24-25/58

I refer to your request for information (FOI 24-25/58)dated 31 October 2024 for records related to the Register of Teachers which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

You asked, for the “last five academic years”, how many “probationary teachers or new teachers in each Scottish local authority” had “ceased teaching or became unregistered” within 6 and 12 months “of commencing their teaching role.” You also asked that this information be broken down by “academic year” and available demographics such as “age, gender, or teaching subject.”

You might be interested in a prior response on the number of registrants who left or were removed from the Register since 2016 and is currently available on our Disclosure Log.

By way of explanation, please note that applicants update employment information themselves. They provide this data directly and it is self-declared. As a body, GTC Scotland operates a professional Register and not an employment based one. This means that all individuals who meet our registration requirements can be registered with us without being actively employed as a teacher or living in Scotland. We do not hold information relating to when teachers enter or leave employment other than if they report their current employer.

Therefore, we cannot confirm when a registrant has “ceased teaching” but only when they “became unregistered” as per your request. Additionally, we cannot provide records on when a registrant began their teaching role other than through the Teacher Induction Scheme. Please note that the Register operates as a current register and we are unable to report historical statistics unless otherwise reported. I have therefore applied section 17(1)(b) to the academic year of 2019/20.

As to your first query, for the number of registrants (being individuals holding Provisional Registration or Full Registration) who left the Register within 6 months of their initial registration, I have provided this information in Table 1 below. Please note that where we refer to academic year that this includes data from August to July of the following year.

You will note I have not provided the exact low number below as disclosing this could enable individuals to be identified. This would breach the data protection principles set out in data protection legislation. FOISA does not require us to provide this sort of information as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b).

You also asked for the number of those registrants broken down according to their local authority, age group and sex. I have provided this information in Table 2 below.

Regarding your second query, for the number of registrants (being individuals holding Provisional Registration or Full Registration) who left the Register (and have not returned) between 6 and 12 months of initial registration, I have provided this information in Table 3 below.

You also asked for the number of those registrants according to their local authority, age group and sex. I have provided this information in Table 4 below.

You may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk if you are dissatisfied with this response, to request GTC Scotland conduct a review of it. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this response to submit a review request. When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal to do so.