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.

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 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.

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.