What Is the RQF? The Regulated Qualifications Framework Explained

What is the RQF?

The RQF is the Regulated Qualifications Framework, the system Ofqual uses to describe every qualification it regulates in England by two measures: level, running from entry level up to level 8, and size, counted in hours of study. It lets you compare a TEFL diploma against a degree or an NVQ without comparing subjects.

If you have been shopping for a TEFL course, you will have met the phrase “Level 5” long before anybody explained where that number comes from. It comes from here. The RQF is the reason a TEFL diploma can be placed on the same ladder as a foundation degree, a higher national diploma or an NVQ, and the reason a provider either can or cannot point you at a public entry to prove it.

This guide explains the framework itself: what the levels mean, how size is measured separately from level, what a Level 5 sits alongside, and how to check any qualification for yourself. For the narrower question of whether a Level 5 TEFL course earns its money, read is a Level 5 TEFL course worth it. For the acronym set around it, our TEFL qualifications and terminology guide is the reference page.

Key takeaways

• RQF stands for Regulated Qualifications Framework. It covers qualifications Ofqual regulates in England, plus vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.
• It has nine levels: entry level, then levels 1 to 8. Level 3 is where A levels sit. Level 6 is where an honours degree sits.
• Level and size are separate. Size is stated as Total Qualification Time, which contains Guided Learning Hours.
• The TEFL Institute Level 5 Diploma is entered as 180 Guided Learning Hours with a Total Qualification Time of 382, awarded by Highfield Qualifications, checked 11 September 2026.

What does RQF stand for, and who runs it?

RQF stands for Regulated Qualifications Framework, and it is run by Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. Ofqual is a non ministerial government department, which in plain terms means it is part of government but does not answer to a minister, and it reports to Parliament instead.

Ofqual’s own account of why the framework exists is worth reading in its own words. Writing on the official Ofqual blog, the regulator says the framework “should help people understand all the qualifications we regulate, general and vocational in England, and vocational in Northern Ireland, and how they relate to each other”, and that its purpose is to “improve consistency around how awarding organisations describe the size and challenge, or demand, of the qualifications they offer”.

Two things in that sentence matter to anybody buying a course. The first is the word regulate. A qualification on the framework has an awarding organisation that Ofqual holds to account, which is a different and stronger claim than a course that has been checked by a private membership body. We set that distinction out at length in accredited versus regulated TEFL. The second is demand. The framework does not rank subjects and it does not rank providers. It describes how difficult a qualification is and how long it takes.

What are the RQF levels, and what do they compare to?

There are nine levels. Entry level comes first, and is itself split into three sub levels, then levels 1 through 8 run above it. The usefulness of the framework is that government publishes example qualifications at each level, so you can translate an unfamiliar certificate into something you already recognise.

The table below is the government’s own list of example qualifications at each level, taken from the GOV.UK guide to what different qualification levels mean and checked on the date in the caption.

How to cite this table: the level examples are published by the UK government and can change without notice. If you quote them, cite GOV.UK as the source, name the level you are quoting, and give the date you checked it rather than the date you are writing. We checked this list on 11 September 2026.

Read the table once and the ladder stops being mysterious. School leaving qualifications sit at levels 1 to 3. The first two years of higher education sit at levels 4 and 5. A full honours degree is level 6. Everything above that is postgraduate. It is a ladder of demand, not a ladder of prestige, and a level 5 vocational qualification is not a watered down degree. It is a qualification pitched at the demand of higher education without being a degree in its own right.

That is also why the framework is so useful when somebody is comparing courses from different providers. Two courses can carry similar marketing language and sit three levels apart.

How does the RQF measure size as well as level?

Level tells you how demanding a qualification is. Size tells you how much of it there is, and the framework keeps the two apart deliberately.

Ofqual describes size using Total Qualification Time, or TQT, which the regulator defines as “an indication of how long a typical learner might take to study a qualification, including the time spent on their individual study and on assessment”. Inside that figure sits Guided Learning Hours, or GLH, which Ofqual describes as “the time spent actually being taught”.

So a course advertised as 180 hours is telling you about size, and a course described as Level 5 is telling you about demand. Neither number implies the other. A 180 hour course could in principle be pitched at level 2. A level 5 qualification could be much smaller or much larger than 180 hours. When a provider quotes only hours and never a level, you are being told half the story, and it is usually the half that is easier to inflate.

Here is what the two measures look like on a real entry. Both TEFL Institute diplomas are awarded by Highfield Qualifications, whose Ofqual organisation number is RN5219.

Notice how far apart TQT and GLH are on both rows. The taught time is roughly half the total expected study time, which is exactly what the framework is designed to reveal. A course sold purely on its headline hour count hides that gap.

One honest note on our own range, because a page about regulation should be the last place to blur it. Our 120 Hour Advanced TEFL Course is not an Ofqual regulated qualification and carries no RQF level. It is a good course and it is not a regulated one, and anybody telling you a 120 hour certificate is Ofqual regulated is either confused or hoping you are.

