Secondary Education

In Scotland, the age range of children in Secondary Education is 12-18 years of age. In order to be considered for registration in Secondary Education, you must have:

Academic Education Requirement

• an acceptable degree that contains 80 SCQF credit points in a subject in the relevant registration category. An acceptable degree is a UK degree or UK degree equivalent, having completed a period of higher education at a university or equivalent institution of at least three years' duration (either full-time or part-time equivalent). A degree shall be regarded as a UK degree equivalent if it is recognised as such by the UK National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC)

Professional Education Requirement

• a degree level teaching qualification, which extends to SCQF Level 9 or above and is comparable in terms of organisation and content to the Scottish initial teaching qualification (the PGDE) which is one academic year in length and includes teaching practice. This qualification includes teaching methodology and practice relating to the curriculum subject you are qualified to teacher. This should cover the 12 to 18 age range.

There are certain qualifications which we do not accept in Scotland.  A list is available on the  Where did you qualify? page.

Middle Years and Partial Secondary Age Range Qualifications (e.g. Lower Secondary)

The above is the standard professional requirements for registration. However, we can now consider applications from candidates who hold a partial secondary age range teaching qualification (e.g. 12-15 years) or a Middle Years teaching qualification (e.g. 7-13 years).

Note: If you have completed the above type of teaching qualification and meet all of the requirements for registration you are likely to be offered Provisional Registration - i.e. you will be required to complete a probationary period covering the parts of the primary or secondary age range that were not covered by your training. We will only be able to make a decision regarding the length of probationary period after making a full and comprehensive assessment of your case. If you have successfully taught in the part of the age range that was not covered by your training we may be able to consider your prior service towards the probationary period - we will require satisfactory referee reports on this service in order to do this.

Important: If you applied for registration with the Council between 3 June 2009 and  February 2010 with a Middle Years or partial age range teaching qualification and were refused registration you will have to submit a new application for the register.

Unacceptable Qualifications

There are certain qualifications which we do not accept in Scotland. A list is available on the Where did you qualify? page.

Secondary subjects

Registration can only be granted in the subjects listed below. An application for registration in any other subject will be refused. Registration will normally only be considered in the area a person is qualified in.

There are additional academic requirements for the following subjects:

Find out How to Apply