Registration Report 2025-26: Data and Insight

Additional information

Professional Recognition

GTC Scotland’s Professional Recognition is an award that recognises the enhanced, significant, sustained and reflective enquiry a teacher has undertaken and the development of their professional learning in a particular area.

The award was open to all registered teachers who completed 1 year of professional practice after gaining Full Registration. From April 2025 GTC Scotland paused activities relating to the Professional Recognition accreditation for new programmes and individuals. Registrants who already hold this award will not be impacted but no new Professional Recognition awards are being accredited. Professional Recognition can be awarded to registrants who successfully complete one of the accredited programmes.

Data as at 31 March 2026 shows 2,557 teachers holding the Professional Recognition award (3.17% of registrants on the Register) with a total of 2,759 awards given to those individuals in the last 5 years.

Data as at 31 March 2025 showed 2,658 teachers holding the Professional Recognition Award (3.28% of registrants on the Register) with a total of 2,887 awards given to those individuals in the last 5 years.

Data as at 31 March 2024 showed 2,693 teachers (3.3% of all registrants on the Register) holding a total of 2,916 Professional Recognition awards given in the last 5 years. Data at 31 March 2023 showed 2,953 teachers (3.6% of Registrants on the Register) holding a total of 3,225 Professional Recognition awards given in the last 5 years.

There is a decrease of 3.80% in the number of registrants holding Professional Recognition over registration year 2025-26. There was a decrease of 1.30% in the number of registrants holding Professional Recognition over registration year 2024-25. There was a decrease of 8.80% in the number of registrants holding Professional Recognition over registration year 2023-24.

Standard for Headship

As at 31 March 2026, Table 21 shows that 3,439 teachers on the Register hold the Standard for Headship (SFH). SFH is achieved following successful completion of the GTC Scotland accredited ‘Into Headship’ qualification or an assessed equivalent qualification.

GTC Scotland collects voluntary, self-declared employment information from registrants. Around 90% of registrants holding the Standard for Headship (SFH) report working for a local authority; the remaining 10% report working in:

independent schools
national education organisations
higher education institutes
grant aided schools
further education
GTC Scotland
a supply teaching role
employed elsewhere in the UK (not Scotland)
or that they are not currently working or are working outside Scotland and the UK.

At 31 March 2026, 3,439 teachers held SFH, compared with 3,413 in 2025, 3,379 in 2024 and 3,503 in 2023.

This represents a 0.76% increase in 2025-26, but a 1.83% decrease since 2023. After falling in 2023-24, numbers now appear to be gradually returning towards 2023 levels.

Registrants holding SFH self-declare their employment as follows:

3,121 local authority (90.75%)
1 further education (0.03%)
43 independent school (1.25%)

The remaining 274 (7.97%) fall into other categories:

Other/not known (Non-UK Schools)
Not Currently Working
Other
Supply Teaching
UK (Not Scotland)
Higher Education Institution; or
Blank

The local authorities employing the most SFH holders are:

Glasgow City Council (265)
Aberdeenshire Council (217)
North Lanarkshire Council (217)
South Lanarkshire Council (211)
Fife Council (208)

Chart 9 shows the number of Standard for Headship award holders by local authority. The data is in descending order of number of Standard for Headship award holders.

<span id="es-chart-01" class="table_caption" style="text-align:center; margin: auto; display: block; padding-top: 3.5rem;" fs-test-element="reg-report-title-es-chart-01">Chart 9: Number of Standard for Headship award holders by local authority</span>

Tables 22 to 25 provide demographic drilldowns into Standard for Headship award holders.

Professional Update

In March 2011, the Scottish Parliament approved the Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011. Article 31 requires GTC Scotland to operate a re-accreditation scheme to monitor standards of education and training among registered teachers. Following consultation and discussions with national partners, GTC Scotland adopted the title Professional Update (PU).

PU focuses on the impact of registrants’ professional learning and its contribution to the quality of education. It confirms that registrants have maintained high standards and supports the quality of professional learning and teaching across Scotland’s schools, colleges and wider education profession. Since August 2014, engagement in PU has been a legislative requirement for fully registered teachers and lecturers.

PU completion is required to maintain Full Registration status.

Teachers with Full Registration must confirm their commitment to the standards through ongoing learning every five years as part of a rolling PU confirmation programme.

The 2024-25 PU group was due to complete PU in registration year 2025-26. At the 1 July deadline, 10,069 of 13,153 teachers (76.55%) had confirmed, leaving 3,084 (23.45%) outstanding. By the final deadline of 31 October 2025, 539 individuals from this cohort had been removed from the Register for non-completion.

The 2023-24 PU group was due to complete PU in registration year 2024-25. At the 1 July deadline, 10,402 of 13,839 teachers (75.16%) had confirmed, leaving 3,437 (24.84%) outstanding. By the final deadline of 31 October 2024, 434 individuals from this cohort had been removed from the Register for non-completion.

The 2022-23 PU group was due to complete PU in registration year 2023-24. At the 1 July deadline, 9,012 of 15,466 teachers (58.27%) had confirmed, leaving 6,454 (41.73%) outstanding; 622 did not complete by the final deadline.