How to record your induction on the Flexible Route

Provisional registration profile on MyGTCS

All provisionally registered teachers on the Flexible Route must use the provisional registration profile within MyGTCS to record their induction activity as they work towards the Standard for Full Registration.  

As a provisionally registered teacher you must refer to the minimum requirements for induction when populating your provisional registration profile. The requirements set out our expectations of you. These expectations vary for teachers:

• with no previous teaching experience
• with previous teaching experience – for example if you are a fully registered teacher who is adding an additional category to your registration, or where your teaching experience was outside Scotland

We advise you to update your provisional registration profile as you progress through your induction period and share it with colleagues who need to see it.  

You can access your online profile by logging in to MyGTCS. (we'll provide the link to the new MyGTCS platform here once it is live)

The Standard for Full Registration

As a provisionally registered teacher, all of your activity should be guided by the Standard for Full Registration. We expect you to reference the SFR in:

• the focus and planned actions of professional discussions
• the focus and feedback of observations
• the focus of learning activities
• the content of key strengths and areas for development
• the content of development plans

Teaching blocks and associations

You should create a teaching block for each period of teaching at a particular school you complete in working towards the Standard for Full Registration. The length of teaching blocks is flexible and is for you to determine.  

We encourage you, where possible, to establish a relationship with a supporter who is a fully registered teacher and associate with them on MyGTCS. For a progress report or a recommendation on Full Registration to be made, you must associate with a reviewer (normally the headteacher).  

Your reviewer does not need to be working in Scotland, but they must hold Full (General) Registration with GTC Scotland and attest that you meet the Standard for Full Registration.

Professional discussions

You can also record professional discussions with a supporter or other colleagues, such as a line manager.  

Please include the following information from your notes

• the date of the meetings
• a summary of the actions that you agreed to carry out following the meeting
• the focus of the meeting – we recommend only one or two clear key areas are identified for each meeting, and these should be based on the Standard for Full Registration

Once you have submitted your professional discussion for review, your supporter can provide feedback.

Observations

You should include details of planned observed sessions where the timing and focus have been agreed beforehand. Please record the following information:

• the date and time of the observed session (we advise spreading observations over a variety of times and contexts, so that you can demonstrate a range of approaches)
• the key focus(es) of the session based on the Standard for Full Registration - we recommend only one or two
• the class and subject/level of study for the observed session
• the strengths/areas for development which, although filled in by you, are informed by the observer’s feedback

We advise that an observation is completed after the equivalent of a period of 20 days working in your school. Once you have submitted your observation for review, your observer can provide feedback.

Learning activities

You will record a title and date for each professional development experience. Each experience should focus on an area of the Standard for Full Registration. We advise you to critically reflect on your learning and its impact on your practice.  

Key strengths and areas for development

You will enter key strengths and areas for development in your profile which are informed by the feedback of fully registered colleagues (for example line managers, supporters or your reviewer) based on the Standard for Full Registration.  

Development plans

You will enter targets and actions that form the basis for your future development.

Your plans will be informed by feedback from fully registered colleagues (for example line managers, supporters or your reviewer) on what actions you need to take to evidence that you have met the Standard for Full Registration

Teaching days

To be recommended for Full Registration, you must have completed teaching service equivalent to an academic year (approximately 190 days). The teaching days area is where you record of any periods of relevant teaching.

There are fields for you to record the date range and number of days, as well as the category (e.g. primary or secondary subject) which you were teaching. You can also upload a copy of your timetable.

Progress reports

At the conclusion of a teaching block, you can request a progress report from your reviewer. You do not need to do this for every teaching block, but we expect you to have at least 2 progress reports while you work towards Full Registration (or at least 3 where concerns have been identified).

Recommendation

You can submit a request to your reviewer to be recommended for Full Registration when you:

• believe you can sufficiently evidence that you have met the Standard for Full Registration
• have been observed teaching by the reviewer
• have completed the equivalent of one academic year’s teaching service (approximately 190 days)

If you have previous teaching experience in excess of 190 days and record this on MyGTCS, there is no minimum timeframe for requesting a reviewer considers a recommendation for Full Registration. You should have been employed at the school of the reviewer making the recommendation.  

The reviewer has the option to recommend you for Full Registration, or they may make a recommendation of ‘not ready yet’, where they determine you have not yet evidenced your achievement of the Standard for Full Registration.