
- interpreting and using statistical information, and
- using and applying general arithmetic.
Literacy skills test
All teachers have to communicate clearly and understand and evaluate written information. This test requires you to show that you can:
- spell correctly, including words that appear in a teacher's professional written vocabulary
- punctuate texts with a professional content in a helpful and consistent way
- understand and analyse the kind of texts teachers encounter in their professional reading, and
- recognise where writing does not conform to standard English, where it fails to make sense and where the style is inappropriate.
ICT skills test
This test ensures that you have a good grounding in the use of ICT in the wider context of your professional role as a teacher. It does not assess the broader range of ICT knowledge required to teach ICT.
The ICT skills test covers the following types of applications:
- word processor
- spreadsheet
- database
- presentation
- email, and
- web browser.
Learn more about how to successfully complete the QTS skills tests by visiting the skills test area of our site.
