Prohibition from teaching checks

You must carry out a prohibition check on all teachers, as well as any staff appointed to do 'teaching work'. Understand what counts as teaching work and how to do the check.

Last reviewed on 12 February 2026See updates
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Contents
  1. All staff appointed to carry out teaching work need a prohibition check 
  2. How to do the check
  3. Carry out checks for support staff too 

All staff appointed to carry out teaching work need a prohibition check 

You must carry out this check, as set out in paragraph 237 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025.

'Teaching work' is defined as:

  • Planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils
  • Delivering lessons to pupils, including through distance learning or online
  • Assessing pupils' development, progress and attainment
  • Reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils

These activities are not seen as teaching work if the person doing them is under the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher (or someone nominated by the headteacher to direct and supervise them), unless this is for the purposes of induction. 

This is outlined in section 3 of The Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012.

Use our recruitment checks cheat sheet to make sure you're carrying out all the necessary checks for teaching staff.

You can check a teacher's record by searching their