What is expected of me as a reviewer of a provisionally registered teacher?

GTC Scotland holds the role of a reviewer in the highest possible regard. As a reviewer you have a key role in deciding who belongs to the teaching profession.

It is a long-held element of our system of education that headteachers and other fully registered teachers play a critical role in ensuring trusted teaching. They assess whether individual provisionally registered teachers have met the requirements in order to be fully registered and therefore qualified teachers.

This individual contribution made by fully registered teachers across the country forms one part of a collective responsibility to the profession of teaching. A structured induction, supported by fully registered teachers, has an important role in our registration process. Registration is a proactive regulatory function, with the aim of reducing the need for future reactive action through our Fitness to Teach process and ensures that teaching standards are embedded across education.

Recommending that an individual meets the Standard for Full Registration is therefore a core contribution to trusted teaching in Scotland.

Working collaboratively

You will:

build a relationship of trust and create an open, supportive and challenging climate for discussion
work collaboratively with other people involved in the induction process
use reflections and statements from colleagues, together with evidence from the provisionally registered teachers' profile, to inform your decisions

Recording progress

You will:

submit a progress report at the end of a provisionally registered teacher’s teaching block as to whether, based on the evidence submitted, their progress is satisfactory, cause for concern or unsatisfactory
assess that a provisionally registered teacher has successfully completed any minimum teaching practice requirements within any given timeframe
make a recommendation for full registration (and for provisionally registered teachers on the Teacher Induction Scheme - extension or removal of registration) when the provisionally registered teacher requests a recommendation for full registration
return the submission to the provisionally registered teacher if relevant evidence is missing
in exceptional circumstances, submit a recommendation for removal of registration before the provisionally registered teacher has requested recommendation for full registration
ensure that the provisionally registered teacher has met the minimum teaching service requirements before making a recommendation for full registration
ensure teaching service aligns with registration category requirements
have observed the provisionally registered teacher teach
be satisfied that there are no ongoing investigations about conduct which may impact on making a recommendation

For teachers seeking additional registration

Where a fully registered teacher is adding a registration category to their existing registration, you must ensure that you are confident that the teacher has the appropriate knowledge, understanding, skills and ability for full registration in the additional registration category.