How to add a secondary education subject to your existing primary education registration

If you hold Full Registration in primary education, you can gain Professional (Additional) Registration in a secondary education registration subject.

Eligibility

You will need to:

• hold Full Registration with GTC Scotland;
• show that you have met the appropriate academic requirements;
• be recommended for registration by a secondary school headteacher or senior leader with current Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland.

What subjects are available?

View the full list of Secondary teaching subject areas available for registration.

Application process

Step one – Check you have met the academic requirements

The academic requirements for registration in Secondary Education appear below:

• 80 Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework (SCQF) credit points in the Secondary teaching subject – some subjects have specific requirements
• at least 40 credit points must be SCQF level 7
• at least 40 credit points must be SCQF level 8

If you have completed at least 40 credit points at SCQF level 7, or above, you can still apply and will be considered for Provisional (Conditional) Registration. If successful, you will have three years to complete the remaining credit points required.

Evidence of academic study

When you apply, you will need to submit evidence of any relevant academic study you have completed.

You do not need to submit evidence of academic study which was not relevant to the additional secondary education registration category.

This evidence may include:

• Degree certificate, if your degree was in the additional subject and this is clearly indicated by the degree title (only applies if the subject does not have specific entry requirements);
• Academic transcript(s), showing a breakdown of all the modules you studied within your degree (or any other degree-level programmes you may have completed). If your degree was awarded in the UK/European Economic Area we can accept a Diploma Supplement or Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) document in place of a transcript;
• Official pass sheets, giving details of individual modules completed outside of a degree or degree-level programme, e.g. Open University modules;
• Module descriptors: the detailed descriptors of modules completed during a degree, degree-level programme or on an individual basis (only required if the content of the module is not clear from its title).

We can only accept official documentation as evidence of academic study.

We do not require a copy of your initial teacher education qualification.

Step two – Find an appropriate supporter

First, contact a secondary school headteacher or senior leader with current Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland who is willing to act as your supporter and recommend you for registration in your chosen secondary education subject. If you are currently in employment as a primary teacher, this could be the headteacher of your school’s cluster secondary school.

Your supporter must only recommend you once they are satisfied you have met the Standard for Provisional Registration (SPR) in respect of secondary education in the specific subject area. To help them to reach this decision, you should both use the toolkit provided to identify any areas of the SPR which you have not yet fully met in respect to secondary education in the specific subject area.

Toolkit – Primary to Secondary

You should then agree and complete a Professional Learning (PL) plan to enable you to meet the SPR in these areas.

Step three – Submit an application for registration in the additional area of the register

You will need to submit evidence of your relevant academic study as well as the Recommendation for Provisional Registration form completed by the headteacher or senior leader who is acting as your supporter.

Completed applications should be submitted to with the subject line “Professional (Additional) Registration Application”.

Application for Professional Registration

Recommendation for Provisional Registration in an Additional Area of the Register

Step four – Application assessed by a Registration Case Officer

Your application will be assessed by a Registration Case Officer, and you will be issued with the decision on your application.

If you are successful, Provisional Registration in your new registration area will be added to your registration with GTC Scotland.

You will then need to meet the requirements for Full Registration before completing the Flexible Route document-based profile. To complete this profile, you must obtain a declaration from a headteacher or senior leader who currently holds Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland that you have met the Standard for Full Registration in respect of your additional area of registration. Full information about this is provided in the Probationer Teachers section of the website.

Flexible Route Profile for Professional (Additional) Registration

If you are awarded Provisional (Conditional) Registration you will not gain Full Registration until you have also met the academic condition on your registration.