The College of Teachers' qualifications are offered in three bands:

• Unqualified Practitioner
• Practitioner (graduate)
• Master Practitioner (postgraduate)

Therefore, someone taking a COES who may not have undergraduate qualifications will receive the qualification in recognition of the professional qualification achieved but will receive no HE credit alongside it. A postgraduate (such as a teacher with QTS) could undertake a COES and receive HE credit to sit alongside it. This is course-dependent and is checked through the relevant course entry requirements which normally lock a course into one of the three bands.

HE providers use credit level descriptors to assist in determining the level of credit assigned to individual modules and units which comprise programmes of study.

The Practitioner and Master Practitioner bands are arranged at each qualification level. The College qualification levels are aligned with two qualification 'frameworks', the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ).

Different types of qualifications are grouped together into various 'levels'. This can help you (and employers) see how different qualifications compare and how one type can lead on to another. The framework groups together qualifications that place similar demands on candidates. However, within any one level, qualifications can cover a wide mix of subjects, and take different amounts of time to complete.

The College of Teachers Qualifications Framework (COTQF) describes the level of achievement that is benchmark equivalent to assessment levels of national and higher education qualifications. Both the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) set out the levels against which a qualification can be recognised in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Most institutions that provide higher education programmes of study in England use credit. Credit has been used in the United Kingdom for over 20 years. This has led to groups of HEIs in England and Northern Ireland, called credit consortia, meeting to discuss the role of credit in programme design and to consider best practice in the use of credit. The College of Teachers is a member of the Southern England Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SEEC) and has aligned the COTQF with the SEEC level descriptors to ensure College qualifications are placed at the correct levels.

The COTQF and the HE credit allocated to each qualification remains constantly under review, with current changes from the Bologna report and changes to the QAA credit level descriptors recently being reviewed influencing constant changes.

COTQF Practitioner Bands and HE credit allocation

HE Credit is currently only available to courses on the generic framework stream and inside the European Union.