How teacher feedback powered the MyGTCS digital transformation journey

Jared Spool is a well-known expert in the world of user design, and he is often quoted as saying “In all situations where bad design decisions were made, people lacked some information that would have helped them make the right decision.”

User-centred design is at the heart of our digital strategy, where we have committed to developing user-centred, collaborative digital services that are accessible, inclusive, and easy to use.

We’re a small organisation, and most registrant interactions with us, from initial applications for registration to leaving the Register, are managed through digital platforms. We want to make it easier for teachers to complete tasks to meet and maintain teaching standards, including managing registration, induction, and professional development.

Over the last year, we have rolled out our new MyGTCS platform to all teachers:

• in August 2025, to provisionally registered teachers and their supporters
• in summer 2026, to all fully registered teachers

This transformation has been, and will continue to be, shaped by teacher feedback, service design principles, and a commitment to reducing bureaucracy.

The new MyGTCS platform combines and improves on the functions of provisional registration profiles, MyPL, and the legacy MyGTCS platform.

Through engagement with teachers, we have gathered insights to inform the development of the new MyGTCS.

Phase 1: enabling change

In phase 1, which ran from September 2022 to August 2024, we built the groundwork for our digital transformation.

During this time, we carried out an in-depth review of the existing MyGTCS and other legacy systems that were nearing ‘end-of-life’ and documented the frustrations that they caused users.

We made interim improvements to the existing MyPL platform to enhance user experience in the short term, and reviewed policies around provisional registration and probationary service to ensure clarity and consistency across all routes to full registration.

Phase 2: designing the future

In the first half of 2024, we focused on understanding user needs and shaping the new platform.

We started by mapping out the user journeys on the existing systems, to help shape a new, user-centred vision for our service delivery. User journeys are the path a person takes to achieve a goal when interacting with a service. We interviewed 187 teachers to gather insights on their experiences and needs.

Then we defined the future service blueprints and user journeys and developed the service design principles.

Our service design principles

• One universal platform for all GTC Scotland interactions.
• Mobile friendly for ease of recording.
• Professional Standards guide the journey to expertise.
• Teachers own their data and experience.
• Secure, simplified processes for achieving a recommendation for full registration and completing Professional Update.
• Scalable for future development.

By June 2024, we had finalised our business requirements and developed a prototype for the new MyGTCS platform.

Phase 3: building the system

Between September and November 2024, we introduced our prototype to teacher employers and engaged with probation managers and teachers to help refine it further. We procured a new digital supplier with experience working with other regulatory bodies.

In the final stage of this phase, we shared guidance and walkthroughs for the first stage of the rollout to provisionally registered teachers.

Phase 4: launching new MyGTCS

We have now completed phase 2 of the rollout of the new MyGTCS platform.  We look forward to teachers getting to know more about the platform and using it as a tool to support their professional development. There are resources within MyGTCS to help them to do so.

We take our responsibility for data and the data protection law seriously. All records are backed up daily as standard practice. Ahead of the transfer to the new MyGTCS platform, we carefully planned and monitored the transfer of professional learning records and teachers’ data between the existing and new MyGTCS databases. Our staged approach – bringing teachers on in groups – allowed us to monitor the data transfer as it happened and ensure its success.

Now we will start the process of integrating applications for registration with GTC Scotland into the platform to build on the digital journey for all registrants and create a seamless user experience for all stages of the registration journey.

Digital transformation takes time to do well and should be deeply rooted in understanding user needs. The rollout is the conclusion of years of work to prepare, plan and implement. This didn’t stop on launch day. We’ve designed the platform to be scalable and evolve based on user feedback and emerging future needs.

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