Registration and the Register
Teaching is a profession in Scotland. Registration with GTC Scotland is about meeting and maintaining standards. This promotes and enhances trusted teaching.
Registration means we regulate individuals at the point of entry to the Register. As the independent regulator for teachers in Scotland, the registration process ensures that only individuals who meet the standards in Scotland can be teachers in Scotland.
The Code of Professionalism and Conduct and the Standards for Registration set out the standards that teachers are expected to uphold to be on our register and maintain their registration.
An applicant for registration must meet the registration criteria set out in GTC Scotland’s Registration and Standards Rules 2015 (the Rules) for registration to be granted. The Rules form one of our main policy pillars and are our legal position for registration– essentially, they outline what it means to be identified as a teacher in Scotland. It is only through ensuring compliance with the Rules that we can lawfully register. The Rules apply to all applicants equally and refusals to register are appealable direct to the Court of Session.
Our Register is a professional Register and not an employment based one. This means that all individuals who meet our registration requirements can be registered with us. Applicants for registration, and registrants, do not have to be actively employed as a teacher or live in Scotland to be registered with GTC Scotland. We have no role in the recruitment of teachers.
We hold one register – the Register of Teachers (the Register). The Register is organised into four categories of registration - primary education, secondary (subject) education, additional support needs and further education. The professional standards teachers uphold ensure that every registered teacher maintains their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to teaching learners with additional support needs. Where teachers hold specific registration in additional support needs, this reflects an area of individual specialism.
The Register is maintained in real time and provides a unique source of data. No equivalent data for all registered teachers in Scotland is available from any other body or organisation.
It is a legal requirement for all teachers employed in all schools in Scotland to be registered, and part of the agreed national terms and conditions for college lecturers employed in Scottish colleges. Only GTC Scotland registered teachers can be employed in Scotland’s schools. This employment should align with the teacher's GTC Scotland registration category. The integrity of the Register and applying it in this way is essential as it assures the public and users of the education system that only those with the necessary qualifications are allowed to teach.
The Register has grown and changed over recent years. Two key factors have influenced this change:
- the legislative mandatory registration of teachers in the independent school sector, and
- the contractual requirement for college lecturers to register with GTC Scotland.
The programme to register college lecturers as teachers of further education on the Register of Teachers continues. On 31 March 2024, it was anticipated that there remain approximately 3,000 college lecturers who are required to register as part of their employment terms and conditions. Our estimation is that approximately 1,500 of this number currently meet the requirements to access full registration with us. Working closely with partners, GTC Scotland has built policy routes to registration for all existing employed college lecturers.
Qualification is a critical part of registration to ensure that only those with the required skills and knowledge are teachers, and a teaching qualification is the foundation for registration with GTC Scotland. Individuals with a recognised teaching qualification (a qualification awarded on successful completion of a teacher education programme accredited by GTC Scotland) enter the Register in the category related to their qualification/s.
We carry out individual assessment of applications from individuals qualified outside Scotland for equivalency to a recognised teaching qualification and similarly suitably qualified individuals are entered on to the Register. We welcome teachers from all over the world to our Register every year.
Teaching is a profession in Scotland. Registration with GTC Scotland is about meeting and maintaining standards. This promotes and enhances trusted teaching.
Registration means we regulate individuals at the point of entry to the Register. As the independent regulator for teachers in Scotland, the registration process ensures that only individuals who meet the standards in Scotland can be teachers in Scotland.
The Code of Professionalism and Conduct and the Standards for Registration set out the standards that teachers are expected to uphold to be on our register and maintain their registration.
An applicant for registration must meet the registration criteria set out in GTC Scotland’s Registration and Standards Rules 2015 (the Rules) for registration to be granted. The Rules form one of our main policy pillars and are our legal position for registration– essentially, they outline what it means to be identified as a teacher in Scotland. It is only through ensuring compliance with the Rules that we can lawfully register. The Rules apply to all applicants equally and refusals to register are appealable direct to the Court of Session.
Our Register is a professional Register and not an employment based one. This means that all individuals who meet our registration requirements can be registered with us. Applicants for registration, and registrants, do not have to be actively employed as a teacher or live in Scotland to be registered with GTC Scotland. We have no role in the recruitment of teachers.
We hold one register – the Register of Teachers (the Register). The Register is organised into four categories of registration - primary education, secondary (subject) education, additional support needs and further education. The professional standards teachers uphold ensure that every registered teacher maintains their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to teaching learners with additional support needs. Where teachers hold specific registration in additional support needs, this reflects an area of individual specialism.
The Register is maintained in real time and provides a unique source of data. No equivalent data for all registered teachers in Scotland is available from any other body or organisation.
It is a legal requirement for all teachers employed in all schools in Scotland to be registered, and part of the agreed national terms and conditions for college lecturers employed in Scottish colleges. Only GTC Scotland registered teachers can be employed in Scotland’s schools. This employment should align with the teacher's GTC Scotland registration category. The integrity of the Register and applying it in this way is essential as it assures the public and users of the education system that only those with the necessary qualifications are allowed to teach.
The Register has grown and changed over recent years. Two key factors have influenced this change:
- the legislative mandatory registration of teachers in the independent school sector, and
- the contractual requirement for college lecturers to register with GTC Scotland.
The programme to register college lecturers as teachers of further education on the Register of Teachers continues. On 31 March 2024, it was anticipated that there remain approximately 3,000 college lecturers who are required to register as part of their employment terms and conditions. Our estimation is that approximately 1,500 of this number currently meet the requirements to access full registration with us. Working closely with partners, GTC Scotland has built policy routes to registration for all existing employed college lecturers.
Qualification is a critical part of registration to ensure that only those with the required skills and knowledge are teachers, and a teaching qualification is the foundation for registration with GTC Scotland. Individuals with a recognised teaching qualification (a qualification awarded on successful completion of a teacher education programme accredited by GTC Scotland) enter the Register in the category related to their qualification/s.
We carry out individual assessment of applications from individuals qualified outside Scotland for equivalency to a recognised teaching qualification and similarly suitably qualified individuals are entered on to the Register. We welcome teachers from all over the world to our Register every year.
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