Prohibition from teaching checks

You must carry out a prohibition check on all teachers and support staff who will do 'teaching work'. Understand what counts as 'teaching work' and how to do the check.

Last reviewed on 28 June 2023
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 32839
Contents
  1. Any member of staff appointed to carry out teaching work needs a prohibition check 
  2. How to do the check
  3. Carry out checks for support staff too 

Any member of staff appointed to carry out teaching work needs a prohibition check 

You must carry out this check, as set out in paragraph 232 of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

Teaching work is defined as:

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

To make sure you're carrying out all the necessary checks for teaching staff, take a look at our recruitment checks cheat sheet.

Using