What is an RQF Level 5 qualification equivalent to?

An RQF Level 5 qualification sits at the same level of demand as a diploma of higher education, a foundation degree, a higher national diploma or a level 5 NVQ, which is the government’s own list. In degree terms that is the demand of the second year of an undergraduate course, not the whole degree.

It is worth being precise about the word equivalent, because it is the single most oversold word in TEFL marketing. A Level 5 qualification is placed at the same framework level as a foundation degree. It is not the same qualification, it does not carry the same credit, and it does not make you a graduate. What it does do is give an employer or a visa officer a recognised reference point for how demanding your training was, which a certificate with no level cannot do at all.

Where does a Level 5 TEFL Diploma sit on the RQF?

At level 5, with the size stated separately. That is the whole point of quoting both numbers in the table above rather than one of them.

For a teacher, the practical consequence is that the claim becomes checkable by a stranger. An international school in Dubai, a language academy in Madrid or a recruiter in Hanoi does not have to take a provider’s word about course quality. They can take a reference number and look it up. That is a different kind of trust from a logo on a certificate, and it is the reason the framework matters more to hiring than most course pages admit.

If you want the qualification itself rather than the theory, our Ofqual regulated Level 5 TEFL course page carries the current specification and live pricing.

RQF, FHEQ and EQF: how the frameworks line up

The RQF is not the only framework a qualification can be described against, and Ofqual says so directly. In the same post quoted above, the regulator notes that “the RQF maps to the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, as well as to the European Qualifications Framework too”.

Three names, three jobs. The RQF covers regulated qualifications in England, and vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland. The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications describes degrees and other higher education awards. The European Qualifications Framework is a reference system used to compare qualifications between countries, which is why it comes up so often for teachers applying for work across Europe. We deal with the European side of that comparison in our guide to the EQF Level 5 TEFL Diploma.

Scotland runs its own framework, which is why a qualification described only as level 5 can mean different things in Glasgow and in Manchester. If a level is quoted to you without a framework attached, the level on its own is not yet information.

How do you check a qualification is on the RQF?

You look it up on the public register, and it takes about a minute. The front door is the government’s find a regulated qualification service, which exists so that anybody can “find out if a qualification is regulated (officially recognised)”, “see detailed information about a qualification” and “compare similar qualifications”.

Four things are worth doing in that order.

1. Ask the provider for the qualification reference number, the nine character code in the form 610/1571/4. A provider who will not give you one is answering your question.
2. Search the register for that number and check the level and the awarding organisation match what you were told.
3. Check the size, both Total Qualification Time and Guided Learning Hours, against the hours on the sales page.
4. Check the qualification is still available for new registrations rather than withdrawn, because an old entry can outlive the course.

A word on why we have quoted our own reference numbers in text above rather than linking straight to each register entry. The register blocks automated checking, so we cannot verify a deep link to it on the day of writing, and we would rather give you a number you can paste yourself with the date we checked it than a link we have not been able to test. That is the standard set out in our editorial charter.

What the RQF does not tell you

The framework is a genuinely useful instrument and it is not a review. It says nothing about teaching quality, tutor support, how good the materials are, whether anybody marks your assignments properly, or whether the provider answers the phone. Two qualifications at the same level with the same Total Qualification Time can be a very different experience to study.

It also says nothing about whether a specific employer wants that qualification. Regulation is a floor, not a guarantee, and a Level 5 diploma does not oblige anybody to hire you. What it removes is the argument about whether your training counted.

And it is England and Northern Ireland in scope. A school in Seoul or Bogota is under no obligation to know what the RQF is. In practice many recruiters do recognise the phrase government regulated, and the reference number lets the curious ones check, but the framework carries no authority abroad beyond the credibility it lends.

Does an RQF level matter to employers abroad?

More than it used to, and unevenly. The pattern our graduates report is fairly consistent: private language schools care mostly about hours and availability, international schools and state programmes care about level and verifiable paperwork, and the roles that pay best sit in the second group.

Where a level earns its keep is in the moments when somebody has to justify a decision to a third party. A visa officer processing a work permit, a school inspector reviewing staff files, a head teacher defending a hire. In all three cases a framework level plus a reference number is easy to file and easy to defend, and a certificate with neither is not.

Ready to take a regulated TEFL qualification?

If you have read this far, you already know the two questions to ask about any TEFL course: what level is it on the framework, and what is its size in Total Qualification Time. A provider can answer both with a reference number, you are looking at a regulated qualification. If they change the subject, you are looking at marketing.

Our Ofqual regulated Level 5 TEFL Diploma is entered on the register at level 5 with 180 Guided Learning Hours, awarded by Highfield Qualifications. Take the number, check it yourself, and then decide.